Southbank Centre News

Colette Bailey has been announced today as the new Executive Director of The WOW Foundation, the UK based charity founded by Jude Kelly CBE that runs WOW - Women of the World festivals and events across the globe.

Currently Creative Director at Manchester International Festival (MIF), Mark will join the multi-arts centre in January 2022 and will have overall responsibility for the artistic direction of the largest cultural centre in the UK, leading the organisation as it enters a new era. Mark will report to Elaine Bedell, CEO.

A director with a reputation for developing new writing, Holly directed Headlong's Hedda Tesman by Cordelia Lynn at Chichester Festival Theatre and The Lowry, Salford. She was an Executive Producer on Unprecedented, the BBC Four, Century Films and Headlong critically acclaimed drama anthology, directing House Party by April De Angelis and Penny by Charlene James for the series.

Additionally, Deep Throat Choir have two upcoming UK live appearances, performing at this month’s Green Man Festival and London’s St Pancras Old Church in September. Dates are listed below.

Hagemann Rosenthal Associates has announced their latest double bill composed by Philip Hagemann in association with Pegasus Opera Company. Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son will be staged at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music.

The full cast has been announced for BRING IT ON THE MUSICAL, who will be joining musical theatre and TV star Amber Davies as 'Campbell' and four-time Olympic medallist Louis Smith as 'Cameron'.

Back in 2019, the duo celebrated a decade in the business with PopLab, a tenth anniversary celebration of their wildly popular brand of musical infotainment, and their first brand-new full-length show since 2014.

Brooklyn performance and civic space JACK announces concerts in unusual spaces by acclaimed experimental composer and musician Lea Bertucci. The first, on July 31, involves an afternoon of concerts on the handball courts at Riis Park Beach. The second, on August 14, is a performance in the DUMBO Archway underneath the Manhattan Bridge.

Tickets for Autumn and London Literature Festival go on sale to Members on Tuesday 13 July and on general sale Wednesday 14 July, with the exception of Keep The Receipts which goes on sale at a later date. Learn more here!

Other highlights of the season include Sir András Schiff, one of the most admired musicians of our time, following in Mozart's footsteps, directing from both the piano and the podium in A Feast of Mozart (18 November).

Sandie is a hugely influential business leader and one of the most senior women in Finance —the procurement is an indication of an organisation which has gone from strength to strength in the last decade. Sandie is the first British national and the first Black woman to hold her current role at the World Bank Group. 

Learn more about how to purchase tickets. For Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles, booking opens at 10am on Tuesday 6 July. General booking opens from 10am on Thursday 8 July.

It's not long now until the Roundhouse opens its doors for live audiences for the much anticipated The Last Word Festival. The vibrant and eclectic programme now includes Radio 1 DJ, broadcaster, and best-selling author, Annie Macmanus, with a live recording of her critically-acclaimed podcast Changes.

On Saturday 10th July, Chineke! Orchestra presents its second Royal Festival Hall concert as part of Southbank Centre's Summer Reunion series. Conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren, it features two symphonies by African-American composers and the debut of an exciting emerging pianist on the classical music scene.

The Paper Birds is a multi-award winning devising theatre company with a political and social agenda and a vision to provoke change, one encounter at a time. Following the successful tour of Ask Me Anything in 2020 – cut short by the global pandemic – The Paper Birds continue to engage with young people through The School of Hope (TSoH), a digital arts and global citizenship project for young creatives, aged 13-25.

Taking place between June and autumn 2021, the project is based on the theme of empathy and uses art to address the isolation people under 25 have experienced during the pandemic, increasing the young creatives' wellbeing, sense of purpose and levels of empathy, as well as encouraging them to be socially and politically engaged.

Following the storyline of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, The Secret Garden Experience starts when a 'Secret Box' arrives in the post. Each box contains eight envelopes with eight unique audio episodes and accompanying activities.

Shlomo, who makes mad music with his mouth, is setting out to create the next generation of superstar beatboxers. Anyone can be one of this sonic superhero's sidekicks in a world of funny sounds, brilliant noises, and cool music, whether they're aged 1 or 101!

Psychedelic music has existed in many iterations, and Roscoe Roscoe are the latest to emerge from the prolific UK capital, initially noticed by many for their BBC televised performance at Glastonbury in 2019 despite having no released music.

The world-class performers at Circus 1903 are limbering up in preparation to entertain thousands of people as they flock to the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall this Christmas to marvel at the wonders of the Golden Age of Circus.