Kings Place
Theatre of Voices, Kings Place review - fluidity and dynamism in StockhausenSaturday, 10 February 2018
The last time Theatre of Voices performed Stockhausen’s STIMMUNG in London was at the Albert Hall, at a late night Prom in 2008, so Kings Place made for a much more intimate setting. In fact, the work, which is for six unaccompanied voices, relies... Read more... |
Colin Currie Group, Kings Place review - dynamism and detail in Steve ReichMonday, 22 January 2018
Colin Currie is increasingly coming to be seen as Steve Reich’s representative on Earth. His Colin Currie Group was founded in 2006 for a Proms performance of Reich’s Drumming and has gone from strength to strength, now touring the world with Reich’... Read more... |
Coates, Tenebrae, Short, Kings Place review - effective meeting of cello and choirMonday, 18 December 2017
This time of year lots of choirs give lots of Christmas concerts that are more or less the same: traditional repertoire perhaps sprinkled with a few novelties. But Tenebrae’s concert on Saturday at Kings Place broke the mould with some imaginative... Read more... |
Labèques, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings Place review - good-natured Schubert and Mozart delightSaturday, 25 November 2017
The Aurora Orchestra at Kings Place last night showcased both the best and worst things about attending live concerts, with the pros outweighing the cons. Early on, extraneous noise made me long for the pure listening experience of a good pair of... Read more... |
Schubert Ensemble, Kings Place review - spot-on introductions, dazzling performancesFriday, 10 November 2017
To demonstrate what makes chamber masterpieces tick and then to play them, brilliantly, is a sequence which ought to happen more often. Perhaps too many musicians think their eloquence is confined to their instruments. Not violinist Simon Blendis... Read more... |
London Piano Festival, Kings Place review - feasts of fearless fingerworkTuesday, 10 October 2017
What has 12 hands, 18 legs, 176 keys and two page-turners? Party night at the London Piano Festival, of course. The six-pianist, two-piano marathon on Saturday evening was a high point of this delectable four-day event – though far from the only one... Read more... |
Vindauga (Wind Eye) featuring Sam Lee, Kings PlaceMonday, 05 June 2017
It’s the seventh Songlines Encounters festival, with musical meetings ranging from Portugal (Thursday’s Ricardo Ribeiro) to India (Friday’s Bollywood Brass Band with South Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth). Its closing Saturday night saw English... Read more... |
Wosner, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings PlaceSaturday, 06 May 2017
For most pianists, playing the Ligeti Piano Concerto would be enough exertion for one night, to be followed by a stiff drink and some down time. Not for the tireless Shai Wosner at Kings Place last night. By the time the Ligeti came along, not only... Read more... |
Gerhardt, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings PlaceMonday, 09 January 2017
What's not to like, or love, would have to be the sensible response to both the opening programme of Kings Place's year-long Cello Unwrapped festival at Kings Place and its life-enhancing execution. Symmetries abounded – between Alban Gerhardt's... Read more... |
Natalie Clein: 'The cello is part of my being'Friday, 06 January 2017
The cello is so deeply engrained in my fingers, my imagination, it’s part of my being – my life would feel amputated without it. You fall in love with the instrument, the music, and then you embark on the life-long task of trying to get closer to... Read more... |
The Sixteen, Kings PlaceFriday, 04 November 2016
And so it comes to an end. Six months, 33 concerts, and many miles of travelling later, The Sixteen’s annual Choral Pilgrimage is now finished for another year. With so many concerts it’s inevitable that the singers’ relationship to the repertoire... Read more... |
First Person: Nico Muhly on music for two pianosTuesday, 04 October 2016
Writing for two pianos is something that – until last year – I had not attempted. I was contacted by Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen, two pianists who have performed as a duo for many years, asking me to compose a duet for them to perform at the... Read more... |
