Barbican Centre News

A long-standing leader in the production game, NATIVE INSTRUMENTS is an innovative organisation with a hands on approach to education and development. Already a globally revered brand, Native Instruments are cementing their place in London with the next Native Sessions event - 'BARS,' focussed on grime, rap, MC culture and more - the ultimate LDN sound. P Money, Ms Banks, Steel Banglez, Jaykae, DJ Target, Sir Spyro, and Flowdan are some of those taking part in workshops, Q&As, roundtables and live shows throughout the evening - figures responsible for shaping our underground sound. 'Native Sessions : BARS' takes place on April 11th at London's iconic Barbican Centre, and tickets are FREE via Eventbrite, grab one here : http://bit.ly/barsldn

György Ligeti's life was filled with drama. He escaped Nazi extermination in a Jewish labor camp and eventually fled totalitarian oppression at the hands of the liberating Soviets in Hungary. His music's dense melodic webs and conflicting rhythms-along with a host of other experimental sounds, shapes, and forms-embody the dreams, fantasies, and nightmares of a life lived on the edge.

Daniele Rustioni leads the Opéra National de Lyon's 2018 Festival in three operas by Giuseppe Verdi, March 16 through April 6, 2018. In celebration of Rustioni's first season at the Opéra de Lyon's principal conductor, Opéra de Lyon has dedicated its annual festival to the works of Verdi, which have played an essential role in Rustioni's career. The 2018 Festival explores themes of power, politics, corruption, and hope with three of Verdi's less-often performed operas: Macbeth, the 1867 Paris Version of Don Carlos sung in the original French, and Attila. Rustioni will conduct the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra and Chorus in all the festival performances.

Iconic American singer, songwriter and performer Don McLeanis set to release his new album Botanical Gardens on March 23, 2018 via BMG. Don is set to appear on BBC Breakfast Thursday, March 15 along with multiple BBC radio stations and Absolute Radio in the U.K.

The ninth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, concludes with a co-presentation by the Philharmonic and National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, featuring Musicians from the New York Philharmonic performing works by emerging Russian composers: Dmitri Kourliandski's Voice-off, with vocalist Ethan Hayden in his Philharmonic debut, and the U.S. Premieres of Denis Khorov's Barcarolle, Marina Khorkova's VORderGRENZE, Alexander Khubeev's Ghost of Dystopia, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, and Nikolay Popov's Nibiru 20/13. Hosted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the concert will take place on Monday, April 2, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at National Sawdust.

St. Ann's Warehouse and Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens present the American Premiere of Nikos Karathanos' The Birds, a modern, feast-for-the-senses adaptation of Aristophanes' offbeat and poetic comedy.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents LA Phil/Beth Morrison Projects: PLACE on Monday, March 5, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents LA Phil/Beth Morrison Projects: PLACE on Monday, March 5, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, the powerhouse pop-jazz phenomenon that has toured the world on the strength of its extraordinary music videos and huge followings on YouTube and Facebook, will tour the UK throughout February and March in support of its first live album. Entitled The New Classics, the 12-track CD is set for release on February 16th via Concord Records and Postmodern Jukebox Records.

This may be the first time in the U.S. that 3-D glasses will be handed out to patrons as they enter an opera house. The fourth production of The Dallas Opera's decidedly adventurous 61st Season is SUNKEN GARDEN, an opera by Dutch composer/director Michel van der Aa with a libretto by acclaimed Science Fiction novelist David Mitchell.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents three concerts from Artists-in-Residence, Calder Quartet, on February 25, March 11 and April 29.  This inventive and passionate quartet explores the profound beauty of Beethoven's String Quartets paired with classical and contemporary works. This will be the third and final year of the Calder Quartet residency at The Broad Stage.

Split Britches present an up-to-the minute topical interactive show which takes unexploded ordnances as a metaphor for the unexplored potential in us all - particularly elders - and tries to uncover it. Legendary performance duo Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver evoke the Cold War paranoia of Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove to seek solutions to the problems keeping us awake at night, as the audience counts down the final hour to doomsday on their phones.

See Star Wars: A New Hope with full live orchestral accompaniment for the first time ever in the UK this November, as it comes to the Royal Albert Hall. The most requested title in Films in Concert history arrives for five performances, with John Williams' iconic score performed live on stage by the acclaimed London Symphony Orchestra, who played on the original soundtrack in 1977.

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) continues its Spring 2018 Music Series on Thursday, February 22, 2018 at 7:30pm with a presentation of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time conceived and directed by Sarah Rothenberg with lighting designed by Jennifer Tipton, performed in BAC's Jerome Robbins Theater. An all-star ensemble of instrumentalists - Joshua Rubin, clarinet; Geoff Nuttall, violin; Christopher Costanza, cello; and Sarah Rothenberg, piano - bring to life this timeless work, which Messiaen wrote and premiered in 1941 while in confinement at a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany during World War II.

Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) is proud to announce the fourth group of composers for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Launched in 2015, Kronos' Fifty for the Future is an exciting partnership with Carnegie Hall and others to create 50 new works - by 25 women and 25 men - expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. Each year, ten composers are announced. As ever, scores, parts, recordings, videos, and other learning materials for the compositions will be offered free of charge online at kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future. 

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) continues its Spring 2018 Music Series on Thursday, February 22, 2018 at 7:30pm with a presentation of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time conceived and directed by Sarah Rothenberg with lighting designed by Jennifer Tipton, performed in BAC's Jerome Robbins Theater. An all-star ensemble of instrumentalists - Joshua Rubin, clarinet; Geoff Nuttall, violin; Christopher Costanza, cello; and Sarah Rothenberg, piano - bring to life this timeless work, which Messiaen wrote and premiered in 1941 while in confinement at a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany during World War II.

Set to unfold within two of the UK's last remaining traditional sari shops, Rasa Theatre and Contact present HANDLOOMS, written by Rani Moorthy and directed by Alan Lane (Slung Low). Exploring the sari from a rarely-taken male perspective, this immersive performance will be performed inside working businesses Alankar House of Sarees in the heart of Manchester's Curry Mile and Anokhi House of Sarees in Leicester to give audiences a close encounter with a world that is slowly dying out.

The closing concert of Orchestra of St. Luke's 2017-2018 Carnegie Hall Series will take place on Thursday, February 15 at 8 PM at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Robert Spano leads the Ensemble in a program highlighted by two works considered signal achievements of their respective forms: Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, 'Emperor,' with guest artist Jeremy Denk. The world premiere of Bryce Dessner's Voy a dormir features mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor making her Orchestra of St. Luke's debut, in a work Dessner created for her.

The New York Philharmonic announces Foreign Bodies, a one-night-only multidisciplinary event conducted and hosted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, concluding his tenure as The Marie-Jos e Kravis Composer-in-Residence. The concert, Friday, June 8, 2018, at 8:00 p.m., will feature Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies, accompanied by the World Premiere of a live video installation by Tal Rosner; Dan el Bjarnason's Violin Concerto, with Pekka Kuusisto in his New York Philharmonic debut; and Obsidian Tear, a dance work choreographed by Wayne McGregor performed by members of the Boston Ballet (Philharmonic debut) and set to Mr. Salonen's Nyx and Lachen verlernt. Foreign Bodies will be casual and multi-sensory; drinks and conversation will flow as attendees mingle with the performers, who will give additional impromptu performances throughout the event.

Crossing between illusion and theatre, Philipp Oberlohr's thrilling new production Das Fest is the surreal sequel to his interactive Das Spiel, which premiered at Ovalhouse and sold out at VAULT Festival in 2016 winning the People's Choice Award. Das Fest meaningfully engages audiences, delving into their beliefs, memories and realities.