Black Country, New Road to Perform New Arrangements at London Coliseum

On Friday 13 November 2026, alternative rock band Black Country, New Road (BC,NR) will perform a landmark and genre-defying concert at the London Coliseum with the award-winning Orchestra of English National Opera (ENO), curated and conducted by André de Ridder, ENO's Music Director Designate.

Sessions at the London Coliseum signals a bold, boundary-pushing strand of work that places collaboration, experimentation and new voices at its core. It forms part of de Ridder's evolving approach to music programming at ENO – one that seeks to bring together artists from across the musical world, unlock new creative collaborations, and expand what audiences can expect to experience on the London Coliseum stage and beyond.

This concert is part of ENO's 2026/27 Season, which also includes Angel's Bone, Tosca, Iphigénie en Tauride, Adriana Mater, La traviata, Breaking the Waves, and Trial by Jury & The Zoo at the London Coliseum, alongside Einstein on the Beach at Aviva Studios, Manchester.

BC,NR and André de Ridder have collaborated with a distinguished group of composers and artists to create new arrangements that reveal fresh dimensions of their music, showcasing the Orchestra of ENO's sound in innovative ways. The collaborators include Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire), Josephine Stephenson, and Fiona Brice.

BC,NR comprises Lewis Evans (saxophonist), May Kershaw (keys), Charlie Wayne (drums), Luke Mark (guitar), Tyler Hyde (bass) and Georgia Ellery (violin). Few contemporary bands embody reinvention as boldly and consistently as BC,NR. From their Mercury Prize-nominated debut For the First Time - a restless fusion of jazz, post-rock and klezmer - to the sweeping, chamber-pop intricacy of Ants From Up There (both UK Top 5 albums), the band have continually expanded their sonic world. Their acclaimed Live at Bush Hall marked another striking evolution, earning a five-star review from The Guardian and hailed as a “magical resurgence”. Now, on their third studio album, BC,NR once again push forward with a complete creative reset emerging with a vivid, transformative new chapter that redefines the boundaries of their sound.

For this concert, they will perform new arrangements of songs from their latest studio album, Forever Howlong, featuring 'Forever Howlong', 'Happy Birthday' and 'For the Cold Country'. Their third album marks a bold new chapter with shared vocal and songwriting duties, inventive instrumentation, and expansive arrangements, showcasing a fearless exploration of chamber pop, folk, and prog influences that cements the group as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary rock. Reaching number 3 in the UK's Official Album Charts, Forever Howlong was praised by NME as “a promise from a band who have now thrice proven they're not afraid to take the plunge”.

They are joined for this one-off performance by the Orchestra of ENO, renowned for their versatility of repertoire, providing the musical landscape and emotional richness for ENO productions and collaborations. André de Ridder conducts following the performance with BC,NR and the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland at the National Concert Hall in Dublin in September 2026. Widely acclaimed for his stylistic versatility and bold interpretations, de Ridder works across opera and orchestral music, jazz and electronics, avant-garde experimentation and indie pop. He has also collaborated with Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips and Gorillaz.

Black Country, New Road said: “Performing our music reorchestrated with the Orchestra of ENO at the historic London Coliseum and reuniting with André de Ridder this autumn feels like a natural extension of how we've imagined audiences listening to our sound. We wrote these songs with texture and collaboration in mind, so having the opportunity to perform them with an orchestra – and in a venue as iconic as this – is incredibly exciting.”   

André de Ridder said: “Black Country, New Road are one of the most compelling bands of our time. We have been working together since the pandemic when we recorded an online concert for Other Voices and Haldern Pop Festival. They are an incredibly creative band, a mini orchestra, a real collective of talents and many of them are classically trained, so this this collaboration was a given at some point. Here we are! Working with the band and the musicians of the Orchestra of ENO will open up a new dimension of their music, and we can't wait to share this experience with audiences at the London Coliseum.

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