'London’s room for the curious': Southbank Centre Launches the Purcell Sessions

Lyra Pramuk

'London’s room for the curious': Southbank Centre Launches the Purcell Sessions

New concert series begins on 18 September.

The Southbank Centre has launched a new series of adventurous music and art titled the ‘Purcell Sessions’.

The year-long programme of over 100 events will take place in the 295-seater Purcell Room and features new collaborations, new commissions, cross-genre concepts, audiovisual installations and album launches.

The initial line-up includes electronic artist FAUZIA, club music artist Coby Sey, Berlin-based vocalist and composer Lyra Pramuk, vocalist and electronic artist Abyss X, dance music/pop artist Nabihah Iqbal, Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill, artist and quantum physicist Libby Heaney and more.

Contemporary choreographer Holly Blakey and Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller will be collaborating for the first time alongside electro-pop musician Gwilym Gold, singer-songwriter Dave Okumu, cellist and composer Oliver Coates and The Smile’s Tom Skinner, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra with violinist Pekka Kuusisto, London Sinfonietta and artistic partners Manchester Collective

Commenting on the series, Bengi Ünsal, Head of Contemporary Music at the Southbank Centre, said:

Purcell Sessions represents an unrivalled new artistic venture for the Southbank Centre. Set to become London’s room for the curious, this major annual series for the Purcell Room will see us usher in a new era of artists breaking new ground in contemporary culture. From yeule to Abyss X, these creators and innovators all share a passion to forge new artistic territories, to defy expectation and to present work in dialogue with the times. Purcell Sessions is already generating significant industry attention and we can’t wait to see this grow and evolve, as artists choose Purcell Room as their destination for creative and artistic freedom.

The Purcell Room first opened in 1967, named after the English composer Henry Purcell. In November 1969, David Bowie played at the space after the release of the song ‘Space Oddity’.

The initial line-up for the Purcell Sessions includes: Holly Blakey and Jeremy Deller (18 Sep), Gnarly and Nikita Gill (1 Oct), Manchester Collective (2 Oct), Philharmonia Orchestra with Pekka Kuusisto – Music of Today (3 Oct & 28 Nov), Ruth Ozeki and Alam Nathoo (7 Oct), Ill Considered (10 Oct), Bishi (13 Oct), Abyss X (16 Oct), K Music (17 Oct & 6 Nov), Mieko Kawakami (23 Oct), Keisha the Sket (29 Oct), Lyra Pramuk (31 Oct), Robert Ames (4 & 5 Nov), Gigi Masin (26 & 27 Nov), Neil Cowley (4 & 5 Dec), Jamie Isaac (9 & 10 Dec), FAUZIA (11 & 12 Dec), Iglooghost (21 & 23 Jan), Nabihah Iqbal and Libby Heaney (28 & 30 Jan), London Sinfonietta (6 Feb), Laima (9 & 10 Feb) and yeule (5 & 6 March), WOOM (10 March) and major projects with K-Music Festival and the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Further dates will be announced soon. For more, visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk.

Published on 2 September 2021

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