Press room
Barbican announces its music programme for January - July 2022
Barbican announces details for its music programme in the first half of 2022, featuring Lise Davidsen, Roderick Williams, Jonas Kaufmann & Diana Damrau, Yuja Wang, Joyce DiDonato, John Holiday, Mahan Esfahani, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, Zadie Smith with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vashti Bunyan, John McLaughlin, Hamza Namira, Oslo & Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, SFJAZZ Collective and many more
The Barbican’s music programme continues in 2022 with live audiences, whilst some concerts are also livestreamed. We’re looking forward to welcoming back internationally renowned soloists and emerging artists, Barbican Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and our family of associate orchestras and ensembles as well as international orchestras and artists.
“Announcing this new series of concerts fills me with excitement and hope. As we take a further stride away from the privations of the pandemic, I’m absolutely delighted to be announcing this series of concerts that once again connects our audiences with a wonderful variety of great artists, fantastic ensembles, exciting debuts, remarkable old friends and the most eclectic range of music on offer. There really is something for everyone, including an artist spotlight on the extraordinary soprano Lise Davidsen, a BBC SO Total Immersion on Frank Zappa, a 24-hour concert with the London Contemporary Orchestra, the SFJAZZ Collective returning to the Barbican after more than 15 years, Jonas Kaufmann and Diana Damrau singing love songs by Schumann and Brahms, Hannah Peel together with Paraorchestra, and celebrated Egyptian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hamza Namira. It will be especially heart-warming to welcome back visiting international orchestras to the Barbican Hall, such as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Oslo & Czech Philharmonics, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Les Arts Florissants. I hope you will join us on this exciting musical journey”, said Huw Humphreys, Head of Music at the Barbican."
The Barbican’s music programme between January and July 2022 includes the following new and some previously announced concerts:
Artist Spotlight - Lise Davidsen
- Lise Davidsen (soprano) & Leif Ove Andsnes (piano) in a programme featuring songs by Grieg, Richard Strauss and Wagner (13 Jan)
- Lise Davidsen (soprano), Freddie De Tommaso (tenor) and James Baillieu (piano) with works by Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Giordano, and Ernest Charles (30 May)
- Soprano Lise Davidsen will lead a masterclass for musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (31 May)
- Oslo Philharmonic, Klaus Mäkelä (conductor) and Lise Davidsen (soprano) in a programme featuring Mahler, Sibelius and Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs (3 Jun)
Special Projects
- London Contemporary Orchestra: 24 – a continuous 24-hour concert, including Morton Feldman’s six-hour-long String Quartet No. 2 (15 – 16 Jan)
- Avant-garde British composer and multi-disciplinary artist Klein presents a new thrilling, inimitable live show (30 Jan)
- Domenico Scarlatti: The Mirror of Human Frailty – a day of musical conversation and sparkling performance featuring Mahan Esfahani harpsichord, Daria van den Bercken piano and Aline Zylberajch fortepiano (30 Jan)
- Algerian chaâbi-folk icon Souad Massi with support from Palestinian singer and musician Ruba Shamshoum (16 Feb)
- Nonclassical: listening to place – an evening of sounds and field recordings focusing on our relationship with the spaces and places around us – whether built environments or natural. Artists including Ligeti Quartet, Rebeca Omordia, Kate Carr, Langham Research Centre and Cedrik Fermont (20 Feb, also livestreamed)
- The Future is Female – a free immersive celebration of piano music by powerful women across the centuries, performed by Sarah Cahill, and including new commissions by Arlene Sierra and Errollyn Wallen (5 Mar)
- Marking the release of her memoir, Wayward: Just Another Life to Live, English singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan performs a career retrospective concert alongside an ensemble led by Fiona Brice (2 Apr)
- New Rituals: Ryoichi Kurokawa + Nkisi present the UK premieres of two transformative audio-visual performances (23 Apr)
- Vocal group Shards combine close choral arrangement with synths and percussion to explore the remarkable capabilities of the human voice (6 May)
- Hannah Peel and Paraorchestra, featuring professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, with Charles Hazlewood present major new work, The Unfolding (21 May, also livestreamed)
- William Basinski with the London Contemporary Orchestra: The Disintegration Loops – celebrating the twentieth anniversary of this career-defining album (9 Jun)
Barbican Resident and Associate Orchestras & Ensembles
- This season, along with many well-known established masterpieces, the Barbican’s Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra will play works by composers with whom they have developed a special relationship, including pieces that came to the orchestra’s attention during the pandemic such as George Walker’s Lilacs, Hannah Kendall’s Spark Catchers (9 March) and other works: Lili Boulanger’s D’un Matin de Printemps (18 May) and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Offertorium (8 May). The LSO family of conductors return to the Barbican in addition to concerts featuring Sir Antonio Pappano (2 & 5 June), Barbara Hannigan (17, 23 & 24 February) and gospel specialist André J. Thomas (29 May)
- Novelist, poet, playwright and best-selling author Zadie Smith joins the Barbican’s Associate Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, for an evening of her writing and the music that has shaped and inspired her (22 Apr). The first Total Immersion Day (23 Jan) is dedicated to music written in the prisons and ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe; the second Total Immersion Day (19 Mar) focuses on Frank Zappa’s world and music. Martyn Brabbins and soprano Elizabeth Watts join to perform Vaughan Williams’ ground-breaking orchestral score with a screening of the film Scott of the Antarctic (11 March)
- Laurence Cummings explores New Worlds in his first season as Music Director of Barbican Associate Ensemble, the Academy of Ancient Music, charting the adventures of the first Master of the King’s Music Nicholas Lanier with Anna Dennis and Thomas Walker (18 Feb) and journeying to Haydn’s London with superstar mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg (10 Mar). In a flourish of end-of-season fireworks, Cummings joins former AAM Music Director Richard Egarr and Mozartian extraordinaire Robert Levin in a joyous triple concerto (1 Jul)
- Pagrav Dance Company and leading kathak choreographer Urja Desai Thakore collaborate with Barbican Associate Ensemble Britten Sinfonia in a reimagining of Gustav Holst's 1909 chamber opera Sāvitri (4 May); the orchestra also joins Opera Rara and conductor Carlo Rizzi for the first performance in over 200 years of Mercadante's Il Proscritto (28 June) and Ian Bostridge and James MacMillan explore the influence of folk song and dance on 20th and 21st century composers (17 March)
International Orchestras & Ensembles
- Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor) and Sol Gabetta (cello) in a programme featuring Paul Dukas, Saint-Saëns and Sibelius (12 Feb)
- Les Arts Florissants and William Christie present Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato (uncut) (14 Mar)
- Two nights with the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Semyon Bychkov, featuring pianist Yuja Wang in Stravinsky‘s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, as well as music by Smetana, Dvořák, and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (15 & 16 Mar)
- In her new project Eden, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato brings together timeless arias, new works, poetry and drama to explore our place within nature, featuring Maxim Emelyanychev conducting il Pomo d’Oro (5 & 6 Apr)
- Vivaldi: Sacred and Secular featuring Accademia Bizantina conducted by Ottavio Dantone and countertenor John Holiday (9 Apr)
- Andris Nelsons: The Strauss Project featuring Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Boston Symphony Orchestra, presented by the Barbican and Southbank Centre in partnership with KD SCHMID and Askonas Holt:
- Andris Nelsons conducts the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Strauss’ Macbeth, Rosenkavalier Suite and Ein Heldenleben (9 May), and in Burleske (featuring pianist Yuja Wang), Don Juan and Also Sprach Zarathustra (10 May)
- Insula orchestra conducted by Laurence Equilbey performs Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio (11 May)
- Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Klaus Mäkelä performs the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No.10, Berg’s Seven Early Songs featuring soprano Lise Davidsen, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 (3 Jun)
Recitals
- Maxim Vengerov (violin) & Simon Trpčeski (piano) perform works by Mozart, Prokofiev, Franck and Ravel (10 Jan)
- Roderick Williams (baritone) & Andrew West (piano) present works by Fauré, Judith Weir, Ravel and the world premiere of a new work by Ryan Wigglesworth (8 Mar)
- Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Diana Damrau (soprano) and Helmut Deutsch (piano) return to the Barbican with a selection of Love Songs by Schumann & Brahms (29 Mar)
- Jess Gillam (saxophone) with Zeynep Özsuca (piano) and Sam Becker (double bass), programme to include music by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, George Fitkin, Astor Piazzolla, Luke Howard, Philip Glass and Meredith Monk (30 Mar)
- Paul Lewis (piano): A 50th Birthday Celebration, programme to include works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Thomas Larcher (UK Premiere) and Chopin (19 May)
- Jeremy Denk Plays Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1 (24 May)
- Tai Murray (violin) & Martin Roscoe (piano), programme to include works by Clara Schumann, John Adams, Arvo Pärt and Franz Schubert (31 May)
Jazz
- Maria Schneider Orchestra performing new material from their 2020 album Data Lords (29 Jan)
- Manchester trio GoGo Penguin present music from 2020’s self-titled master-work, GoGo Penguin (10 Feb, also livestreamed)
- Brazilian cultural icon Hermeto Pascoal performs with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (5 May)
- Jazz guitarist, bandleader and composer, John McLaughlin will be joined by an all-star band, The 4th Dimension (28 May)
- SFJAZZ Collective returning to the Barbican after more than 15 years featuring Gretchen Parlato, Chris Potter, David Sánchez, Etienne Charles, Warren Wolf, Edward Simon, Matt Brewer, Martin Luther McCoy and Kendrick A.D. Scott with their New Works Reflecting the Moment project. Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious (25 June)
New Material Live
- Ukrainian quartet DakhaBrakha present material from their latest album, 2020’s Alambari (20 Jan)
- Jane Birkin performs tracks from her most recent album Oh! Pardon tu dormais… accompanied by her band (5 Feb)
- Singer, songwriter and composer Damon Albarn presents his new project The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows (21 & 22 Feb)
- Composer, singer and actor Keeley Forsyth presents material from her 2020 debut album Debris (11 Mar)
- Celebrated Egyptian singer, song-writer and multi-instrumentalist Hamza Namira presents material from his latest album, 2020’s Mawlood Sanat 80 (12 Mar)
- Haley Fohr brings her longstanding project Circuit des Yeux, presenting material from her new 2021 album -io (6 Apr)
- Grouper, the recording and performing project by Liz Harris, presents material from her 2021 album, Shade (14 Apr)
Barbican Music Programme Debuts
- Irish-American vocalist Aoife O’Donovan with support from Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter Donovan Woods (2 Feb)
- American rock outfit Lord Huron present material from their 2021 album Long Lost (8 Feb)
- New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding presents material from her three studio albums to date (30 & 31 Mar)
- Welsh multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and sound designer Novo Amor performs with his full band (23 May)
- Lucie Horsch (recorder) & Thomas Dunford (lute) (21 Jan)
- Vanessa Porter (percussion) (28 Jan)
- Johan Dalene (violin) & Nicola Eimer (piano) (4 Feb)
- Kebyart Ensemble (saxophone quartet) (4 Mar)
- Simply Quartet (string quartet) (22 Apr)
Priority booking for the Barbican’s newly announced spring/summer 2022 music season opens for Principal and Premier Patrons on Fri 22 Oct, Patrons on Mon 25 Oct, Members Plus on Thu 28 Oct, and Members on Fri 29 Oct. Public booking opens on Tuesday 2 November. Discounted tickets are available to 14 – 25-year-olds through Young Barbican.
Please visit the Barbican’s Covid safety page for further information on measures in place.
The Barbican believes in creating space for people and ideas to connect through its international arts programme, community events and learning activity. To keep its programme accessible to everyone, and to keep investing in the artists it works with, the Barbican needs to raise more than 60% of its income through ticket sales, commercial activities and fundraising every year. Donations can be made here: barbican.org.uk/donate.
Full concert details in date order and further information on LSO, BBC, AAM and Britten Sinfonia seasons below.
Maxim Vengerov & Simon Trpčeski
Mon 10 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 65 plus booking fee
Violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Simon Trpčeski, two of the finest musicians of our time, come to the Barbican for a duo recital featuring Mozart’s sonata for violin and piano in E minor, Sergei Prokofiev’s dark and virtuosic first violin sonata, César Franck’s sonata, one of his best-known works, and Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane.
Produced by the Barbican
Lise Davidsen & Leif Ove Andsnes
Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight
Thu 13 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 50 plus booking fee
Lisa Davidsen soprano
Leif Ove Andsnes piano
In the first concert of her Barbican Artist Spotlight series, Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is joined by compatriot and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. This opening concert will provide an opportunity to see Davidsen and Andsnes explore works by Strauss as well as a chance to witness Davidsen’s Wagnerian aptitude in the Wesendonck Lieder, alongside songs by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg including his only song cycle The Mountain Maid, an homage to the Norwegian countryside and young love, based on epic poems by Arne Garborg.
Produced by the Barbican
London Contemporary Orchestra: 24
Sat 15 – Fri 16 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 6pm – 6pm
Tickets £15 – 20 plus booking fee
Long-term Barbican collaborators, the endlessly inventive London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Robert Ames perform one of their biggest live undertakings to date: an ambitious, continuous 24-hour concert, which promises to be an ambient and meditative experience for the audience. The programme features iconic durational works such as Morton Feldman’s six-hour piece String Quartet No 2, and new works from today's most loved ambient artists, interspersed by visuals from projection artist László Zsolt Bordos. Ticket holders will be able to come and go as they please during the 24-hour period and stay for 1, 2…or 24 hours!
Formed in 2008, London Contemporary Orchestra is a leading global orchestral group focused on playing, commissioning, and developing new music and artistic output. Alongside working with well-known artists, LCO focus on developing a diverse next generation of players, conductors, and composers by creating opportunities for them to work at the highest professional level.
Produced by the Barbican in association with LCO
With support from Arts Council England
DakhaBrakha
Thu 20 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £17.50 – 22.50 plus booking fee
Ukrainian quartet DakhaBrakha (meaning ‘give/take’) will present songs and new material from their latest album, 2020’s Alambari, as well as a cross-section of their back catalogue to Barbican audiences in January 2022.
Founded in 2004, the self-proclaimed ‘ethnic chaos’ band are known for mixing Ukrainian and other Eastern European folk music with traditional sounds from across the world and taking influences from Western pop and rock music.
Featuring traditional instruments such as accordion, bass and cello, the quartet are also using Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian folk instrumentation alongside vocal melodies and harmonies and overtone singing.
Produced by the Barbican
ECHO Rising Stars: Lucie Horsch & Thomas Dunford
Friday 21 Jan 2022, LSO St Luke’s, 6.30pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
Lucie Horsch recorder
Thomas Dunford lute
Recorder player Lucie Horsch continues the Barbican’s series of ECHO Rising Stars concerts at LSO St Luke’s this season with the first of the year accompanied by lutist Thomas Dunford. In a widely varied programme, Horsch and Dunford will showcase the versatility of their instruments with their own arrangements from the Partita by J. S. Bach, and Les Folies d’Espagne by Marin Marais. Performing works outside of the traditionally established repertoire for the recorder and lute, this versatility will be on display as these instruments enter into conversation ranging from the intimate, to the virtuosic.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by the Rainbow Dickinson Trust
This event will go on sale to Barbican Patrons and Members on 24 Nov and on general sale on 26 Nov
ECHO Rising Stars: Vanessa Porter
Fri 28 Jan 2022, LSO St Luke’s, 1pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
Vanessa Porter percussion
2022’s ECHO Rising Stars series at LSO St Luke’s showcases percussionist Vanessa Porter. Nominated by Kölner Philharmonie, Porter was due to perform in the Barbican’s cancelled 2020-21 season and now happily returns to present works by Sciarrino, Globokar, Lang, and an ECHO commission by Georges Aperghis as well as a work of her own composition.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and Rainbow Dickinson Trust
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Sat 29 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 - 35 plus booking fee
Grammy-award winning band leader Maria Schneider and her eighteen-piece jazz orchestra return to the Barbican for the first time since 2008. Schneider’s ensemble is made up of some of the world’s finest jazz musicians today, and in writing for them Schneider tailors her compositions to the creative voices in the group to create music that blurs the line between genres. Schneider and her orchestra will be performing their latest multi-award-winning double-album Data Lords, released in 2020.
Produced by the Barbican
Klein
Sun 30 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £12.50 – 15 plus booking fee
Avant-garde British composer and multi-disciplinary artist Klein will bring a new thrilling, inimitable live show to the Barbican in January 2022. Working at the intersection of composed music, theatre and song, this South London artist defies categorisation.
Her new album Harmattan, to be released on the renowned classical label Pentatone in November 2021, expands our notions of what classical music means today. Live, these explorations are taken further. Her impulse to playfully experiment and push boundaries arrive centre stage, inviting audiences into Klein’s unique sound universe.
Klein returns to the Barbican’s music programme following her opening set for Moor Mother at Milton Court Concert Hall in October 2019.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Rockfeedback
Domenico Scarlatti: The Mirror of Human Frailty
Sun 30 Jan 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 2pm – 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 40 plus booking fee
Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, pianist Daria van den Bercken and fortepiano specialist Aline Zylberajch explore the music of Domenico Scarlatti, looking at his Spanish-influenced compositions from three contrasting perspectives and on three different instruments. A panel discussion will address problems and misconceptions about Scarlatti and Spanish music in this period, and, also, look at a composer who puts a mirror to everyday life.
Produced by the Barbican
Aoife O’Donovan + Donovan Woods
Wed 2 Feb 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
Grammy award-winning Irish-American vocalist and songwriter Aoife O’Donovan makes her Barbican music programme debut in Feb 2022, in an intimate concert at Milton Court Concert Hall, performing solo and with a string quartet featuring fiddle player Jeremy Kittel. Support comes from Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter Donovan Woods.
Produced by the Barbican
ECHO Rising Stars: Johan Dalene
Fri 4 Feb 2022, LSO St Luke’s, 1pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
Johan Dalene violin
Nicola Eimer piano
The ECHO Rising Stars series at the Barbican continues in February with a performance from Swedish violinist Johan Dalene and pianist Nicola Eimer. At 20 years old, Dalene has already made an impact on the international scene, performing with leading orchestras in both Sweden and abroad, coming now to the Barbican for an intimate daytime recital of works by Beethoven, Sospiri, Tebogo Monnakgotla and Prokofiev.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by the Rainbow Dickinson Trust
Jane Birkin
Sat 5 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £25 - 35 plus booking fee
Singer, songwriter and actress Jane Birkin returns to the Barbican to perform tracks from her most recent album Oh! Pardon tu dormais… accompanied by her band.
Oh! Pardon tu dormais….. was born in 2020 in collaboration with Étienne Daho and Jean-Louis Piérot. The album traces and soundtracks Birkin’s life - encompassing romance, tragedy and acceptance - weaving Birkin and Daho’s texts with Daho and Piérot’s music to create a wistful and reflective collection of ballads.
Produced by the Barbican In association with Como No!
Lord Huron
Tue 8 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £22.50 – 27.50 plus booking fee
American rock outfit Lord Huron will make their Barbican debut on 8 February 2022, presenting material from their fourth full-length studio album Long Lost (out on 21 May 2021 on Whispering Pines Studios Inc./Republic Records). The band will be accompanied by a live orchestra for this special one-off performance.
Evoking wide-open vistas and the spirit of travel, the band first emerged in the early 2010s, bringing together an expansive and dynamic blend of folk, rock, pop, and threads of Americana. Initially founded as a solo project by Michigan native Ben Schneider (guitar, vocals), Lord Huron soon became a fully-fledged touring band, also featuring Schneider’s childhood friends Mark Barry (drums), Miguel Briseno (bass) and Tom Renaud (guitar).
Produced by the Barbican
Find out more
GoGo Penguin
Thu 10 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £20 – 30 plus booking fee and £12.50 (livestream)
Manchester trio GoGo Penguin present music from 2020’s self-titled master-work, GoGo Penguin - the third of their Blue Note Records trilogy of albums that commenced with 2016’s Man Made Object - as well as their illustrious back catalogue. The trio have been internationally hailed as electrifying live performers, innovative soundtrack composers, and as a collective who channel electronic and club culture atmospheres alongside minimalist jazz and rock influences to create music that pulses and flows from the dancefloor to meditative inner-worlds, transporting us into brand new realms. GoGo Penguin will be joined for this in-person and livestreamed concert by lighting engineer, Lewis Howell, whose sculpted, cinematic lightscapes have been a key component of their live shows since 2014.
Produced by the Barbican
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Sir Antonio Pappano / Sol Gabetta
Sat 12 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 55 plus booking fee
It is with great pleasure that the Barbican welcomes back international orchestras in 2022. First in the series is the renowned Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from Rome, with its Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano. The first one in Italy to devote itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire when it was first formed in 1908, the orchestra performs Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Sibelius’ Symphony No 1 and Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta.
Produced by the Barbican
Souad Massi
+ Ruba Shamshoum
Wed 16 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm, Tickets
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
Algerian chaâbi-folk icon Souad Massi returns to the Barbican in February 2022, bringing her light, melodic songs of folk balanced with pop, as found in Oumniya (my wish), her sixth album which came out in October 2019. Her material includes themes around Algeria, politics, love, freedom and emancipation. Soaud Massi last performed at the Barbican in an exciting double bill with Le Trio Joubran in May 2015.
Support comes from Palestinian singer and musician Ruba Shamshoum, whose riveting combination of poetic dream pop, jazz and Middle Eastern soul tells bold stories of femininity and vulnerability, and celebrates human connection to nature and one’s self.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Marsm
Nonclassical: listening to place
Sun 20 Feb 2022 Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 30 plus booking fee & £12.50 (livestream)
Musicians have always responded to place and space, and, with the advent of recording technology, artists became able to work directly with environmental sound, embedding it into their practice. In an evening of music and sound, Nonclassical explores how musicians relate and respond to the environmental noise that we unconsciously block out. With field recordings, musical responses and ambient performance Nonclassical ask how our relationship with the world has changed over time, and how aware we are of the noises and sounds around us. Joining this Nonclassical event are artists of different cultural and geographical backgrounds including Ligeti Quartet, Rebeca Omordia, Kate Carr, Langham Research Centre, Cedrik Fermont and more.
Co-produced by the Barbican and Nonclassical
Damon Albarn: The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
Mon 21 & Tue 22 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £20 – 40 plus booking fee
Singer, songwriter and composer Damon Albarn will bring his new project The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, which is inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, to the Barbican in February 2022. The event title is taken from a John Clare poem entitled Love and Memory.
Damon Albarn will perform this very personal, new piece with an ensemble and specially commissioned visuals. What can be more fascinating than the signs of the passage of time and the fragility of nature?
Produced by the Barbican
ECHO Rising Stars: Kebyart Ensemble
Fri 4 Mar 2022, LSO St Luke’s, 1pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
Kebyart Ensemble saxophone quartet
Pere Méndez soprano saxophone
Víctor Serra alto saxophone
Robert Sera tenor saxophpone
Daniel Miguel baritone sax
The ECHO Rising Stars series as part of the Barbican’s music programme continues with Catalonian saxophone quartet Kebyart Ensemble. Sharing a passion for chamber music, Kebyart’s four members Pere Méndez, Víctor Serra, Robert Sera and Daniel Miguel bring a creative and open approach to this performance at LSO St Luke’s with works by Stravinsky, Florent Schmitt, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn and a commissioned piece by Jörg Widmann plus their own arrangement of work by Leonard Cohen and Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by the Rainbow Dickinson Trust
Sat 5 Mar 2022, Barbican Conservatory, 12noon – 8.30pm
Free entry
The Future is Female is a free immersive celebration of piano music by powerful women across the centuries, debunking history to show that the past, present and future is female. Audiences are invited to come and go as they please over the course of an afternoon as the tranquil surroundings of the Conservatory are filled with music performed by pianist Sarah Cahill. The programme features a multitude of music by female composers, including new commissions by Arlene Sierra and Errollyn Wallen. Cahill will also hand the baton to the next generation as she duets with pianists from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, before the afternoon culminates in a panel talk with artists and curators celebrating, reflecting and discussing the themes of the day. There’s not enough time in the world to make up for the lack of opportunities, credit and appreciation afforded women composers throughout history, but we can change that going forwards.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund
Roderick Williams & Andrew West: A Twitcher’s Delight
Tue 8 Mar 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 40 plus booking fee
Roderick Williams baritone
Andrew West piano
British baritone Roderick Williams returns to Milton Court Concert Hall, following his residency in 2018, accompanied by pianist Andrew West, with a programme inspired by the poetic and witty musings of French author Jules Renard. From vain peacocks to belligerent guinea fowl, the miniature portraits of Jules Renard’s Histoires Naturelles offer an enchanting alternative perspective on life, humanity and nature. This wide-ranging programme which explores bird and animal behaviour across the twentieth century includes pieces by Maurice Ravel, Judith Weir, Gabriel Fauré and Ryan Wigglesworth – whose long-awaited song cycle receives its premiere here.
Produced by the Barbican
Fri 11 Mar 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £17.50 plus booking fee
Keeley Forsyth is a composer, singer and actor from Oldham in the north-west of England. Built upon sparse arrangements, her music is centred around a singular, emotionally raw and magnetic vocal delivery, by turns devastating and uplifting. The character that populates her songs tells of the high and low tides, of freedom and entrapment, of hard-won triumphs and the darker corners of domestic life. Her debut album Debris was released in January 2020 and was written in collaboration with pianist and composer Matthew Bourne. Forsyth’s live performances centre around a dramatic visual interpretation of the music.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Bird on the Wire
Hamza Namira
Sat 12 Mar 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £25 – 45 plus booking fee
Celebrated Egyptian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Hamza Namira, will present material from his latest album, 2020’s Mawlood Sanat 80. The artist has become a beacon of his homeland’s resilience and ambition, who uses his work to explore and engage with the prominent social issues of today, weaving through Egyptian traditional and folk music, pop, rock and jazz along the way. Hamza presented three seasons of his own weekly Pan Arab TV programme called Remix and has released five albums to date. His songs have had a huge success across the Arab World, making him one of the top artists in the Middle East with almost One Billion total views on Youtube.
Produced by the Barbican in association with MARSM
Les Arts Florissants / William Christie
Mon 14 Mar 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 50 plus booking fee
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie director
Rachel Redmond soprano
James Way tenor
Sreten Manojlović bass baritone
Les Arts Florissants, led by William Christie, return to the Barbican for the first time since their critically-acclaimed fortieth birthday celebrations at the Barbican in December 2019, which was followed by reports of “love and pleasure bouncing off the stage”. This time, Les Arts Florissants present Handel’s pastoral ode of L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (The Cheerful, The Thoughtful, The Moderate Man), blending the love and pleasure of L’Allegro with the melancholy of il Penseroso and il Moderato. With Handel’s work based on two poems by English poet John Milton, the setting for this performance is perfectly situated - with Milton buried just a stone’s throw away across the Barbican Lake in the medieval church of St Giles Cripplegate.
Produced by the Barbican
Czech Philharmonic / Semyon Bychkov
Tue 15 & 16 Mar 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 55 plus booking fee
On 15 and 16 March 2022, the Czech Philharmonic return to London for the first time since 2019 with its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov. The Barbican dates (featuring a different programme each night) are the culmination of the Czech Philharmonic’s first extensive European tour since the pandemic with concerts planned for Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg and Essen. The Philharmonic presents music by great Czech composers: Dvořak’s Symphony No. 8, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Smetana’s Má vlast (My Homeland), a cycle of six symphonic poems which has become inextricably linked with both the history of the Czech Republic and that of the Czech Philharmonic. Also on the programme will be Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments performed with pianist Yuja Wang, the Czech Philharmonic’s Artist-in-Residence this season.
Produced by the Barbican
Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch:
Love Songs by Schumann & Brahms
Tue 29 Mar 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £25 – 85 plus booking fee
Celebrated singers, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Diana Damrau alongside pianist Helmut Deutsch, return to the Barbican following their critically acclaimed performance and brilliant delivery of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in February 2018. This time they will present a selection of love songs by Schumann and Brahms.
Produced by the Barbican
Jess Gillam with Zeynep Özsuca and Sam Becker
Wed 30 Mar 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 40 plus booking fee
Jess Gillam saxophone
Zeynep Özsuca piano
Sam Becker double bass
British saxophonist and presenter Jess Gillam returns to the Barbican performing alongside Turkish pianist Zeynep Özsuca and bassist Sam Becker at Milton Court Concert Hall. A musical force of nature, Jess Gillam has been forging her own adventurous path since she shot to fame becoming the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. Passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music, Gillam and her trio of saxophone, piano, and bass will perform a variety of works featuring a range of styles, moods, and influences from Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Astor Piazzolla to Meredith Monk and Philip Glass.
Produced by the Barbican
Aldous Harding
Wed 30 & Thu 31 Mar 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding, alongside her band, makes her Barbican debut in March 2022. The two shows will feature material from her three studio albums to date.
Harding, whose music has been described as ‘disquietingly beautiful and unsettling as her image’ by the Guardian, drew critical acclaim for the gothic indie folk style on her eponymous self-titled 2014 debut album. Her two follow-up albums – 2017’s Party and 2019's Designer – were released on British independent label 4AD. Both records were co-produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse).
Produced by the Barbican in association with Bird On The Wire
Sat 2 Apr 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £17.50 – 22.50 plus booking fee
Marking the release of her memoir, Wayward: Just Another Life to Live, English singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan performs a career retrospective concert alongside an ensemble led by Fiona Brice at the Barbican in April 2022. The programme will include material from her 1970 debut album Just Another Diamond Day, which later acquired a cult following despite its poor commercial success when it first came out.
Vashti’s memoir, Wayward: Just Another Life to Live, is her first book and tells the story of her debut album, which was written during a 1968 road trip from London to the Outer Hebrides, undertaken by horse and wagon. The book describes how she learned to take back control of her own life, and revived a career – after a gap of thirty years – that saw her release two more albums: 2005’s Lookaftering and 2014’s Heartleap.
Produced by the Barbican
Joyce DiDonato: EDEN
Tue 5 & Wed 6 Apr 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 65 plus booking fee
Joyce DiDonato executive producer and mezzo-soprano
Maxim Emelyanychev conductor
il Pomo d’Oro orchestra
Marie Lambert-Le Bihan stage director
Vita Tzykun scenic and costume designer
John Torres lighting designer
World-renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to the Barbican, focusing her creative vision and artistry on a new project and passion: EDEN. Exploring the majesty, might, and mystery of Nature through both arresting and evocative music and theatrical effects, DiDonato will take the viewer on an emotional journey to reconnect to the power and fragility of Nature, and explore our place within the kaleidoscopic, wondrous world around us at a time when it is needed most. DiDonato is joined by her long-term musical partners, il Pomo d’Oro led by conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, as well as the French stage director Marie Lambert-Le Bihan.
Produced by the Barbican
Circuit des Yeux
with LCO Soloists
Wed 6 Apr 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £18 plus booking fee
Celebrated figure in the Chicago experimental music scene, composer Haley Fohr brings her longstanding project Circuit des Yeux to the Barbican’s music programme in April 2022. She will be presenting material from her upcoming new album -io (out on Matador on 22 Oct 2021), brought to live by soloists from the London Contemporary Orchestra. -io is Fohr’s first Circuit des Yeux album in four years, following 2017’s Reaching for Indigo.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Bird on the Wire
Vivaldi: Sacred and Secular
Sat 9 Apr 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 2pm & 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 45 plus booking fee
Accademia Bizantina
Ottavio Dantone director
John Holiday countertenor
American countertenor John Holiday left an unforgettable impression on audiences at the Sound Unbound festival in 2019 with his rich sound. Now the singer returns to the Barbican’s music programme for a day of music by Antonio Vivaldi. Together with Accademia Bizantina and director Ottavio Dantone, Holiday explores Vivaldi’s sacred and secular music, including Stabat Mater, The Four Seasons, Nisi Dominus, and parts of L’Estro Armonico. A panel discussion between the Sacred and Secular parts of the day gives further insight into Vivaldi’s life and work.
Produced by the Barbican
Thu 14 Apr 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm,
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
Grouper is a recording and performing project by Liz Harris. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast. At the Barbican in April 2022, she will present material from her 12th full-length album, Shade, which will be out on 22 October 2021 on Kranky. The new album is a collection of songs spanning 15 years, featuring themes of respite, and the coast, poetically and literally. Songs touch on loss, flaws, hiding places, love, with deep connections to the Bay Area, and the North Coast, with its unique moods of solitude, beauty, and isolation. Grouper returns to the Barbican’s music programme following her appearance in December 2017.
Produced by the Barbican
ECHO Rising Stars: Simply Quartet
Fri 22 Apr 2022, LSO St Luke’s, 1pm
Tickets £12 plus booking fee
Simply Quartet
Danfeng Shen violin
Antonia Rankersberger violin
Xiang Lyu viola
Ivan Valentin Hollup Roald cello
Named ‘one of the brightest quartets of its generation’ by cellist Vladimir Balshin of the Borodin Quartet, Simply Quartet have gone from strength to strength since their formation in Shanghai in 2008. The quartet will bring works by Webern, Julia Lacherstorfer and Béla Bartók to their ECHO Rising Stars performance at LSO St Luke’s.
Produced by the Barbican
Supported by the Rainbow Dickinson Trust
New Rituals: Ryoichi Kurokawa + Nkisi
Sat 23 Apr 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £15 – 20 plus booking fee
New Rituals returns to the Barbican’s music programme with the UK premieres of two transformative audio-visual performances, exploring identity and spirituality in the post-digital age.
First up will be subassemblies in which Ryoichi Kurokawa digitally reconstructs ruins of nature and architecture, followed by the intense and powerful sonics of electronic musician Nkisi, who mixes improvisation, trance and African Cosmology in her visceral performance, Invisible Gestures.
Berlin-based Japanese artist Ryoichi Kurokawa is a poet of transformative cinema, bringing analogue and natural imagery into digital platforms. In this special Barbican date he uses 3D-imaging, thermal image and film to explore the relationship between architecture and its surroundings; human-made structures and nature.
Berlin and London-based Congolese-Belgian artist Nkisi takes from both her Congolese heritage and club music such as gabber and hardcore in her signature sound. Here she draws on her research into vibrational rhythm and ancient Kongo traditions, connecting with the audience: sound materialises as vibrational fields and visuals move through the space.
New Rituals is an event series curated by Estela Oliva – a London-based artist and curator exploring the intersection of art and technology.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Clon
Hermeto Pascoal
with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra
Thu 5 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £25 – 35 plus booking fee
Brazilian composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and cultural icon Hermeto Pascoal brings his wizardry to the Barbican alongside the mighty National Youth Jazz Orchestra in Pascoal’s first Barbican performance since 2016. Often referred to as ‘O Bruxo’ (or ‘The Sorcerer’) for his mastery and appearance, Pascoal is known for his commitment to his music and to authenticity – and for transforming everyday objects into extraordinary compositions, whether through squeaky toys, old teapots or his trusty accordion. Backed by some of the brightest young jazz musicians in the country, this is an opportunity to see the iconic meet the future of contemporary jazz music in a concert that will continue to trace, as Andrew Connell writes for Far Out Recordings, one performer’s “quest for a personal subjectivity unbound by traditional representations of Brazilian identity.”
Produced by the Barbican
Shards
Fri 6 May 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 plus booking fee
Vocal group Shards combine close choral arrangement with synths and percussion to explore the remarkable capabilities of the human voice. With compositions built as ‘miniature sonic paintings’ to examine excitement, existentialism, anger and despair, Shards work captures the bewildering experiences of young adulthood, led by founder and composer Kieran Brunt. Having debuted at Nils Frahm’s Possibly Colliding marathon weekend at the Barbican in 2016, this delayed-performance comes following subsequent collaborations with Frahm, and the group’s debut album Find Sound.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Parallel Lines
Andris Nelsons: the Strauss Project, with Yuja Wang
Mon 9 & 10 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 75 plus booking fee
The Barbican Centre and the Southbank Centre form a special partnership to bring conductor Andris Nelsons and his two orchestras from both sides of the Atlantic to London for a series of four concerts in 2022: Nelsons conducts the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig at the Barbican on 9 and 10 May, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on 12 and 13 May in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in an exploration into the orchestral music of Richard Strauss.
“Following a period of great artistic deprivation due to the pandemic, this project is a sign of hope and togetherness”, said Andris Nelsons. The alliance between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig was formed under Andris Nelsons’ direction in 2017. It is a multidimensional collaboration designed to create opportunities for the two orchestras and their respective audiences. In addition to new commissions and learning programmes, they have been celebrating their shared mutual heritage while also shedding light on the traditions of each ensemble and the cities they are proud to call home. Both orchestras also have a strong history of performing Strauss’ music – and were also conducted by the composer himself.
The Barbican concerts feature Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Richard Strauss’ Macbeth, Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Ein Heldenleben (9 May) and Burleske, featuring pianist Yuja Wang, Don Juan and Also Sprach Zarathustra (10 May).
Produced by the Barbican in partnership with Southbank Centre, KD SCHMID and Askonas Holt.
Fidelio: Insula orchestra / accentus / Laurence Equilbey
Wed 11 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 45 plus booking fee
Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio
Insula orchestra, accentus choir and Music Director Laurence Equilbey return to the Barbican with Beethoven’s only opera: Fidelio. In this work about justice and liberty, the courageous Léonore, disguised as a man, attempts to free her husband after he was arbitrarily imprisoned for political gain. The role of Florestan will be performed for the first time by Stanislas de Barbeyrac, whilst Sinéad Campbell-Wallace sings in the role of Léonore. The performance is semi-staged by David Bobée.
Produced by the Barbican
Paul Lewis: A 50th Birthday Celebration
Thu 19 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 50 plus booking fee
In May, the Barbican joins in on the 50th birthday celebrations for pianist Paul Lewis, one of the leading musicians of his generation. Bookended by Beethoven’s piano sonatas Pathétique and Appassionata, repertoire for which Lewis is perhaps best known, the recital also includes Sibelius’ Six Bagatelles, Chopin’s Polonaise-fantasie as well as the UK premiere of a new work by Austrian composer Thomas Larcher.
Produced by the Barbican
Hannah Peel and Paraorchestra with Charles Hazlewood
Sat 21 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 25 plus booking fee & £12.50 (livestream)
This special Barbican performance, which will also be livestreamed to a global audience, features The Unfolding, a major new work by Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and broadcaster Hannah Peel, commissioned by Paraorchestra and co-commissioned by the Barbican. It will be performed with Paraorchestra, featuring a 14-piece ensemble of acoustic and electronic instruments as well as human voice, under Award-winning British conductor Charles Hazlewood. The Unfolding takes a cyclical journey from the very atoms of human existence and the awakening of life, through to our eventual re-folding back into the elements. Also part of the evening’s programme is a new commission from Bristol-based composer and Associate Music Director for Paraorchestra, Lloyd Coleman. Latent Bloom is a work inspired by the wondrous beauty and complexity of algorithms – on every aspect of today’s world. The piece takes it title from a recent work by award-winning photographer Jack Latham, in which the organic nature of algorithms is visualised through manipulated images of flowers.
Hannah Peel and Paraorchestra recorded The Unfolding in March 2021 and the new album is due for release on Real World Records in Spring 2022. It follows the huge success of Hannah’s 2021 Mercury Award nominated album Fir Wave.
Paraorchestra create large scale and dynamic music experiences, blending artforms and technology to create innovative new ways of experiencing orchestral music. Their ensembles feature professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, playing a mix of analogue, digital, and assistive instruments. Paraorchestra are not only radically changing who connects with orchestral music, but, shifting the perception of disability by removing the outdated barriers that too often prevent a showcase of excellence in disabled players.
Produced and co-commissioned by the Barbican
Novo Amor
Mon 23 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
Welsh multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and sound designer Novo Amor aka Ali Lacey will make his Barbican debut in spring 2022. Performing with his full band, he will present material from his 2018 debut album Birthplace, 2020 album Cannot Be, Whatsoever (AllPoints) as well as music from his earlier catalogue.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Communion
Jeremy Denk Plays Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1
Tue 24 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 50 plus booking fee
Jeremy Denk, one of America’s foremost pianists, winner of both a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, comes to the Barbican for a recital in May. He performs the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, one of the key works in the history of classical music. The recital coincides with the publication of Denk’s memoir in the UK: in Every Good Boy Does Fine, Denk traces his own artistic journey and explores the power and meaning of classical music, and what it can teach us about ourselves.
Produced by the Barbican
John McLaughlin
Sat 28 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Tickets £20 – 35 plus booking fee
Influential jazz guitarist, bandleader and composer, John McLaughlin returns to the Barbican in May 2022. The Grammy-Award winner will be joined by an all-star band, The 4th Dimension, which brings together musicians from different cultures and musical traditions. Their music integrates all of the group’s cultural influences in a unique way, whilst preserving the spontaneity of jazz.
The band-line-up includes versatile instrumentalist Gary Husband who switches from keyboard to drums with ease and who has worked with many well-known musicians such as Jeff Beck and Gary Moore; Mumbai-based Ranjit Barot who has worked with Bill Evans and Scott Kinsey and one of today’s world's finest bass players Étienne M'Bappé, who has performed with Ray Charles, Salif Keita and Joe Zawinul.
McLaughlin has worked with virtually all international jazz greats, but one thing has always guided him: respect and openness towards other directions, forms of expression, styles and cultures.
Produced by the Barbican
Lise Davidsen & Freddie De Tommaso & James Baillieu
Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight
Mon 30 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 50
Lisa Davidsen soprano
Freddie De Tommaso tenor
James Baillieu piano
In the second concert of her Artist Spotlight series at the Barbican, Lise Davidsen performs again in recital alongside promising young tenor Freddie De Tommaso with the duo accompanied by leading international pianist James Baillieu in a programme of aria and song. With a breadth of music ranging from the romance of Verdi, to the power of Wagner, to the charm of Carl Loewe this recital’s programme will take audiences on a journey through the ages – guided by Davidsen, De Tommaso and Baillieu.
Produced by the Barbican
Lise Davidsen Masterclass
Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight
Tue 31 May 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 10am
Tickets £10 plus booking fee
Lise Davidsen imparts her knowledge and experience to Guildhall School of Music & Drama musicians, as she leads a masterclass with the singers of tomorrow. The vocalists will perform German and Nordic songs and German, Italian and English opera repertoire, garnering the technical expertise from the soprano.
Tai Murray & Martin Roscoe
Tue 31 May 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 – 40 plus booking fee
Tai Murray violin
Martin Roscoe piano
Elegant performance and fierce musicality define violinist Tai Murray, who returns to Milton Court Concert Hall following her pre-pandemic appearance during the Barbican’s Beethoven Weekender in Feb 2020. This time around, Murray, who will be accompanied by pianist Martin Roscoe, blends the romance of Schubert and Clara Schumann, with the minimalism and modernity of John Adams and Arvo Pärt.
Produced by the Barbican
Oslo Philharmonic / Klaus Mäkelä / Lise Davidsen
Part of Lise Davidsen Artist Spotlight
Fri 3 Jun 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £15-55 plus booking fee
The renowned Oslo Philharmonic returns in June to perform together with Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, as part of her Artist Spotlight at the Barbican. The programme includes Alban Berg’s Seven early songs, which Berg wrote between 1905 and 1908, during his studies with Schoenberg, and the orchestra also performs the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10, as well as Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. This concert will be part of the Orchestra’s first tour with Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä who is now in his second season as the Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor. Mäkelä has recently recorded a complete Sibelius Symphony cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic as his first project for Decca Classics, to be released in 2022.
Produced by the Barbican
William Basinski with the London Contemporary Orchestra
The Disintegration Loops
Thu 9 Jun 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £20 – 27.50 plus booking fee
American avant-garde composer, sound sculptor and video artist William Basinski celebrates the twentieth anniversary of his career-defining four-volume album The Disintegration Loops with the London Contemporary Orchestra performing an orchestral arrangement of it in this special evening at the Barbican in June. Also part of the concert will be a solo performance by Basinski of his 2020’s mournful Lamentations.
Basinski is a relentless experimentalist, obsessed with reel-to-reel tape decks, the merging of splices of tape, loops and delay. The Disintegration Loops was born literally from disintegrating tape loops slowly deteriorating as they passed over a tape head – the unexpected result of Basinski's attempt to transfer his earlier recordings to digital format, resulting in ambient waves of sound.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Baba Yaga’s Hut
SFJAZZ Collective: New Works Reflecting the Moment
Featuring Gretchen Parlato, Chris Potter, David Sánchez, Etienne Charles, Warren Wolf, Edward Simon, Matt Brewer, Martin Luther McCoy and Kendrick A.D. Scott
Sat 25 Jun 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm, Tickets £20 – 35 plus booking fee
SFJAZZ Collective return to the Barbican after more than 15 years in summer 2022, bringing their latest project, which focuses on new compositions by the band inspired by and in response to the extraordinary social and global issues we have faced over the last year. Founded in 2004, the SFJAZZ Collective is a leaderless group and a democratic composers’ workshop that represents what’s happening in jazz right now. Their mission is to perform fresh arrangements of works by the greatest figures in jazz and newly commissioned pieces by each member. The current band line-up features new members Gretchen Parlato (vocals), Chris Potter (music director, tenor & soprano saxophones) and Kendrick A. D. Scott (drums) alongside David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Etienne Charles (trumpet), Warren Wolf (vibraphone), Edward Simon (piano), Matt Brewer (bass) and Martin Luther McCoy (vocals/guitar).
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
London Symphony Orchestra
In Music Director Sir Simon Rattle’s programmes, the LSO plays music from Sibelius Symphony No 2 and No 7, Brahms Symphony No 2, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin and Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, Little Threepenny Music, and Death in the Forest, to Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and An American in Paris and John Adams, the London premiere of his 2019 work I Still Dance. LSO Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda, François-Xavier Roth and LSO conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas return to the Barbican, the former continuing his exploration of Shostakovich symphonies, alongside other Russian greats – Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev – and Beethoven.
In March the LSO marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Barbican with a performance of Haydn’s Creation with an all-star line-up of singers, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, with a celebration of our young composers and instrumentalists in the foyers beforehand.
Sir Antonio Pappano, the LSO’s Chief Conductor Designate from 2023, conducts two programmes with a distinctly Italian flavour in June. And we look forward to welcoming many more guest conductors Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Dima Slobodeniouk, Nathalie Stutzman, Xian Zhang and leading soloists to join us on the Barbican stage between January and July, including renowned gospel composer and conductor André J Thomas, for a special programme celebrating the tradition of gospel music, and singer conductor Barbara Hannigan, whose concerts in February showcase music for the theatre, taking listeners on a journey from Paris to America.
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, the BBC Symphony Orchestra open their season with Total Immersion: Music for the End of Time – a day of music written in the prisons and ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe, telling the story of creativity against all odds (23 Jan). The second Total Immersion of the season focuses on the world and music of Frank Zappa (19 Mar, also livestreamed)
In the BBC’s centenary year, Semyon Bychkov conducts a concert to mark 100 years of the BBC looking back to the year the BBC was founded, and forward to the music of the coming century. It was in 1922 that Ravel turned to Mussorgsky’s monumental piano work Pictures at an Exhibition, reimaging the piece for orchestra. The concert includes two UK premieres by Bryce Dessner of American rock band The National’s fame, and Thomas Larcher’s Piano Concerto (11 Feb).
Chief Conductor, Sakari Oramo, leads the BBC SO and Jonathan Biss in a programme comprising the UK premiere of Brett Dean’s response to Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, and the UK premiere of one of Beethoven’s last completed works, the Große Fugue, in its full orchestra arrangement by Manuel Hidalgo.
Conductors Eva Ollikainen and Jordan De Souza have their debuts with the BBC SO, whilst the orchestra celebrates fifty years of collaboration with former Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, and 40 years of the Barbican Centre in a concert where brutalism meets orchestral beauty.
A host of world-class musicians join the BBC SO across the season including Nicola Benedetti for Korngold’s Violin Concerto (8 Apr), Stephen Hough for Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, James Ehnes for Berg’s Violin Concerto (18 Feb) and Nikolai Lugansky for Medtner’s Piano Concerto No.3 (6 May).
Continuing the BBC SO’s reputation for presenting the work of acclaimed writers in an orchestral setting, novelist, poet, playwright and best-selling author Zadie Smith joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra to curate an evening of her writing and the music that has shaped and inspired her (22 Apr, also livestreamed).
Ryan Wigglesworth returns to conduct Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.4 and a brand-new piano concerto by Tristan Murail with pianist François-Frédéric Guy (13 May).
The BBC Symphony Chorus unite with the BBC SO across the season, in a selection of a capella orthodox music under Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska (4 Feb), with Martyn Brabbins and soprano Elizabeth Watts for Vaughan Williams’ ground-breaking orchestral score performed with a screening of the film Scott of the Antarctic (11 Mar) and a programme of Brahms and Tchaikovsky under Nathalie Stutzmann in her debut with the BBC SO (18 May).
www.bbc.co.uk/symphonyorchestra
Academy Of Ancient Music
New Worlds: Travelogue
Fri 18 Feb 2022, 7.30pm – Milton Court
Laurence Cummings, Anna Dennis, Thomas Walker and AAM follow the 17th century adventures of Nicholas Lanier, the first Master of the King’s Music who forever changed the course of British music when he embarked on a voyage across Europe.
New Worlds: Exile
Thu 10 Mar 2022, 7.30pm – Milton Court
Superstar mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg, Laurence Cummings and AAM follow Joseph Haydn to 18th century London, in a concert of thrilling emotional extremes featuring some of the composer's most enduring and imaginative music.
ST John Passion
Fri 15 Apr 2022, 2.30pm – Barbican Hall
On Good Friday, Laurence Cummings and AAM bring all their insight and commitment to the rarely heard 1725 version of JS Bach’s St John Passion, a towering and intensely human version of the Passion story.
New Worlds: LA Turquie
Thu 19 May 2022, 7.30pm – Milton Court
Peter Whelan directs AAM in the glitter and pomp of the French court, as Lully, Rameau and their contemporaries look East and evoke the world of the Ottoman Empire from a very French perspective.
New Worlds: Genius
Fri 1 Jul 2022, 7.30pm – Barbican Hall
Laurence Cummings closes his first season as AAM Music Director with Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ symphony, played with all the clarity and verve of a virtuoso period-instrument orchestra. First, though, a flourish of end-of-season fireworks as Cummings joins former AAM Music Director Richard Egarr and Mozartian extraordinaire Robert Levin in a joyous triple concerto.
Britten Sinfonia
Britten Sinfonia starts its Barbican Spring 2022 concert series exploring the noises of the city and the sounds of the natural world, and ends with the orchestra joining Opera Rara for the first performance in over 200 years of Italian composer Saverio Mercadante’s opera, Il Proscritto. Along the way, Britten Sinfonia and tenor Ian Bostridge shine a light on the influence of folk song and dance on 20th and 21st century composers in a concert curated and conducted by James MacMillan, and Mark Elder conducts a rare performance of Sāvitri, Gustav Holst’s Mahabharata-inspired 1909 chamber opera.
As part of Barbican @ 40 celebrations, Britten Sinfonia performs Steve Reich’s pulsating City Life (1995), where samples of speech, heartbeats and sounds from urban life are part of the fabric of the piece. Brett Dean’s Pastoral Symphony (2000) is about the threat facing “glorious birdsong...and the soulless noise that we're left with when they're all gone.” A new work by Dobrinka Tabakova, co-commissioned with the Barbican, completes the programme. Jonathan Bloxham conducts. (Fri 4 Mar, Milton Court)
Tenor Ian Bostridge and James MacMillan join the orchestra for a concert centred on the influence of folk music on composers. Music includes a new arrangement of MacMillan’s Three Scottish Songs, settings of poems by Scottish poet William Soutar, and the reflective A Meditation on Iona, alongside folk song arrangements by Britten, Grainger, Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances and a new arrangement of Bartok’s Burlesque from his String Quartet No. 6 (Thu 17 Mar, Milton Court)
Two opera rarities complete the season. Britten Sinfonia and Mark Elder join forces with Pagrav Dance Company and leading kathak choreographer Urja Desai Thakore to bring to life Holst’s chamber opera Sāvitri. Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge takes the title role in this new interpretation of Holst’s musing on love and death that takes inspiration from the Mahabharata tale of Sāvitri's battle to save her husband. Holst’s setting of hymns from one of Hinduism’s most important works, the Rig Veda, alongside music by Grace Williams and Benjamin Britten and Jacqueline Shave’s longstanding duo with tabla virtuoso Kuljit Bhamra complete the programme. (Wed 4 May, Barbican Hall).
Opera Rara Artistic Director and 19th century opera specialist Carlo Rizzi conducts Britten Sinfonia and an exceptional cast in the first performance since its Naples premiere in 1842 of the prolific Italian composer Saverio Mercadante’s Il Proscritto, restored from its original manuscript. (Tue 28 Jun, Barbican Hall). www.brittensinfonia.com
Annikaisa Vainio-Miles, Senior Communications Manager : 020 7382 7090, [email protected]
Sabine Kindel, Communications Manager: 020 7382 6199, [email protected]
Edward Maitland Smith, Communications Officer : 020 7382 6196, [email protected]
