Press room

Today (27 March 2024) the Barbican has announced new guest performers for Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell, a celebration of the visionary cellist, composer and producer’s life and legacy at the Barbican on Saturday 25 May 2024. The newly-announced line-up includes a stellar array of musicians, from Christine and The Queens and Cate Le Bon to DJ/producers Nabihah Iqbal and Loraine James, plus stars from London’s fertile jazz scene including Sarah Tandy, Sheila Maurice-Grey and tuba sensation Oren Marshall. More special guests will be announced in April.

The line-up now includes: 

• Cate Le Bon
• Christine and the Queens
• Coby Sey
• Loraine James
• Nabihah Iqbal
• Oren Marshall
• Oscar Jerome
• Sarah Tandy
• Sheila Maurice-Grey
• Tawiah
• Trustfall 

The newly-announced performers join Speakers Corner Quartet, who will be serving as “house band”, and cellist Lucinda Chua, who will recreate a crucial part of Russell’s signature sound. 

Following the performance, a post-show DJ set on the Barbican’s ClubStage with JD Twitch (Optimo) will keep the party going.

All the performances have been curated to pay close attention to the nuance and detail of Russell’s rich and varied catalogue, and to produce an event that both honours his restless musical spirit and places it in a vital contemporary context.

Travels Over Feeling also marks the publication of Richard King’s expansive new book of the same name, published by Faber & Faber on 25 April 2024.

Detailed information about the evening can be found below:

Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell: Played by Speakers Corner Quartet and friends

Celebrating the life and work of the musical visionary and cellist Arthur Russell, Speakers Corner Quartet joins forces with cellist and ambient pop artist Lucinda Chua, and a host of musicians working across genres and styles for an evening that marks the publication of Richard King’s expansive new book: Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life (Faber & Faber, 25 April 2024). The evening will also feature performances by Cate Le Bon, Christine and The Queens, Coby Sey, Loraine James, Nabihah Iqbal, Oren Marshall, Oscar Jerome, Sarah Tandy, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Tawiah and Trustfall.

Across a 20-year career, Arthur Russell created a pioneering body of work that defied classification and which continues to influence music to this day. An artist resistant to the idea of genre, his talent allowed him to excel in any number of styles and musical dialogues. For this very special one-off performance, Russell’s music will be performed by Speaker’s Corner Quartet – a close-knit, creatively fluid collective who started out as the house band at an open-mic night in Brixton in 2006 and who return now following a sold-out performance at the Barbican in 2021: Further Out Than The Edge. Speakers Corner Quartet is bassist Peter Bennie, drummer Kwake Bass, flautist Biscuit, and violinist Raven Bush. Lucinda Chua is a singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in South London. Primarily using her voice, a cello, and an array of effects units, Chua writes ambient pop songs that are intimate, atmospheric and enchanting.

King’s book, published by Faber & Faber in 2024, brings together the largely unseen handwritten scores, lyrics, photos, letters, and drawings found in both Russell’s archive and other private collections and includes a wide range of interviews with contemporaries, collaborators, friends and family. In a similar spirit, the concert of Travels Over Feeling has been curated with a close attention to the detail and nuances of Russell’s rich and varied catalogue to produce and event that both honours his restless musical spirit and places it in a vital and contemporary context.

On Arthur Russell: 

‘One of the twentieth-century’s true musical visionaries.’ Guardian

‘One of music’s great lost icons.’ Dazed

‘A kind of deity.’ New Yorker

‘More relevant now than ever.’ Washington Post

Generously supported by Trevor Fenwick and Jane Hindley

Produced by the Barbican in association with Eat Your Own Ears

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