Aurora performing by memory
Highlights:
- Aurora Orchestra continues first full season as a Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre
- Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 explored through immersive performances at Printworks with multi-disciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie and at Southbank Centre alongside a world premiere by Héloïse Werner
- A host of guest soloists including Jan Lisiecki, Laura van der Heijden, Tom Poster, Timothy Orpen and Kit Armstrong
- Inspiring family offerings, including a storytelling concert with a specially commissioned story from Kate Wakeling, the world premiere of Martin Suckling’s The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse, and the European premiere of Mason Bates’ multimedia concerto Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra
- Continuing as Resident Ensemble at Kings Place with concerts including a new work by Caroline Shaw and an in-the-round concert featuring Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In the Light of Air
- Aurora today launches its campaign for the Big Give Christmas Challenge raising funds for its school programme
Aurora Orchestra is delighted to reveal its latest season of concerts, challenging expectations and exploring creative presentation across the broadest of artistic horizons. This season sees world and European premieres, new commissions, a series of family offerings, immersive and multimedia performances, a host of world-class guest soloists, and a return to Printworks for one of Aurora’s famed immersive memorised performances. With its signature creative ethos, the Orchestra continues its mission to inspire new audiences by making music speak in powerful new ways for both first-time listeners and lifelong classical enthusiasts. From today (Tuesday 29 November) to Tuesday 6 December Aurora will take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge, an annual match fundraising programme, this year raising money for Aurora Orchestra Learning, a classroom learning platform for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and SEND settings. Donations will support the audio and film production of a new unit, running CPD sessions to help non-specialist teachers to use the resources in the classroom, and increasing live Aurora Orchestra Learning activities in areas and schools with limited music provision. To watch Aurora’s Big Give campaign film and make a donation, please visit bit.ly/aurorabiggive. The culmination of Aurora’s Big Give campaign will be the release of free film Aurora and the Magical Toy Box at 10am on Sat 3 December. Aurora and the Magical Toy Box is the final film in the first EYFS, KS1 and SEND module of Aurora Orchestra Learning, released to the public for the first time on Sat 3 December for a limited time. To watch Aurora and the Magical Toy Box, subscribe to the YouTube premiere at bit.ly/magicaltoybox. Aurora continues to open up the world of classical music by finding new ways for audiences to experience it. This season features a series of family offerings, designed to bring music alive to audiences of all ages and inspire the next generation of musicians and music-lovers. At Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Aurora presents the world premiere of a musical reimagining by composer Martin Suckling of the much-loved children’s story by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse (4 March, supported by the RVW Trust). At the Royal Festival Hall, Aurora gives the European premiere of Grammy-winning composer Mason Bates’ multimedia concerto Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra. A live soundtrack will accompany the animated film, created by Bates in collaboration with Oscar-winning director and sound designer Gary Rydstrom, and animator Jim Capobianco (16 April). Following sold-out debut performances in 2021, Aurora returns to the Press Halls at Printworks, London, one of the UK’s best-known electronic music venues, for another immersive site-specific performance – from memory. Co-curated by multi-disciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie and co-presented with the Southbank Centre, Aurora and its co-founder and Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon will give audiences the chance to step inside Beethoven’s mighty fifth Symphony. Supported by the Royal Philharmonic Society Audience Fund in association with the Rachel Baker Memorial Charity, the concert will also features the world premiere of new music by Nwando Ebizie and three-dimensional ‘acoustic shell’ audio reinforcement provided by leading German specialists d&b audiotechnik (23 March). Aurora performs the same symphony at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in a concert that also features Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major with soloist Jan Lisiecki, and a world premiere from one of the most exciting voices in 21st-century music, Héloïse Werner, commissioned by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fundfor Organisations (25 March). Aurora returns to the Southbank Centre, where it is Resident Orchestra, with regular collaborator and pianist Tom Poster for a musical journey across America. The concert features Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England combined with a specially-commissioned film by Australian photographer/filmmaker Jon Frank, shot on location in the modern-day versions of the places that originally inspired the piece. The programme will also include Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Caroline Shaw’s Valencia, as well as Iain Farrington’s arrangements of two classics for Aurora – Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Bernstein’s ‘Symphonic Dances’ from West Side Story, recapturing the virtuosity of the original Broadway pit-band instrumentation (3 May). Aurora will perform the same programme at Saffron Hall (1 May). Aurora continues to appear in London as Resident Ensemble at Kings Place, with a rich programme of intimate performances and cross-collaborations, spanning a wide variety of repertoire. Together with clarinettist Timothy Orpen, Aurora will kick off its 2023 Kings Place season with SUPERSONIC, a kaleidoscope of colour including Farrington’s arrangements of Gershwin’s Ballet sequence from An American in Paris and Debussy’s Jeux, as well as music from George Benjamin and John Adams (3 February). Aurora welcomes 2022-23 Kings Place Resident Artist Laura van der Heijden to present a rich programme of contrasting musical architectures spanning 200 years of sonic innovation, with a programme of Ligeti’s disorienting Ramifications, Bach’s fiery Cello Concerto in A Minor, and Schubert’s well-crafted Symphony in C major (17 June). Keyboard virtuoso Kit Armstrong joins Aurora to explore the combination of ancient and modern sound worlds, performing works by three contemporary composers fascinated with the past – Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly and Anna Meredith (22 September). The centrepiece of the programme is the UK premiere of a new work by Shaw co-commissioned by Kings Place for Aurora and Armstrong. Finally, principal players of Aurora Orchestra present an intimate musical journey through light and air, with an in-the-round concert featuring Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In the Light of Air, as well as music by Adès, Takemitsu and Debussy (25 November).
John Harte, Chief Executive, Aurora Orchestra,says:‘Aurora Orchestra’s 2023 season is a distillation of what Aurora stands for – creative presentation, adventures across arts form and genre, and new routes into orchestral music for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. We’re thrilled to be featuring new music from some of the most exciting composers working today, and pushing the boundaries of concert presentation both in traditional and unorthodox performance venues. And perhaps most exciting of all, we’re delighted to be bringing our work into schools into classrooms across the country through the launch of our new online platform for teachers, Aurora Orchestra Learning, We hope everyone will find something in our season to excite and inspire a lifelong love of music’
Kings Place Tickets
Visit kingsplace.co.uk
Printworks Tickets
Tickets are on sale both through Southbank Centre (already on sale) and Printworks. Printworks Presale tickets will be available on Wednesday 30 November with general sale from Thursday 1 December. For access to presale to Printworks tickets visit: https://printworkslondon.co.uk/ss23-sign-up/
Southbank Centre Tickets
Visit southbankcentre.co.uk/