We’re partnering with Sound and Music, the national agency for new music, to introduce you to some intriguingly creative events.
In October, we'll be sending new music virgins to experience an extraordinary performance of Stockhausen: Gruppen at the Royal Festival Hall and sending others down the pub for the final date of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's Night Shift in Camden.
Stockhausen: Gruppen
London Sinfonietta is an elite contemporary music ensemble that aims to place the best contemporary classical music at the heart of today’s culture.
For this concert at the Royal Festival Hall, they're roped in the Royal Academy of Music Ensemble because this post-war masterpiece requires three independent orchestras, each with their own conductor, playing alongside each other. That's more than 100 performers at it at once, passing swarms of sound between them. Imagine that in the Festival Hall – should be a thrilling experience.
Stockhausen: Gruppen is performed at The Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 6 October at 6pm. Tickets are £25, £15, concessions £6.50, students £5
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Pub Tour
The OAE are an unusual orchestra. They're not ruled by a single conductor, not restricted to a certain genre or age in music, not bound by convention or repertoire. They play period-specific instruments and are interested in experimentalism, not the rule book.
The Night Shift pub tour is one string to their quirky bow – a chance to hear these world-class musicians perform in your local, leaving the formalities of the concert hall behind. On the final gig of this tour, you'll hear an original work by young composer, Kim B Ashton, created especially with the pub setting in mind, plus a variety of pieces by Joseph Haydn. The idea is listen, drink, clap, chat, cough, go to the loo and enjoy.
The Night Shift Pub Tour hits the Monarch, Camden on Wednesday 23 October. Doors 7.30pm, music 8.30pm. Tickets £10+bkg
Still not sure? We’ll bring you reports back from each event courtesy of our new music volunteers. Here's what they thought of September's events.
Interested in more events like these? Browse listings in The Sampler.
