Nico Muhly in Residence
23 November 2018
We’re very excited to welcome Nico Muhly for a three-part residency as both composer and performer with Aurora.
Over the next three months, expect two world premieres at Kings Place, a New Year’s Eve party featuring Nico’s collaboration with singer-songwriter Teitur, and an Orchestral Theatre concert with folk singer Sam Amidon.
A musical chameleon unconstrained by genre, Nico is just as much at home presenting his opera at The Met as he is releasing records on the artist-led label Bedroom Community, collaborating with Grizzly Bear, or crafting arrangements of Tudor church music.
Our artistic partnership with Nico stretches back over a decade to a commission for electric violin and chamber orchestra in 2007. Since then his music has had a special place in our programme, featuring not just in our first recording for Decca Classics (2011), Seeing is Believing but also in our award-winning debut for Warner Classics, Road Trip (2014).
We’re very much looking forward to welcoming Nico back.
Old Bones
Fri 23 November 7.30pm, Kings Place
Tonight we stop the clocks and delve into ancient notions of time in a sold-out concert jointly curated with Nico Muhly and countertenor Iestyn Davies. We pair Nico’s evocative music with works by Thomas Adès, Dowland, Debussy, Satie and Brahms. At the heart of the evening are world premiere performances of Nico’s setting of Dowland’s Time Stands Still and a new ensemble arrangement of his Old Bones inspired by the rediscovery of Richard III’s remains. Learn more
Northern Lights: New Year’s Eve Party
Mon 31 December 9pm–1.30am, Kings Place
For New Year’s Eve, Nico Muhly comes to celebrate with us in our festival-style party of live music, dance, food and drink. Expect live performances from the composer himself, singer-songwriter Teitur, 40-piece pop ensemble Lips Choir and Afrofuturist multidisciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie (Lady Vendredi). Music on the night ventures to far horizons: a rare UK performance by Teitur and Nico of Confessions, Terry Riley’s In C (with Nico on piano) and a raucous club-classics set by Lips Choir. Learn more
Songs from the Road
Sun 20 January 4pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
Completing the Nico Muhly residency, our next Orchestral Theatre concert explores stories of migration across time, borders and cultures. We trace the journey of the folk ballad Two Sisters from 16th-century Norway to 21st-century New York City, performing Nico’s hypnotic version The Only Tune with American folk artist Sam Amidon. We also tell the story of migration today through the world premiere of Where We Lost Our Shadows, a collaborative work by composer Du Yun and filmmaker Khaled Jarrar that follows the displacement of a Syrian family. Part of The Orchestral Theatre: The Claus Moser Series at Southbank Centre & SoundState, a new music festival of global creativity. Learn more