WOW Festival

WOW Festival

Image by Southbank Centre

Daniel Nelson

The Southbank Centre’s 2015 programme is rich and varied – and half its events are free – but is disappointingly light on African, Asian and Latin American events.

South Asia comes out best.  Alchemy (15 - 25 May), the Centre’s annual festival of South Asian culture and its relationship with the UK, returns for the sixth year with its mix of music, dance, literature, film, fashion and design. 

It has grown to the point at which it is described as the largest festival of Indian and South Asian culture outside India. For the first time. it will go on tour, to northern England. 

Jude Kelly, the Centre’s artistic director, says negotiations are underway to take the festival to Mumbai. Coals to Newcastle indeed – except, of course, South Asian classical music in this country has its own qualities, talents and idiosyncracies that would be appreciated on the subcontinent.

In September, another of the Centre’s 14 festivals hits the stage. The Darbar, UK’s largest classical Indian music festival, will celebrate its 10th year.  Kelly says it is unique in bringing together Hindustani (north Indian) musical traditions and Carnatic (south Indian) musicians.

That month (10 - 13 September) will also see Africa Utopia, back for its third time: “The festival looks at how African art and ideas can change the world for the better and how Africa can lead the way in thinking about culture, community, technology, fashion, sustainability and ethical wealth creation.” No details yet.

Some of the other festivals – such as Women of the World  (1 - 8 March) and the London Literature Festival  (1 - 12 October) – may also include developing country and diaspora writers, artists and performers.

The first festival of the year is Changing Britain 1945-2015, and I hope that in this election year migration will feature in the debates and presentations.

In terms of individual shows, choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh and composer Elena Kats-Chernin will premiere their collaborative work, a 21st-century take on Shiva, the Indian god of dance (16 - 17 September).

One of the most intriguing productions is the basketball-inspired The Spalding Suite (29 April – 2 May), which “examines the British response to a very American game and explores how its urban legends have crossed the ocean to intersect the dreams and aspirations of players here.” It’s a dance-theatre show that features beat-boxer Jason Singh and has poetry by, among others, Inua Ellams and Nii Parkes.


SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS IN 2015

FESTIVALS
London International Mime Festival
10 – 25 January 

Southbank Centre presents award-winning work from Belgium, France, New Zealand and the UK as part of the annual London International Mime Festival, now in its 39th year. Performances include the return of Iona Kewney and Joseph Quimby to London with Knights of the Invisible, featuring movement, contortion and live music (12-13 January). A grand piano takes centre stage in Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit The Pianist, a co-production between Thomas Monckton and Finland's Circo Aereo (14-18 January). From France, Lonely Circus' wire-walker Sebastien Le Guen and electro-acoustic musician Jérôme Hoffman make their UK debut in Fall/Fell/Fallen (10-11 January), and Oktobre presents world-class magic, mystery and aerial daring (23-25 January). Back by popular demand, gentleman juggler Mat Ricardo returns with new tricks up his sleeve in Showman (19-21 January) and Belgium's Circus Ronaldo presents Amortale, a Felliniesque world of hand-crafted commedia-circus, mixing tragedy and clowning, opera and marionettes (16-18 January).

Changing Britain 1945 – 2015
30 January – 9 May 
This festival will interrogate the last 70 years of British history, focussing on society, culture and politics, inspired by historian David Kynaston’s acclaimed books that are part of a series Tales of a New Jerusalem on the social history of England from the end of World War Two. The festival will ask if we still believe in the values of the 1951 nationwide Festival of Britain created to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress following the Second World War and explore themes including equality, fairness and social justice since then. Changing Britain 1945-2015 begins with a series of BBC Concert Orchestra concerts accompanied by a supporting programme on 30 January, 7 February and 22 March, and a major exhibition, History is Now: Seven Artists Take On Britain in the Hayward Gallery from 10 February to 26 April. More details about the exhibition are available in the visual arts section of this document. The festival will build up to three concentrated festival weekends of talks and debates (18 - 19 April, 25 - 26 April and 2 - 4 May) ahead of the General Election on 7 May. Following the election, on 9 May, there will be a day devoted to artists and audiences, who will give a message to the new government about the importance of creativity, including the London Sinfonietta, who will perform two sets of newly commissioned works co-curated by Matthew Herbert and the Royal Philharmonic Society.

BBC Concert Orchestra concerts as part of Changing Britain 1945 – 2015
Friday Night is Music Night: On the Wireless and off the Box conducted by Gavin Sutherland with presenter, Ken Bruce
30 January, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 8pm
An assorted programme of signature tunes from popular 1950s radio and television shows, presented by Radio 2 stalwart Ken Bruce and broadcast as part of their Friday Night is Music Night strand. Musical highlights include signature tunes and short excerpts from the Hancock’s Half Hour, Housewives’ Choice and William Walton’s Coronation March, Orb and Sceptre.

Twisting the Dial conducted by Grant Llewelyn
7 February, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm
A mix of music from the Light Programme, the Third Programme and television in the 1960s and 70s. Featuring music from The Railway Children, James Bond, The Beatles, Thunderbirds, Alfie, Oliver alongside music by Benjamin Britten, William Walton and Grace Williams

Conflict and Healing conducted by Keith Lockhart
22 March, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm
An exploration of musical juxtapositions spanning Thatcher’s time in government and the shift in political direction to New Labour in the 1980s and 90s. Featuring music from living composer Oliver Knussen drawn from his opera Higglety Pigglety Pop! written in collaboration with Where the Wild Things Are author/illustrator Maurice Sendak; theme tunes from popular TV programmes of the 1980s and 90s; and Richard Rodney Bennett’s Saxophone Concerto written for Stan Getz. The concert will also include music by George Fenton for Ken Loach’s Land and Freedom, Jonathan Dove’s The Ringing Isle, and music by Judith Weir and Michael Nyman.

Imagine Children’s Festival, sponsored by the Book People
9 – 22 February
Children are at the heart of Imagine, helping to shape all aspects of it, when they takeover Southbank Centre for two weeks each February. The Imagine Children’s Festival returns with a range of theatre, music, dance, film and a wide range of free activity alongside readings by some of the UK’s top authors. As part of the Berliner Philharmoniker London Residency 2015, in partnership with the Barbican Centre, there will be a family concert featuring the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker (15 February). The residency will culminate with a performance by Young Orchestra for London - a giant orchestra formed of children, young people and amateur musicians - conducted by Simon Rattle on The Clore Ballroom at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall (15 February). The Festival also includes The Big Sleepover (16 February), when children will explore the Royal Festival Hall by torchlight, hear and tell stories before spending the night on the stage and in the auditorium.

Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World Festival
1 – 8 March
Coinciding with International Women’s Day on 8 March, Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World Festival celebrates its fifth year in 2015. The festival champions the incredible achievements of women and girls and explores the most potent topics for women today, featuring voices from around the world and shining the spotlight on a broad range of topical women’s subjects through its mix of talks and debates, concerts, performances, workshops, speed mentoring and networking opportunities. On 5 March 2015, indie pop band tUnE-yArDs will perform in Royal Festival Hall. For the fifth anniversary, WOW will continue to build on its success regionally and internationally with its second year of activity at Cambridge University (6–8 March) and Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (20–22 March) and the second WOW festival in America, in Harlem, in collaboration with and hosted by the Apollo Theater in New York in June.

Chorus
2 – 6 April
Southbank Centre celebrates the power of singing together and its effect on individual and community well-being in its annualChorus festival, curated by Voicelab and now in its seventh year. The 2015 festival will bring thousands of singers onto the Southbank site across the Easter weekend to perform, learn and exchange, with a range of large-scale and intimate projects, both communal and experimental. Highlights include: the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s St Matthew Passion, featuring Mark Padmore (2 April); the London premiere of Edinburgh Festival hit HUG (2–5 April) – Verity Standen’s choral sound bath for 25 singers and 25 audience members; the premiere of James Taylor Quartet’s Rochester Mass (6 April); a day of events focusing on singing and wellbeing in partnership with the Sidney De Haan Centre (6 April); and, various projects by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain at the heart of the festival.

Udderbelly Festival
8 April – 19 July 
The iconic upside-down Purple Cow returns to Southbank Centre in April for its seventh year, hosting exciting comedy, cabaret and theatre from around the globe.

London Wonderground
7 May – 27 September
The splendid Spiegeltent returns for a fourth year, bringing to Southbank Centre a dazzling mix of the world's finest cabaret, circus and kids' shows.

Alchemy
15 – 25 May
Alchemy, Southbank Centre’s festival of South Asian culture and the relationship between the UK and this part of the world returns for the sixth year with its mix of music, dance, literature, film, fashion and design. It has grown to become the largest festival of Indian and South Asian culture outside India. 2015 will see Alchemy tour for the first time. Additional support from Arts Council England has supported Southbank Centre to work with Oldham Coliseum (Doncaster), Cast (Doncaster) and Black Country Touring to build a tour of regionally instigated work inspired by Alchemy themes.

Web We Want
28 – 31 May
Web We Want is a new festival, which is playing a leading role in the UK’s contribution to the World Wide Web Foundation’s ‘Web We Want’ global campaign for a free, open and universal Web. Working closely with the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who opened the Festival in September 2014, WWW celebrates 25 years of the invention of the Web and looks at the profound impact the Web has had on individuals, governments and societies at large.

Festival of Love
27 June – 6 September 
Southbank Centre’s summer-long Festival of Love will take over the whole site with installations, performances and free events on this rich and complex subject, including the second Big Wedding Weekend over the August Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August).

Meltdown
12 – 21 June
Southbank Centre’s annual Meltdown festival has been running since 1993 and each year invites a different cultural figure to act as director of the event and pick the performers of their choosing to reveal their passions and influences. Previous directors include James Lavelle, Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Massive Attack, Jarvis Cocker, John Peel and Ornette Coleman, and the Meltdown director in 2015 will be announced in due course.

Southbank Centre’s Poetry International
22 – 26 July
Co-founded by Ted Hughes in 1967, Poetry International showcases the best international poetry. In 2015, there will be a special focus on TS Eliot to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, as well as poetry workshops, events, performances, installations and happenings.

Darbar Festival
17 – 20 September
The UK’s largest classical Indian music festival returns to celebrate its 10th year at Southbank Centre, bringing the best of this genre of music to London. The festival is unique in bringing both Hindustani (North Indian) musical traditions and Carnatic (South Indian) musicians together.  

Africa Utopia
10 – 13 September 
Africa Utopia is back for its third time and explores what can be learnt and celebrated from Africa and the African Diaspora. The festival looks at how African art and ideas can change the world for the better and how Africa can lead the way in thinking about culture, community, technology, fashion, sustainability and ethical wealth creation.

Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival    
1 – 12 October
The ninth London Literature Festival will include the world’s best writers, poets, performers and thinkers, celebrating some of the best new writing, including both the Forward Prizes for Poetry and the Man Booker Prize readings.

WHY? What’s Happening For The Young?
21 – 25 October
Inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this festival explores all aspects of the current protection and promotion of children and young people’s rights in the UK, and will return in October following its launch in 2014.

EFG London Jazz Festival
13 – 22 November
Southbank Centre takes part in the annual EFG London Jazz Festival, produced by Serious, is the capital's biggest pan-city music festival.

BAM – Being A Man       
27 – 29 November
The second BAM – Being A Man festival will provide a platform for conversations on how men’s roles are evolving in the 21st century. It's an opportunity for men to come together to share stories, discuss the pleasures and challenges of being men, and look at what kind of world they want for themselves and others. Southbank Centre will once again invite a large number of men to contribute ideas for the festival and a ‘think-in’, brainstorming event will take place on 24 January. Over the festival weekend, there will be a packed programme of Q&A sessions, talks, keynotes and presentations.

Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival with NatWest                                         
4 December – 4 January 2016
Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival with NatWest in 2015 will build on this year’s incarnation with the 21-acre site transformed with performances, free events including choirs, festive art installations and lights, bustling markets and pop-up bars.

 


LITERATURE

In addition to the TS Eliot Prize Readings, there will be a wide range of talks and debates programmed as part of the Changing Britain 1945 – 2015 festival taking place from 30 January to 9 May.

TS Eliot Prize Readings
11 January
For the largest annual poetry event in the UK, Ian McMillan comperes an evening of readings from poets shortlisted for the 2014TS Eliot Prize. Awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland, the event will feature readings from the shortlisted poets, all of whom have been invited to read from their work.

On Reading and Walking and Thinking...
13 January – 1 March
This exhibition gathers work from three international artists who respond to the world through the written word, performative drawing and sculpture. Thomas Evans’s The Theatre of the Wobbling Worlds presents a proposition of the world on a wobbling stage which invites participants into a humorous homage to the idea of the ‘theatre of the world’. David Rule’s short texts and prompts move between the observational and speculative, suggesting opportunities for reveries along Southbank Centre’s riverfront, and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé’s praeludere uses a verbal score as a catalyst for action.

Rego Retold  An exhibition by Owen Lowery and Paula Rego
17 March – 3 May
This exhibition shows three original works by Paula Rego with poetic responses from Owen Lowery. On show from the Arts Council Collection are Minotaur Slicing Goat, Girl by Swimming Pool and Aberystwyth for which Lowery has written new poems to accompany the pieces. Lowery’s new collection Rego Retold has just been published by Carcanet and includes over 50 works in response to Rego’s art. This exhibition brings together one of the most striking new voices in contemporary poetry alongside an artist widely celebrated as one of the most distinctive and compelling in contemporary art.

The Poetry of B.S. Johnson
6 May
Widely celebrated as a novelist it was Johnson’s poetry that was the main focus of his writing. Posthumously published as part of the Penguin Modern Poets series in 1975, Johnson’s critical acclaim and readership has grown around his novels but his achievements as a poet remain far less known. This event, as part of the Poetry Library’s Special Edition series, includes contributions from those personally and critically acquainted with Johnson and sheds new light on his poetic output.


 

PERFORMANCE AND DANCE

IMPROBABLE – THE ELDERSHIP PROJECT
25 – 26 February
Improbable, led by Artistic Directors Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson, bring The Eldership Project to Southbank Centre – a work in progress for small, intimate groups on the stage of Queen Elizabeth Hall. Part installation and part performance, it is a quiet investigation into the theme of eldership. Improbable have set out on an enquiry that aims to re-imagine the role of eldership for a society that seems to think that elder means elderly, and elderly means that you’re not much use to anyone. As theatre makers, Improbable follow their curiosity and make work using improvisation, ensemble and puppetry in exciting combinations. Their work is driven by an intention to focus on what’s really happening in the moment.  Like much of their work The Eldership Project is a live event encouraging conversation between Improbable and their audience. The Eldership Project is a Southbank Centre commission.   

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET – EMERGING DANCER
23 March
Celebrating the talent of tomorrow, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its artists with its annual ballet competition, the Emerging Dancer Award. Six of its most promising dancers will perform in front of an eminent panel of expert judges, before one receives the 2015 Emerging Dancer Award. The recipient of The People’s Choice Award, selected by members of the public, will also be revealed at the end of the evening. The six dancers selected to perform at the Emerging Dancer Competition will be announced in early 2015.

LES SLOVAKS  OPENING NIGHT
28 March
Les SlovaKs are an all-male dance company of five Slovakian friends who formed a collective in 2006 after working separately withsome of Europe's leading choreographers including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and WimVandekeybus. Their style of movement is rooted in their shared history, generating a dance style that takes Slovak traditional dance as inspiration whilst maintaining each dancer’s individual characteristics. Opening Night is an improvised work where, as with all close friendships, little things mean a lot. Gestures, glances and nuances are enough to unleash physical creativity, allowing the collective to form and adapt their choreography in the moment. Recreating the performance every time, Les SlovaKs create an improvisational feel that hints at their shared past. The performance is accompanied by traditional Slovakian folk music provided by musician and composer Simon Thierree.

SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE – INNOCENCE
8 - 10 April
A unique playroom performance, Scottish Dance Theatre’s Innocence invites children (and their adults) to explore the poetry of William Blake through dance and music. Choreographed by artistic director Fleur Darkin, Innocence is led by Scottish Dance Theatre's dancers and supported by the live music, songs, giggles and animal noises of Paul Bradley, inviting audiences on stage and into the action to vividly evoke the spirit of some of Blake’s well-known works such as The Echoing Green and Songs of Innocence and of ExperienceInnocence will tour The Castle, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, South Holland Centre, Drill Hall, Embrace Arts and Deda in the East Midlands throughout March and Dance City in Newcastle in April.
Age guidance 3+
Running time 50 minutes

SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE – MIANN
9 April
Following a sell-out run at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scottish Dance Theatre come to Southbank Centre with Miann, a raw, ritualistic dance piece choreographed by Fleur Darkin, which takes its name from the Gaelic word for desire. Craving, longing and desire fuel the dancers and musicians in this ritual of time, with bodies, instruments and voices seamlessly interweaving with full-bodied, full-throated energy. Performed by Scottish Dance Theatre's full company of dancers, the performance takes inspiration from the magical atmosphere at the Callanish Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis after rehearsals in the forest and on the beach to capture the sensuality of the land. An intimate collaboration with costumes from Linbury prize-winning designer Alexander Ruth, live music is provided on stage by Glasgow folk group The One Ensemble. A quartet comprising cello, clarinet and bass clarinet, guitar, accordions, percussion and vocals, they combine their distinctly contemporary sound with traditional folk heritage to accompany the dancers. Miann will also be performed at Dundee Rep Theatre in March, and Tramway, Glasgow in May. The performance will be followed by a post show Q&A. 

COMPANY CHAMELEON – BEAUTY OF THE BEAST
21 April
Beauty Of The Beast is a dynamic new full-length work, for an all male cast of six, choreographed by Co-Artistic Director Anthony Missen for Company Chameleon. A funny, moving and subversive look at male group dynamics, Beauty Of The Beast peels back and uncovers the many faces of man and masculinity – strength, camaraderie, vulnerability and hostility; and what happens when affiliation becomes identity. The piece follows the journey of a male group of friends, who are forced to question themselves as they encounter a range of situations and scenarios. As the cracks in the group begin to appear, so too do their individual strengths and weaknesses as the group is forced to consider how far they will go to fit in. With an exciting mix of collaborators, these exceptional performers showcase the company's unique physical style, combining dance, theatre and featuring original music to hold a mirror to our times. Beauty Of The Beast  has been commissioned by The Lowry, DanceXchange & Live at LICA. 

INUA ELLAMS, BENJI REID & FUEL – THE SPALDING SUITE
29 April – 2 May
Inspired by UK basketball culture, The Spalding Suite examines the British response to a very American game and explores how its urban legends have crossed the ocean to intersect the dreams and aspirations of players here. This new dance-theatre show features beat-boxer Jason Singh alongside five male dancers who all have previous experience playing basketball. The performers incorporate choreographed basketball moves with spoken word poetry, music and elements of hip-hop. Conceived by Inua Ellams and directed by Benji Reid, the performance will animate poetry by Inua Ellams, Bohdan Piasecki, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Roger Robinson, Nick Makoha and Nii Parkes. Produced by Fuel,The Spalding Suite has been commissioned by Southbank Centre and Contact and has been funded by Arts Council England and a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. The Spalding Suite will go on a UK tour following the world premiere at Southbank Centre.

VERITY STANDEN – HUG
PART OF SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S CHORUS FESTIVAL
2 – 5 April
Following a celebrated run at the Edinburgh Festival, Verity Standen’s choral sound bath for 25 singers and 25 audience members receives its London premiere as part of Southbank Centre’s Chorus Festival. HUG is an intimate and interactive performance where each audience member is blindfolded and individually hugged by a singer. Unable to visually gauge their surroundings, participants experience the performance through sound, breath and the vibrations of the body as the choir of voices deliver the song. Praised by The Guardian as a ‘startling, moving and genuinely immersive’ experience, HUG plays with the senses and examines the power of the human voice over our emotions.
Age guidance 18+


SASHA WALTZ AND GUESTS  D’AVANT
6 – 7 May
When Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet met Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola from the dance ensemble Sasha Waltz & Guests for the first time, they discovered a shared passion for medieval music. Recognising a core thread within each other’s work  the voice’s ability to flow over movement to become theatrical  here the four combine as a medieval quartet to perform songs from the 12th and 13th centuries, bringing the Middle Ages into the present through dance and song. On a set comparable to a construction site, they fight, relate, approach, question, love and hate each other in all possible ways. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui performed Apocrifu at Southbank Centre in January 2013 with Corsican vocal ensemble A Filetta. Damien Jalet has collaborated with choreographers Wim Vandekeybus and Akram Khan, and the visual artists Antony Gormley and Jim Hodges. He has also worked with musicians Björk, Florence and the Machine and Editors.

SHOBANA JEYASINGH AND ELENA KATS-CHERNIN
16 & 17 September
Choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh and composer Elena Kats-Chernin will premiere their collaborative work, a 21st-century take on Shiva, the Indian god of dance.

 


CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

PUNCH BROTHERS
22 January, Queen Elizabeth Hall 
Punch Brothers are the New York City-based quintet of mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjoist Noam Pikelny and violinist Gabe Witcher. Punch Brothers have featured on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis, as well as on the soundtrack to Hollywood blockbuster The Hunger Games. The band will perform tracks from their upcoming album.

TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS
6 February, Royal Festival Hall 
After five sell-out appearances at Southbank Centre, Transatlantic Sessions returns for a sixth year. Originating as part of the award-winning Pelicula/BBC TV series, the Transatlantic Sessions continue to revisit shared roots and forge new common ground between today’s finest Celtic and Americana musicians. Fresh from the success of last year’s sold-out tour, musical directors fiddle maestro Aly Bain and dobro legend Jerry Douglas are joined by their house band, who accompany some very special guests to be confirmed in the new year.

PHILIP SELWAY
11 February, Queen Elizabeth Hall
Four years after Philip Selway’s debut album Familial, the man formerly known as the drummer of Radiohead returns with his sophomore record, Weatherhouse.

GAZ COOMBES
​6 February, Queen Elizabeth Hall
Former Supergrass frontman and multi-award winning rock star Gaz Coombes will play the Queen Elizabeth Hall following the release of his supremely reflective sophomore album Matador.

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE
18 February, Royal Festival Hall
In their 25 years together, Ocean Colour Scene have enjoyed five Top 10 albums, six Top 10 singles and a string of awards. To celebrate, they are playing stripped back and acoustic, accompanied by Q Strings.

TUNE-YARDS
5 March, Royal Festival Hall 
tUnE-yArDs will bring their live experience to Royal Festival Hall, as part of Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World Festival, on the back of a new album Nikki Nack. Merrill Garbus has performed as tUnE-yArDs since 2009, and that band name has always been synonymous with forward movement – whether because of her explosive performance style or the always-surprising way in which her songs unfold.

MARIUS NESET
18 March, Purcell Room
Described by the Telegraph as making his ‘instrument dance like a gazelle and soar like an eagle Norwegian jazz saxophonist Marius Neset debuts his new album slated to be released early 2015.

PEGGY SEEGER
6 June, Queen Elizabeth Hall
As she enters her 80th year, folk legend Peggy Seeger releases her 22nd album, Everything Changes. She will be playing songs new and old, with support from her sons Neill MacColl and Grammy nominated Calum MacColl.


 

VISUAL ARTS
HAYWARD GALLERY

HISTORY IS NOW: 7 Artists Take On Britain
10 February – 26 April
Also part of Changing Britain 1945-2015 is a major Hayward Gallery exhibition (10 February to 26 April), History Is Now: 7 Artists Take On Britain:  John Akomfrah, Simon Fujiwara, Roger Hiorns, Hannah Starkey, Richard Wentworth and Jane and Louise Wilson curate a section of the show, each looking at a particular time in history over the last 70 years covering topics as varied as CND movement, post-Thatcherite society, urban planning and feminism. Bringing together more than 250 works, the exhibition will shed new light on how we remember, rethink and reconsider the past and key artworks include Ben Nicholson's Festival of Britain (1951), Richard Hamilton's The State (1993) and Eduardo Paolozzi's 1972 print series BUNK!.

CARSTEN HÖLLER – DECISION DILEMMA (working title)
9 June – 6 September
Next summer, a solo exhibition by Carsten Höller will take place at the Hayward Gallery featuring a wide range of work in different media representing his artistic output from the past 20 years, including many works which have been seen in the UK before or which will be created especially for this exhibition.  Carsten Höller was born in Brussels in 1961 and lives and works in Sweden. After obtaining an advanced degree in science, Höller went on to develop a unique art practice that often draws on scientific experiments and research in works designed to affect our psychological and perceptual experience. The Hayward Gallery exhibition will challenge perceptions as each individual entering the exhibition will be confronted with their own decisions to make in regards to how they view and engage with the art works. Works confirmed for Decision Dilemma include The Forest (2002), PhiWall II (2002), and Light Wall (2000/2002). 


 

CLASSICAL MUSIC

BBC Concert Orchestra concerts, as part of the Changing Britain 1945 – 2015 festival is in Festival section of this document.

Gustavo Dudamel returns with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela 
8 and 9 January
The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela makes a welcome return to Southbank Centre for two nights (8 and 9 January) led by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. Their two concerts will feature Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and a selection of orchestral music from Wagner's iconic Ring Cycle (8 January); and Julian Orbón's 3 Versiones sinfónicas and Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (9 January).

Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker culminate The London Residency
13 to 15 February
Following The London Concerts in February 2011, Southbank Centre in partnership with the Barbican Centre, presents a second  Berliner Philharmoniker residency, The London Residency 2015, featuring Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle. Southbank Centre’s concerts (13 – 15 February) feature two performances in the Royal Festival Hall of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) with soloists Kate Royal (soprano) and Magdalena Kožená(mezzo-soprano); and the London Symphony Chorus and City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus (14 & 15 February). Known as a signature work of Rattle’s, the symphony will be performed alongside Helmut Lachenmann’s Tableau in a juxtaposition of old and new sound-worlds that has typified Rattle’s tenure in Berlin. In addition to these performances there will also be: a family concert as part of Southbank Centre’s annual Imagine Children’s Festival, sponsored by The Book People, featuring the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker (15 February); and a chamber performance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall by The Philharmonic Octet Berlin (13 February) when the group will perform Nielsen’s Serenata in vano, Berwald’s Septet and Schubert’s Octet. The residency will culminate in a performance by Young Orchestra for London - a giant orchestra formed of children, young people and amateur musicians - conducted by Sir Simon Rattle on Southbank Centre’s Clore Ballroom (15 February). 

Daniel Barenboim returns to Southbank Centre for The Barenboim Project
April – June
Daniel Barenboim returns to the Royal Festival Hall with the Staatskapelle Berlin in two concerts. He conducts the orchestra with star soloists: Martha Argerich in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 (20 April); and Lisa Batiashvili in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto (21 April). As part of the Project, Barenboim will also perform a cycle of Schubert’s Piano Sonatas over four concerts (27 May, 29 May, 31 May & 2 June 2015).

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Budapest Festival Orchestra return as part of Southbank Centre's International Orchestra Series
20 May and 5 June
Returning to Southbank Centre, The Philadelphia Orchestra is led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin in two performances. On the 6 June, they perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 with soloist Emanuel Ax and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. The previous evening’s concert features the UK premiere of a new work by composer Nico Muhly, together with Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3 and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with soloist Lisa Batiashvili (5 June). Also making their return to Southbank Centre, the Budapest Festival Orchestra perform Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, and Piano Concerto No.9, K.271 with soloist Maria João Pires followed by Brahms’ Symphony No.1 all under the baton of Iván Fischer (20 May).

New commission for young audiences by Southbank Centre from Unsuk Chin to be performed by the National Youth Orchestra 
11 April 
Southbank Centre has commissioned the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin to compose a work that will be performed by the National Youth Orchestra in a concert on 11 April. The work aims to reach out to young adults and teenagers in particular and reflects Chin’s fascination with the potential of the human body and its expressive capabilities. Described by Chin as ‘an imaginary choreography’, this work draws inspiration from choreographers’ and dancers’ pursuits of making the impossible appear possible. .

Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series features the return of celebrated pianists Maurizio Pollini and Stephen Hough
January to June 
The International Piano Series (IPS) welcomes some of the world’s most celebrated pianists to London including such distinguished performers as Maurizio Pollini (17 March), Ivo Pogorelich (24 February) and Stephen Hough (28 April). Two international competition winners make their IPS debuts this year: the Korean pianist Sunwook Kim (3 March) and the Russian virtuoso Denis Matsuev (20 January). Alongside them, the series also features performances from stars including: Louis Lortie (29 January); Lukáš Vondráček (10 February); Jonathan Biss (31 March); Yundi (13 April); Yevgeny Sudbin (13 May); and duo Alice Sara Ott and Francesco Tristano (11 June).

Southbank Centre's International Chamber Music Series highlights
February to May
Among those returning to perform as part of Southbank Centre’s International Chamber Music Series are the Takács Quartet with pianist Marc-André Hamelin performing works by Debussy and Franck (18 May); the Jerusalem Quartet performing Mozart, Janáček and Schubert (24 April); Philharmonic Octet Berlin, performing a rare concert of Nielsen, Schubert and Berwald as part of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s London Residency 2015 in partnership with the Barbican Centre (13 February); and Midori returns to Southbank Centre with four of Bach’s works for solo violin (26 March).

London Philharmonic Orchestra presents the most extensive ever celebration of the music of Rachmaninoff
November 2014 – April 
At the heart of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s (LPO) 2014/15 programme is the most extensive ever celebration of Rachmaninoff in a single season. Rachmaninoff: Inside Out takes in the complete symphonies and piano concertos (in all versions), the opera The Miserly Knight, the choral masterpiece The Bells, rare performances of the cantata Spring, orchestral songs and a selection of other much-loved and rare works with orchestra. Vladimir Jurowski conducts five of the 11 Rachmaninoff concerts, while Vasily Petrenko picks up the baton for two. Vassily Sinaisky, Osmo Vänskä, Ilyich Rivasand David Zinman conduct the rest and imaginative programmes set the Russian composer’s music alongside that of his contemporaries.

Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leads a major series entitled City of Light: Paris 1900 – 1950 featuring events exploring the cultural history of Paris
January to June
Until June 2015 the Philharmonia Orchestra will continues their stand-out series, City of Light: Paris 1900-1950, the successor to the Orchestra’s acclaimed 2009 Vienna project. Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the City of Light as it explores Paris from La Belle Époque and Les Années folles to the aftermath of World War II, using music from Milhaud’s Le boeuf sur le toit to Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie as the soundtrack to an exploration of the art, literature, dance, architecture and social and political history that drew the leading artists of the age to Paris from across Europe. Other events include a series of chamber concerts in association with the Royal College of Music; two “Explore Paris” immersion days; free pre- and post-concert performances of Furniture and cabaret music; a major portfolio of digital and online resources, including a series of specially commissioned documentary films; a series of French film screenings in association with the Institut Français; and partnerships with key cultural organisations in the UK and Paris, including the Musée d’Orsay.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment presents Flying the Flag 
January to March
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s (OAE) Southbank Centre season continues with Flying the Flag, a five-part concert series celebrating nations and their music with the UK premiere on period instruments of Dvořák’s New World Symphony (4 March). Through the series, the OAE explores widely contrasting national musical styles and the idea of music representing nations, lost nations and turning points in their history, both musical and political.

London Sinfonietta’s season highlights
January to May
This year sees the London Sinfonietta perform the London premiere of James Dillon’s Stabat Mater Dolorosa, a new work for choir, ensemble and electronics that combines the original Latin text with excerpts from an essay by radical feminist writer Julie Kristeva, John Donne’s A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning and a letter to Picasso from his mother (21 January). On Friday 27 February and Saturday 28 March the two-part series Spectrum of Sound explores the extraordinary advances in sonic manipulation over recent years with music from Iannis Xenakis, Claude Vivier, Georg Friedrich Haas, Giacinto Scelsi, György Ligeti, Tristan Murail plus a new string piece by Mica Levi. And on Saturday 9 May Notes to the New Government sees two sets of newly commissioned works performed the weekend after polling day for the General Election of 2015. Co-curated by Matthew Herbert and the Royal Philharmonic Society, a group of composers consider the society before them – and the society they hope to help create.



TOURING PROGRAMME

Southbank Centre continues to grow its festival and performing arts touring programme in 2015, in addition to its already extensive exhibitions touring programme. Working with many partner organisations across the UK, the touring festivals, exhibitions, music and performance productions will be seen at more than 50 venues outside London, reaching a total of 1 million people.

FESTIVALS ON TOUR 
Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World continues to tour in 2015 including WOW Cambridge and WOW Cardiff, as well as WOW Harlem New York in June. 

2015 will see Alchemy festival tour for the first time. Southbank Centre is working with partners in Doncaster, Oldham and the Black Country on creating work for the tour which will route through these areas. See Festival section for more information.

PERFORMING ARTS TOURING 
Southbank Centre’s live presentation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which premiered at Royal Festival Hall in 2010, continues to tour across the world with several performances in 2015. The screening of this specially created digital cinema package, accompanied by live orchestra and choir, will take place at the Singletary Centr of the Arts in Kentucky on 31 January and 1 February, Gulbenkian Musica in Lisbon on 7 and 8 May and in the newly built Philharmonie in Paris on 30 and 31 May.

VISUAL ARTS TOURING

Southbank Centre delivers a range of visual art touring activity of Hayward Gallery (Touring), Hayward Touring and Arts Council Collection exhibitions.

HAYWARD GALLERY (TOURING)

LIGHT SHOW IN AUKLAND
16 April – 5 July, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney and then touring
The popular Light Show features 25 illuminated installations and sculptures by major international artists from the 1960s to the present, which explore the medium of light and respond to the surrounding architecture. Since the 1960s, an increasing number of international artists have incorporated artificial light into their work, exhibiting light itself or featuring its perceptual effects as the artwork. These artists have approached light as a spatial and environmental experience, a factor of psychological influence, and an intangible sculptural medium. Individual artworks examine different aspects related to light such as colour, duration, shadows, natural and artificial illumination, and projection. Light Show includes Dan Flavin’s pioneering minimal fluorescent sculptures, Jenny Holzer’s monumental LED signs, and David Batchelor’s use of bright, industrially-produced colour. It also features immersive environmental installations by Carlos Cruz-Diez, James Turrell, Anthony McCall, and Ann Veronica Janssens, among others. It’s currently showing at Auckland Art Gallery (11 October – 8 February), before opening in Sydney in April, and then touring to Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates (September – December); and Benaki Museum, Athens, presented by NEON Organisation (February – May 2016).


HAYWARD TOURING

CURATORIAL OPEN: LISTENING
The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 24 January – 29 March and touring
Artist Sam Belinfante curates an exhibition that investigates the act of listening in contemporary visual art. Listening is an international group exhibition and includes new and existing work by leading contemporary artists including Ed Atkins, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Christian Marclay, Haroon Mirza, Amalia Pica, Laure Prouvost and Anri Sala. The exhibition examines the crossover between the visual and the sonic with many of the artists selected working in both the fields of contemporary music and art. Highlights in this exhibition include Hannah Rickards’ Thunder, a clap of thunder that has been stretched in duration and aurally dissected, recreated by musicians and morphed back into a thunderclap; an anechoic chamber by Haroon Mirza that silences the outside world; a new work by Laure Prouvost that choreographs a dialogue between lights and objects in the museum as well as Prem Sahib’s throbbing inaccessible disco. Ed Atkins makes new drawings in response to Listening, Cardiff and Miller allow us to eavesdrop on a cabin in a forest and Katie Paterson presents the almost inaudible sound of a dying star. The exhibition continues its tour to Site and Sheffield Institute of the Arts Gallery, Sheffield (11 April – 31 May) and Norwich University of the Arts Gallery (19 July – 17 October).

ART FROM ELSEWHERE: International Contemporary Art from UK Galleries
14 February - 31 May Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Art from Elsewhere brings together works that depict different realities of profound global change. Supported by the Art Fund and curated by David Elliott, this Hayward Touring exhibition recognises the vital importance of continuing to enrich collections of contemporary art throughout the whole country. All the works in the exhibition are drawn from the collections of six museums across the UK which were recently awarded over £4 million by the Art Fund to build outstanding collections of international contemporary art through funding scheme Art Fund International. Artists from 96 cities in 37 countries were represented, most in mid-career and aged between 30 and 50.

Artists in the exhibition include: Ai Weiwei, Carl Andre, Yael Bartana, Thomas Demand, Nancy Spero and Józef Robakowski. The show is currently at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (until 1 February), and opens at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery on 14 Feburary, before touring to mima, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (19 June – 27 September); Harris Museum, Preston (09 October – 30 November); Towner, Eastbourne (23 January – 3 April 2016); and Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Arnolfini, Bristol (22 April – 17 July 2016).


BRITISH ART SHOW 8
October 2015, Leeds Art Gallery and then touring 
The British Art Show is widely recognised as a significant marker of recent developments in contemporary art, unrivalled in its scope and national reach. The exhibition introduces a wide public to a new generation of British artists, providing a vital overview of the most exciting art produced in this country during the previous five years. This time, BAS 8 is curated by Anna Colin and Lydia Yee and will tour to venues including Leeds Art Gallery; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Talbot Rice Gallery, and University of Edinburgh; Norwich University of the Arts, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, and University of East Anglia, Norwich; and the John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton (in a major new building in the city centre) and Southampton City Art Gallery.


ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION

Making It
Sculpture in Britain 1977-1986
1 April – 21 June, Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park then touring 
The late 1970s and 1980s witnessed the emergence of a younger generation of artists working in the United Kingdom who began to receive international attention for practices which, although incredibly diverse, share a revived interest in the sculpted object, in materials, and in ideas around making. Making It is the first exhibition to survey this exciting moment in British sculpture. It shows how approaches to object making were reinvigorated by the breakthroughs in conceptual and performance art made by preceding generations and by sculptural and cultural inspirations from beyond these shores.

Drawn primarily from the holdings of the Arts Council Collection and augmented with major loans from important UK public and private collections, Making It represents the work of over 40 artists including Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Cornelia Parker and Alison Wilding among many others. This substantial exhibition embraces a wide range of sculptural practices, highlighting shared concerns, as well as important differences, between and within established groups. The exhibition tours to Mead Art Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre in Autumn 2015.

One Day, Something Happens: Paintings of People
March 2015, opening at Leeds Art Gallery and then touring
A new Arts Council Collection exhibition of paintings of the figure will open in March at Leeds Art Gallery, curated by Jennifer Higgie, editor of Frieze. Highlights include the beautiful study of a woman by Walter Sickert from 1906; the acute, light-filled brilliance of Lucian Freud’s portraits of the 1950s; and the exuberant explosion of Pop channelled through representations of the body in the 1960s and 1970s, in the work of artists such as Richard Hamilton and David Hockney. The exhibition will tour after Leeds to Nottingham, Drogheda, Southport and Eastbourne. 

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