EFG London Jazz Festival returns with jazz legends including Courtney Pine and Bill Laurance plus VOCES8 mark the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams with a new arrangement of his iconic work The Lark Ascending
- Kings Place curates a diverse, contemporary offering for the EFG London Jazz Festival in its 30th anniversary year, bringing international pioneers and emerging talent including Bill Laurance, Courtney Pine, Daniel Herskedal, Tarek Yamani, Eiko Ishibashi, Ishmael Ensemble, fast-rising talents Bendik Giske, Sélène Saint-Aimé, NYX and Laura Misch and Brown Penny
- Voices Unwrapped continues with performances from the Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, Lady Maisery, Thea Gilmore and Explore Ensemble with soprano Juliet Fraser, who perform a world premiere of a work from Welsh composer Angharad Davies
- VOCES8 collaborate with star violinist Jack Liebeck to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams with new arrangements of The Lark Ascending and his 3 Shakespeare Songs
- Legendary Irish folk band Dervish make their Kings Place debut, with other folk highlights including AKA Trio and Leyla McCalla who performs her remarkable new album Breaking The Thermometer
- Singer-songwriter and visual artist DM Stith returns to London for an intimate performance of new songs co-produced with Thomas Bartlett (Doveman)
VOICES UNWRAPPED | CLASSICAL, CONTEMPORARY, FOLKKings Place’s year-long series, Voices Unwrapped, continues in November and celebrates the power of the voice and the joy of singing together. The series has brought together performances from a variety of genres throughout 2022 and November is no exception, with some of the greatest voices from the worlds of classical, contemporary classical and folk set to grace the Kings Place stage.
Explore Ensemble is joined by guest soprano Juliet Fraser to present music of our time for voice and ensemble, including Lisa Illean’s captivating A through-grown earth, which sets Gerard Manley Hopkins’ nature-embracing and nocturnal poetry, and a world premiere from Angharad Davies, developed in collaboration with the performers. Complementing these contemplative works are two eccentric and free-wheeling instrumental pieces by two iconoclastic creators: Lawrence Dunn’s Set of Four and Oliver Leith’s Me Hollywood [2 Nov].
VOCES8 and star violinist Jack Liebeck come together to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams with a concert themed on birds and landscape, featuring new arrangements for his iconic The Lark Ascending and 3 Shakespeare Songs. The concert also features music from Charles Villiers Stanford, Ola Gjelio, Samuel Barber and Roxanna Panufnik [9 Nov]. The Tallis Scholars present an evening of music inspired by celestial light, spanning centuries of music from Allegri’s Miserere and Tallis’ O nata lux through to Nico Muhly’s Rough Notes, written for the Tallis Scholars in 2018 [17 Nov].
One of the world’s most renowned choirs and Kings Place Artistic Associates The Sixteen fuse the erotic, the divine, the sacred and the secular in a concert celebrating the Song of Songs. Originally Hebrew love poetry, it is believed to celebrate the union of the Queen of Sheba and King Soloman. The programme blends John Barber’s Song of Songs – commissioned by The Sixteen in 2014 – with works from Palestrina, Hildegard of Bingen and Jean-yves Daniel-lesur [24 Nov].
Folk highlights of Voices Unwrapped in November include a special weekend with Lady Maisery, who return to Kings Place to make their Hall One debut and launch their new album Tender, featuringoriginal songs as well as contemplative and personal interpretations of work by Björk, Tracy Chapman and the late Lal Waterson [5 Nov]. The group are also running vocal workshops over the weekend, where audiences can join the group singing smaller rounds before workshopping a full arrangement of one of their songs [6 Nov]. Legendary singer songwriter Thea Gilmore makes her Kings Place debut to perform her 18th album Afterlight, described by writer Neil Gaiman as an ‘emotional rollercoaster in a musical wrapper’ [23 Nov].
THE EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
Kings Place once again joins the EFG London Jazz Festival in its 30th year, with an exciting programme of diverse international pioneers and emerging talent. NYX and Laura Misch perform music from City of Trees, exploring Epping Forest’s ancient, symbiotic relationship with humans and London alongside large-scale projected films of the forest [12 Nov]. Four-time Grammy winner Bill Laurance returns to Kings Place for a special solo show [13 Nov], while double-bassist and vocalist Sélène Saint-Aimé joins forces with Irving Acao on tenor saxophone and Boris Reine-Adélaïde on bèlè drum who also featured on her recent critically acclaimed album Potomitan [13 Nov]. Courtney Pine reunites with pianist Zoe Rahman to debut brand new material from his upcoming album SPIRITUALITY [18 Nov]. Other highlights include a unique opportunity to see solo and collaborative works from The Vernon Spring and Friends [19 Nov] as well as music from across Japanese multi-instrumentalist Eiko Ishibashi’s career [20 Nov] and Cassie Kinoshi’s new project Brown Penny (20 Nov).
FOLK AND CONTEMPORARY HIGHLIGHTS
Folk highlights at Kings Place in November include world-renowned virtuosos AKA Trio showcasing highlights from their acclaimed album Joy [4 Nov] and legendary Irish folk bandDervish bringing their seemingly limitless depths of talent, finesse, subtlety and fiery energy [26 Nov]. Grammy-award winning artist Leyla McCalla also performs her deeply personal and highly acclaimed new album Breaking The Thermometer, offering an immersive sonic journey through a half century of racial, social, and political unrest exploring the legacy of Radio Haiti [25 Nov].
Singer songwriter and visual artist DM Stith brings his unique voice back to London as part of Kings Place Luminate series, with an intimate performance of songs from a new body of work co-produced with Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) [26 Nov]. London Sinfonietta relaunch their pioneering Turning Points series with a concert focused on the captivating music of Toru Takemitsu [27 Nov].
SPOKEN WORD
In addition to the venue’s music programming, Kings Place regularly presents spoken word, comedy and podcast events throughout the year. Future Podcast Live presents Our Superhuman Future, exploring the transhumanist belief that humanity’s survival depends on merging with advanced technology and what these possibilities mean for the future of humankind [10 Nov].Deborah Francis-White returns to Kings Place with her podcast phenomenon The Guilty Feminist [21 Nov], and the Crick Crack Club present The Beast In Me, weaving a tapestry of stories about our perception of beauty and the value of kindness [25 Nov].