Not just beer and skittles: Celebrating 10 years of the OAE's The Night Shift

OAE - The Night Shift

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) will be premiering Matthew Kaner's Concerto for Four Baroque Violins tonight (25 October 2016), but the performance takes place not in a concert hall but in The Old Queen's Head pub in Islington as part of the OAE's The Night Shift, its monthly series of casual classical gigs where you can drink, talk and listen to classical music in comfort. And to celebrate the fact that The Night Shift is 10 years old the OAE is calling on composers of all varieties (classical to punk, pop, reggae, soul, folk or hip-hop) to write music for the OAE's pub gigs. Composers interested in writing for The Night Shift should email the OAE, nightshift@oae.org.uk.

The OAE is Resident Orchestra at The Old Queen’s Head, Islington, The George Tavern, Shadwell and The Bussey Building, Peckham, performing at one of these venues on the last Tuesday of every month. It also has Residency status at gay club night Duckie, in Vauxhall, and tours pubs and clubs across the country with The Night Shift. The orchestra has played more pub gigs than it has concerts at the Royal Festival Hall.

The Night Shift is on tonight (25 October 2016) at The Old Queen's Head, Islington, doors open 7.30pm and the gig starts at 8.30pm. If you can't be there then you can watch is live-streamed on YouTube. The last Night Shift of the year is on 29 November 2016 at the CLF Art Cafe (Bussey Building) in Peckham.