Full line-up announced for Sound Unbound: The Barbican Classical Weekender, 29-30 April 2017

The full-line up has just been announced for Sound Unbound, the Barbican Classical Weekender, which returns on 29-30 April 2017, following a hugely successful first outing in 2015. The festival gives audiences the chance to explore new sounds and rediscover familiar ones, from medieval to modern, in a relaxed festival environment, performed by artists for whom the boundaries between classical music and contemporary, experimental and pop music have been blurred – or simply don’t exist.

Weekend highlights: 

   ·         Pianist, producer and composer Chilly Gonzales presents his specially-commissioned ‘Young-ish Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ with Britten Sinfonia

·         Classical meets jazz when celebrated British trumpet player Alison Balsom performs the Gil Evans/Miles Davis reimagining of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez from Sketches of Spain, in a concert with American pianist Timo Andres playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

·         Hum: a new commission from genre-defying British composer, producer and performer Anna Meredith will be presented in the Curve

·         German composer and producer Sven Helbig presents the UK premiere of his new work for choir, visuals and live electronics I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain

·         London-based composer, producer, and founder of the NONCLASSICAL record label Gabriel Prokofiev will host his legendary club nights on both evenings

·         The Barbican Conservatory will be the location for Silent Opera’s Carmen: Remastered, and Michael Gordon’s minimalist masterpiece Timber

·         Renowned Dutch film director Lucas van Woerkum’s stunning film created for Stravinsky’s Firebird will be screened for the first time in the UK alongside a performance of the score by the BBC Symphony Orchestra

·         The London Symphony Orchestra will perform film music by John Williams with pre-recorded introductions from the composer himself between each piece

·         Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen will perform material from her forthcoming album Nordic Noir, with new works from the composers of soundtracks for The Bridge and The Killing

·         Throughout the Barbican’s spaces there will be intimate recitals from some of today’s best-loved classical performers, including American soprano Angel Blue, renowned British countertenor Iestyn Davies, Venezuelan virtuoso pianist Gabriela Montero, and the Kanneh-Mason Trio, led by BBC Young Musician 2016 Sheku Kanneh-Mason     

The Barbican joins forces with its family of orchestras in this ambitious weekend-long project with over 60 short concerts, encompassing nearly 1000 years of music. Alongside new commissions, visitors can also hear some well-known classics, get close to some of the most popular artists of our time and experience a myriad of different musical styles across the ages.

Bringing classical music out of the concert hall

During the weekend, the Barbican opens up its many venues, allowing this unparalleled variety of music and artists to be heard in an unusual range of spaces, and providing the opportunity for informal and close-up musical interactions. The intimate environs of the Pit (the Barbican’s studio theatre) will be home to a number of recitals from soloists and ensembles programmed in association with Boiler Room, including French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau and Sound Unbound favourite, the Calder Quartet. The Barbican Conservatory opens its doors to host Silent Opera’s Carmen: Remastered, allowing the ‘audience’ to wander through one of London’s lushest indoor spaces, immersing themselves, with the help of a pair of headphones, in the passionate love story of Bizet’s most famous opera. Wind-up gramophones will be stationed on the Barbican’s Lakeside Terrace, filling the air with a sound-collage of classical music through the ages, in Revolution 360 – an installation devised by musicians and staff of the Guildhall School's Electronic Music Department. The huge, resonant space of the Curve gallery will be utilized to great effect in Tuning Up, a sound installation for forty helium balloons with harmonicas, devised by Stephen Cornford and Bill Leslie. The BBC Singers will present Choral in the Curve, a short concert of music from the Renaissance to the modern day. Pop-up performances will take place throughout the Barbican’s foyer spaces, with mini-concerts from London’s first pop-up orchestra the Street Orchestra of London, the Academy of Ancient Music’s Wandering Minstrels and even a ‘horn flashmob’, led by Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic. In the Fountain Room professional puppeteers the Armchair Puppets will respond to a performance of Britten’s Cello Suites by cellist Anaïs Laugénie, after which the audience will be invited to create their own shadow puppetry, enacting the shapes and thoughts that come to mind while listening to the Suites.

Classical music and film

In 2017, the Barbican celebrates the medium of film with a “Film in Focus” series across the various artforms. As part of this, Sound Unbound presents the London Symphony Orchestra performing film music by John Williams; pre-recorded introductions from the composer himself will be played between each piece. The LSO has a long history of playing film music and famously recorded Williams’ scores for Star Wars and its sequels, as well as Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and several Harry Potter films. In two Symphonic Cinema sessions, the BBC Symphony Orchestra performs Stravinsky’s ballet score Firebird alongside a stunning film which director Lucas van Woerkum has created specifically to the music and story, and which he will synchronise in live-time to the orchestra’s performance (UK premiere). His novel approach has been described as treating “film as an extra voice in the orchestra” (NRC Handelsblad). Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, who has made a name for herself with her mesmerizingly complex improvisations, will improvise the soundtrack to a silent film, while in The Pit the Calder Quartet will perform Bernard Hermann’s suite from Hitchcock’s Psycho, among classic works for string quartet.  Meanwhile, the Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen will perform material from her forthcoming album Nordic Noir (Decca Records) with the 12 Ensemble, including new works from the composers of soundtracks for The Bridge and The Killing alongside music by Arvo Pärt.

Reimagining the past

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a work that shocked and changed the musical world for ever, can be heard in an arrangement for two pianos, performed by two of the most exciting and innovative young American pianists, Timo Andres and David Kaplan. Bach’s iconic Goldberg Variations appears in an intimate reinvention for string trio, to be performed by players from the Scottish Ensemble. Musicians from the Guildhall School’s Electronic Department will remix Haydn’s Toy Symphony, together with other well-known classical repertoire, in a specially commissioned arrangement for sound-producing electronic toys and devices. In addition, electronic musician Tasos Stamou, who builds his own instruments by ‘hacking’ into second hand toys, old circuit boards and other flea market objects, will demonstrate the new sounds of his ‘instruments’ and lead the audience through an object hacking, allowing them to ‘play’ the objects in the process.  As well as presenting iconic classical works in unusual versions, Sound Unbound has invited young musicians renowned for their contemporary treatment of classical instruments. Versatile viol player and professor of viola da gamba at the Guildhall School Liam Byrne is equally at home performing with the Academy of Ancient Music and with Damon Albarn. French harpsichord prodigy Jean Rondeau will be joined by his flamboyant quartet Ensemble Nevermind in imaginative interpretations of Baroque favourites, while sought-after harpist Remy van Kesteren presents an adventurous programme of harp music intended to banish any preconceptions of the instrument.

Classical music without boundaries

The musicians performing at Sound Unbound, be they established artists or rising stars, are all recognized for their commitment to the continuing renewal of the classical genre. One of the finest examples of this broad musicianship is Canadian pianist and composer Chilly Gonzales, who will present the premiere of his guide to the orchestra in a specially commissioned work with Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Jules Buckley, on the Saturday evening. On Sunday evening Alison Balsom will demonstrate the affinity between classical and jazz styles, alongside American pianist Timo Andres and Britten Sinfonia, in performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and excerpts from Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain. Throughout the weekend the Academy of Ancient Music will prove that old music can sound as fresh as the day it was written, performing a series of concerts featuring famous works including Handel’s Water Music and Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The weekend also features American soprano Angel Blue, who has performed in the English National Opera’s La Bohème as well as alongside Donna Summer and Chaka Khan, acclaimed British countertenor Iestyn Davies in an intimate concert with lute player Thomas Dunford, and the Kanneh-Mason Trio, led by BBC Young Musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Contemporary classical music

The weekend will champion some of today’s finest composers, demonstrating classical music’s evolving dialogue with contemporary styles and with current issues. At LSO St Luke’s, innovative percussionist Joby Burgess performs a session of music by composers including Tansy Davies, Rebecca Dale and Linda Buckley, and Nicole Lizée’s The Filthy Fifteen, a confrontational take on censorship in Reagan’s America. Milton Court will host the BBC Singers performing the UK premiere of German composer and producer Sven Helbig’s I Eat the Sun and Drink the Rain, a new work for choir, visuals and live electronics which explores searching questions about the role of nature and human relationships in a world of artificial intelligence and digital alienation. Experimental British composer Anna Meredith, who moves comfortably between the different worlds of contemporary classical and experimental rock, will present a site-specific commission for the Curve. She will be working with young performers from the Junior Guildhall to create a walk-though installation which weaves the audience through an evolving sound world in the darkened contours of the gallery. Michael Gordon’s minimalist cult classic Timber, a meditation on timbre and rhythm for planks of wood, will be performed in the Conservatory, bringing the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level. On both evenings the Barbican’s Clubstage will be taken over by renowned DJ and composer Gabriel Prokofiev and his celebrated Nonclassical club nights, which showcase the best in contemporary classical, experimental and electronic music.

WHEN

29-30 April 2017

Day passes £25 / Weekend passes £40 plus booking fee*

Early bird day and weekend passes £20/£35 plus booking fee*, limited availability

Young Barbican (14-25) Day passes £10 no booking fee

WHERE

Barbican Centre (Hall, The Pit, Conservatory, The Curve), Milton Court Concert Hall, LSO St Luke’s, St Giles Cripplegate,

London

WHO

The Barbican Classical Weekender is a joint project between the Barbican, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, the Academy of Ancient Music and Guildhall School of Music & Drama.