Wednesday 18 April 2018

Freshly written works & radical takes on music-making: Occupy the Pianos

Occupy the Pianos returns to St John's Smith Square from 20 to 22 April 2018, when pianist/composer Rolf Hind's festival will be presenting freshly-written works and radical takes on music and concert-giving, with new and radical piano music at its core. There will be more than a dozen new works over the weekend, placing the focus on future directions for the piano; as well as having a Call for Scores, the weekend begins with a workshop on writing for the piano, with further pieces dropped into the weekend as surprises.

Reflecting both the proximity of the Houses of Parliament, site of protest and agitation, and the sense of spirituality arising from St John's itself (still a consecrated church), two themes run through the weekend, Protest and The Journey Within.

Protest takes many forms, from the feminist angle in Maxwell Davies to the words of prisoners in Rzewski, from a plea for compassion to animals to a radical rethinking of music making from a queer angle.

Whilst The Journey Within affects not only the pieces played but the manner of performance so that Sunday's concerts will gradually dissolve into audience participation with everyone ending up downstairs in the cafe together, by way of a concert conducted as a led meditation with Eliza McCarthy.

Full details from the St John's Smith Square website.

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