Trajal Harrell and Zürich Dance Ensemble Will Perform THE KOLN CONCERT at Sadler’s Wells East

As Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert celebrates its 50th anniversary, internationally acclaimed choreographer Trajal Harrell brings to life the best-selling solo piano recording of all time in collaboration with Zürich Dance Ensemble. Harrell puts Jarrett’s iconic recording to movement, pairing it with four bittersweet songs by Joni Mitchell. Harrell presents the UK premiere of The Köln Concert in the opening programme of Sadler’s Wells East from Friday 4 – Saturday 5 April 2025.  

Arriving at the Cologne Opera on 24 January 1975, pianist Keith Jarrett embarked upon an hour-long improvisation, the recording of which became one of the highest-selling albums in the history of classical music and jazz: ‘The Köln Concert’.   

Harrell sets this iconic recording to movement by drawing on a range of genres and influences, from voguing to contemporary dance, Ancient Greek to Japanese Butoh theatre. Harrell performs on stage alongside New Kyd, Maria Ferreira Silva, Rob Fordeyn, Thibault Lac, Songhay Toldon and Ondrej Vidlar. 

Harrell is the founding director of the Zürich Dance Ensemble Dance Ensemble. He gained international recognition for creating Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church, a series of works that bring together the tradition of voguing - a modern dance style developed in the late 1980s from the Harlem ballroom scene - with early postmodern dance. He is considered to be one of the most important choreographers working in contemporary dance today. 

Harrell is also an artistic advisor on the Rose Choreographic School. The Rose Choreographic School is a new educational facility at Sadler’s Wells East. An experimental research project, its first cohort of 13 dance artists have already embarked on an intensive two-year course to develop their own choreographic practice. 

Ahead of the show’s UK premiere, Trajal Harrell said “I’m excited to bring The Köln Concert to London. I feel there’s a real audience in London that appreciates the work, and I think they’ve been waiting for something so married to an iconic piece of music. So here we go with Keith and Joni.” 

Sadler’s Wells East is a new powerhouse for dance opening in February 2025, situated in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sadler’s Wells East forms part of East Bank, the UK’s newest cultural and educational quarter, alongside the BBC Music Studios, London College of Fashion, UAL, V&A East and UCL East (University College London).  

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