September culture in the City: The best of music and performance
As you begin to return to your workplace, make sure your time in the City is packed with culture… Here’s our September roundup to keep you busy.
City Music Foundation is hosting a concert on Tuesday 7 September at 7pm at the Great Hall, St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Helen Charlston will be performing a world premiere of the complete new song cycle ‘Battle Cry’ by Owain Park, commissioned by CMF for mezzo soprano and theorbo (Toby Carr). There will be a pre-performance talk from Jeremy Summerly with drinks, and it will be balanced with a programme of early music, including Purcell, Strozzi & Monteverdi. Tickets can be found here.
RichMix has a wide variety of films, performances and events coming up. On the 19 September at 2pm you can join Suresh Singh and Bishopsgate Institute archivist Stefan Dickers to reflect on being born and bred in Brick Lane for ‘Memoirs of a Cockney Sikh’.
Singh became the first Punjabi punk, playing drums for Spizzenergi and touring with Siouxsie and the Banshees. In the book, chapters are alternated with Sikh recipes by Jagir Kaur. For more info click here
Over at the historic Wilton’s Music Hall, E1, rediscover the music of Cole Porter with Olivier Award-winning, cult cabaret band The Tiger Lillies from 14 tgo 25 September. For more info and tickets click here.
Sir Simon Rattle opens the London Symphony Orchestra Season at the Barbican on Sunday 12 September with an all-British programme featuring a new choral work by Julian Anderson, with the London Symphony Chorus under the direction of Simon Halsey returning to the Barbican for the first time in over 18 months. The programme continues with Judith Weir’s Natural History with guest soprano Lucy Crowe, followed by Vaughan Williams’ A Pastoral Symphony No 3 and Maxwell Davies’ An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise with Robert Jordan playing the bagpipes. More info and tickets here.
Then on 15 September, Sir Simon conducts the first Half Six Fix concert – hour-long performances, perfect for an after work cultural fix, with a more relaxed atmosphere and introductions from the conductor – with Beethoven’s Symphony No 6, ‘Pastoral’. Tickets and more info can be found here.
The Gresham Lectures once again offer a stellar line up of free talks. Two of my favourites are the 16 September ‘Nostalgia and Music’, given by Professor Jeremy Summerly at Bernard’s Inn Hall, and on the 23 September, ‘Modernism Rampant: Shostokovitch and Mosolov’ given by Professor Marina Frolova-Walker FBA.
On Friday 17 September, a new historical performance ensemble Figure will launch its inaugural concert of Bach’s St John Passion at St Bartholomew-the-Great. Aiming to introduce a new generation of musicians to the classical scene, the ensemble’s aim is to bring compositions to life in the way their composers intended, while championing talented young British musicians from all backgrounds.
At Music in Offices we are joining the #LetsdoLondon campaign to get people back in the City and on 21 September you can join a Peace Day singing session in the beautiful setting of St Bart’s Church Lawn, EC1. Come down at 6pm to sing with other city workers and friends.
We love that EastCheap Records is back open and Live Music is Back! There’s a great line up of performers throughout September including Hip Hop House Band on the 16 and 30 September, Joel Bailey & the Soul Radicals on 9 and 23 September, DJ Santero on 11 September and Jump Around on 17 September.
See you on the dance floor!