What's On

Displaying events between 01 November 2024 and 30 November 2024

Chamber Music with Anthony Marwood Violinist Anthony Marwood, William Lawes Chair of Chamber Music, performs works by Beethoven and Brahms alongside Academy students.
In the late 1790s, Beethoven wrote five string trios, of which the Op 8 Serenade is the most extensive. Brahms’ three piano quartets are some of the most frequently performed works in the genre; the third, from 1875, represents the accomplishment of his mature chamber writing. Dates: Fri 01 Booking and More Information
Voices: New Brass Works A showcase of the stylistic variation and versatility of contemporary brass and percussion writing by Academy composers. Dates: Fri 01 Booking and More Information
The Funny Bones with Joe Evans and Ishy Aasgaard The boundaries between ‘popular’ and (in the broadest sense) ‘classical’ are explored in this afternoon’s concert, in arrangements of well-known works from the Americas. ‘Summertime’ has operatic origins, but has become well-known as a jazz standard, whereas Copland’s Fanfare has become emblematic not only of American music, but of the USA more generally. Dates: Tue 05 Booking and More Information
Riot Ensemble Duets: Side-By-Side Concert Composers and instrumentalists taking part in the Art Foundation Lucerne Riot Ensemble Mentorship scheme curate a programme of new music. Dates: Tue 05 Booking and More Information
Flute Chamber Music An extended exploration of chamber music for flute. Sally Beamish’s Aquarium is dedicated to her daughter Stephanie in thanks for introducing the composer to the world of tropical fish.
Celtic Knotwork reflects the highly intricate artistic style of weaving in composer Edward McGuire’s native Scotland, and John Luther Adams takes inspiration from the natural world in Strange Birds Passing. Dates: Thu 07 Booking and More Information
Septura Side-By-Side In the week of a seismic election in the United States, we celebrate the cultural richness of 20th-century America through the vastly contrasting musical worlds of three great composers: Price, Copland and Gershwin. These composers all had an affinity for brass instruments in their writing, and so the transcriptions of their works – while stretching the brass septet to its technical and musical limits – feel like a natural fit. Dates: Fri 08 Booking and More Information
Doctoral Symposium The Academy’s doctoral programme provides a collaborative environment for musicians to share and critique working practices, and a framework for developing long-term projects that will drive distinctive careers. It also offers a research and development engine for the Academy’s taught programmes. Dates: Fri 08 Booking and More Information
Reimagining the Natural Horn Academy PhD researcher Isaac Shieh performs a selection of new commissions for natural horn and explores his collaborations with the composers in creating works that redefine the possibilities of the instrument. Dates: Fri 08 Booking and More Information
Organ Recital Academy organ students perform solo and ensemble works by Petr Eben, Thierry Escaich and Jean-Baptiste Robin. Dates: Mon 11 Booking and More Information
Agahi Quartet Debussy’s String Quartet represents a distinctively French take on what had been a genre defined by central European rules. Caroline Shaw’s Blueprint is inspired both by traditional Japanese woodblock printing and by architectural drawings. Dates: Tue 12 Booking and More Information
Jazz Ensembles Academy Jazz ensemble concerts mark the culmination of the small ensemble projects on the Jazz course. Students perform sets of music on which they have been working with a variety of distinguished visiting musicians. Dates: Tue 12, Thu 14, Tue 26 Booking and More Information
Miss Donnithorne's Maggot Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies were two of the most prominent avant-garde musical voices in post-war Britain. The Cantata, dating from 1969, includes many sections determined by chance and individual choice. Through a remarkable range of vocal effects, Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot tells the cruel story of a wronged and jilted Australian woman. Dates: Tue 12 Booking and More Information
Academy Piano Series at Wigmore Hall: Tom Zalmanov A recital of Janáček’s paean to Moravian folk music, Debussy’s light-filled reflections and Schubert’s virtuosic homage to his hero, Beethoven: the exhilarating Wanderer-Fantasie. Dates: Wed 13 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Arto Noras We welcome Arto Noras, one of Finland’s most celebrated cellists, to work with Academy string students. Dates: Wed 13 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Radovan Vlatković International Visiting Professor of Horn, soloist and former Principal Horn of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Radovan Vlatković, works with Academy horn students. Dates: Thu 14 Booking and More Information
Academy Voices: Qui la Voce, li la Canzone Many renowned composers of opera also wrote songs for the concert platform. In this programme, Academy Voices present both, contrasting lavish opera arias with more intimate art songs. Dates: Thu 14 Booking and More Information
The Music of Bobby Hutcherson and Duke Pearson The Jazz Department is proud to collaborate once again with Spice Jazz and the EFG London Jazz Festival to celebrate 85 years of Blue Note Records.
Focussing on two of the frequently unsung jazz giants on the label, the Academy Jazz Orchestra presents the big band sounds of Duke Pearson, under the direction of leading trombonist and bandleader Winston Rollins.
The legendary percussionist and ‘vibes’ player Orphy Robinson, who is one of the few UK artists to be on the Blue Note label, will lead the Jazz Ensemble in his tribute to the great Bobby Hutcherson. Dates: Sat 16 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Jean-Baptiste Robin and Aurélie Decourt A unique insight into the organ works of Jehan Alain and the new edition currently being edited by renowned organist-composer Jean-Baptiste Robin and musicologist Aurélie Decourt, niece of Jehan Alain (1911-1940) and daughter of the celebrated organist and teacher, Marie-Claire Alain (1926-2013). Presented in collaboration with the Eric Thompson Charitable Trust for Organists & Organ Music. Dates: Mon 18, Tue 19 Booking and More Information
Loriini Quartet The earthily rustic arrangements made famous by the Danish String Quartet are interposed here with works by Beethoven and Caroline Shaw. Shaw’s piece was inspired by Haydn, and plays with the familiar form of Minuet and Trio. Beethoven’s Op 18 quartets are his first major works in the form, through which his individual voice already percolates. Dates: Tue 19 Booking and More Information
Hänsel und Gretel When Hänsel and Gretel find themselves lost in the forest, they happen upon a house made of gingerbread. Unable to resist temptation, the siblings begin to eat the house, only to be captured by the witch who lives inside. This opera made Humperdinck a household name after its first performance in December 1893.
Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Dates: Tue 19, Wed 20, Thu 21, Fri 22 Booking and More Information
Piano Trio Day A day of piano trio performances by Academy students. Programmes to be announced. Dates: Wed 20 Booking and More Information
Jubilee Quintet Works by three eclectic composers comprise this afternoon’s programme. Paul Hindemith’s output was bewilderingly large, and the Kleine Kammermusik performed today finds him in neoclassical mood. Jacques Ibert also wrote much music across several genres, including for several French- and English-language films. Pianist Jean-Michel Damase had a much smaller output, but wrote several pieces for wind quintet. Dates: Thu 21 Booking and More Information
The Guitar in London - An Evening of Guitar Chamber Music A programme featuring works by composers with experiences of London. The concert will include music by Dominique Le Gendre, David Braid, Rafael Marino Arcaro, Fernando Sor, Judith Weir, William Walton, John Dowland and Dai Fujikura. Dates: Thu 21 Booking and More Information
Resounding Shores: Hail, Bright Cecilia The Academy’s first SIDE-BY-SIDE with the Dunedin Consort presents concerts in Edinburgh and the Duke’s Hall. It will feature Purcell’s Hail, Bright Cecilia!, written in honour of St Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, a work in which all instruments have ‘character’ movements and where singers and instrumentalists play equally dramatic roles. Preceding this famous ode is Sir John Clerk of Penicuik’s relatively little-known cantata, Leo Scotiae Irritatus, depicting Scotland’s unsuccessful venture to set up an empire
in Panama. Dates: Fri 22 Booking and More Information
Resounding Shores: Ode to St Cecilia Our 2024 series closes with Purcell’s Hail, bright Cecilia!, written in honour of St Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. In this work, all of the instruments have ‘character’ movements where singers and instrumentalists play equally dramatic roles. Preceding this famous ode is Sir John Clerk of Penicuik’s relatively little-known cantata, Leo Scotiae irritatus, which depicts Scotland’s ambitious (and unsuccessful) venture to set up an empire in Panama. Dates: Sun 24 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Joel Quarrington Visting Professor of Double Bass, Joel Quarrington, has served as the Principal Double Bassist for many orchestras, most recently the London Symphony Orchestra. Dates: Mon 25 Booking and More Information
Beyond the Aranjuez We continue our fascinating survey of guitar concertos composed in the past hundred years, from diverse countries and musical traditions. Dates: Tue 26 Booking and More Information
Woodwind Chamber Music Michael Tippett’s Prelude, Recitative and Aria derives from his astringent opera King Priam, first performed in Coventry. The music of Louise Farrenc is seeing something of a renaissance in recent years, and her Sextet for wind and piano reveals a distinctive compositional voice. André Previn’s Trio reveals his wide-ranging musical interests, with jazz rhythms to the fore in its rambunctious final movement. Dates: Thu 28 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Anne-Sophie Bertrand Visiting Professor of Harp, Anne-Sophie Bertrand, visits the Academy to work with Harp Department students. Dates: Thu 28 Booking and More Information
Academy Voices: 200 Years of Song at the Academy Academy Voices celebrate the legacy of composers who have taught and studied at the Academy since its establishment in 1822. The programme will include music by Paolo Tosti, Michael Head and current and recent composition students at the Academy. Dates: Thu 28 Booking and More Information
Sir Mark Elder Conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra Sir Mark Elder, the Academy’s Barbirolli Chair of Conducting, returns to conduct two mighty tone poems by Richard Strauss. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche tells the story of a folkloric trickster who meets an untimely end after one prank too many; it is followed by Also sprach Zarathustra, the famous opening of which leads into a vast canvas featuring some of the composer’s most opulent orchestral writing. Dates: Fri 29 Booking and More Information
Manson Ensemble Side-by-Side with London Sinfonietta The Academy Manson Ensemble and London Sinfonietta’s players perform SIDE-BY-SIDE at the Southbank Centre. Written shortly before Morton Feldman's death, For Samuel Beckett is a meditatively shifting work, in which tiny differences between endless rhythmic and harmonic permutations suspend space and time. Feldman’s experiments with scale and entropy led him to an obsession with quietly powerful music: this evocative and mysterious work seems to appear from nowhere and float on elsewhere after its end. Dates: Fri 29 Booking and More Information

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