Superstar saxophonist Kezia Colton showcases an exciting, uplifting programme of works by Rachmaninov, Piazzola, Pedro Iturralde and more, accompanied by the RCMJD Saxophone Quartet and pianist Craig White.

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Classical Coffee Mornings: Kezia Colton

Royal Albert Hall

As you experience an orchestra from within, free to move between the instruments, discover a story of beauty, patience, peril and hope. Take control of the mixing desk and choose how you want to encounter extraordinary nature-inspired music by Richard Wagner, Dobrinka Tabakova, Nadia Boulanger, Michael Nyman and more.

The Orchestral Forest

Smith Square Hall

With her natural energy, infectious personality and talent to spare, she was the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest-ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. An extraordinary talent, she has already been awarded honours for services to music.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra With Jess Gillam

Sydney Opera House

The programme includes the exciting dancing textures created by pioneering multi-layered tape pieces such as Steve Reich’s Violin Phase and Vermont Counterpoint. Richly complex patterns create compelling listening in Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy and modern New York icon Julia Wolfe’s East Broadway. We’ll look to the British version of the movement with Michael Nyman’s captivating In C Interlude while the weaving melodies hypnotise in Anna Clyne’s Just as they are. The concert will close with a performance of Gavin Bryars’ extraordinary Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, in celebration of the composer’s strong links to Portsmouth in his highly experimental ensemble the Portsmouth Sinfonia.  

Minimalism

Portsmouth Guildhall

Pre-performance DJ and dancing in the Grand Tier Lobby.

2024 New York Season

New York City Center

Exploring the connection between the brain, existence and the soul, Michael Nyman’s opera THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT is a sometimes comedic yet often poignant story of a family coping with adversity through the healing power of music.  Composer Michael Nyman (who wrote the soundtrack to the movie THE PIANO) uses clever rhythmic repetition and varied orchestral color, pushing the story forward and builds dramatic tension, even if the scene in question is nothing more than a routine visit to a doctor’s office.  But the music tells us there is indeed something unseen living just below the surface.  As the opera progresses, the drama and the music meld further, until music becomes the dominant, driving, healing force in the character’s lives.  With this chamber opera. Nyman capture the wonder and mystery of the workings of the human brain, and then offers us the opportunity to experience the humanity behind the science.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

Noah Liff Opera Center

Everyone is familiar with the soaring theme of Jane Campion's “The Piano”, or the almost equally characteristic features of Peter Greenaway's film soundtracks, of which he is, so to speak, the “regular” composer; Michael Nyman is not so readily associated with so-called “pure” music, yet his catalogue is equally impressive in this respect. In a promising dialogue with Mozart, Sebastian Knauer reminds us of this, with that touch of originality which is typical of most of his projects – such as the latest one, postponed because of the pandemic: “Ludwig Fun Beethoven”... which speaks for itself!

The Mozart Nyman Concert – Sebastian Knauer

The organ world of this concert offers a wealth of evocative colors and magical impressions – and even a few mythical figures play their games. Johannes Skoog, born in Stockholm in 1992, will bring them musically to life on the keys and pedals: He won First Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition in 2024 and was recently appointed organist to the Swedish royal court. He opens his Bamberg program with Prokofiev's Toccata of 1912, a "devilishly witty" virtuoso piece of classical modernism. Debussy's sensuously shimmering composition, written in 1894, is characterized by an arabesque-like main theme: A faun revels in intoxicating memories of beautiful nymphs on a summer afternoon.

Organ concert: Johannes Skoog

Bamberger Symphoniker

We hear Royal Court Organist Johannes Skoog in a solo concert. He gathers masterful, atmospheric pieces by Ravel and Debussy, along with other favourites from the organ repertoire.

Organ favourites with Johannes Skoog

Göteborgs Symfoniker

An evening in the company of WA Mozart is an evening that enriches the soul to the very core of its DNA. In Mozart we find playful lightness and refined elegance in such abundance that we can hardly comprehend it – and then also the gravitas and emotional weight that comes from having been a professional musician and a sparkling genius since he learned to walk. Mozart loved the clarinet's dark-colored cousin, the basset horn, and tonight we will enjoy the fourth of his five moody divertimenti for three basset horns. Mozart's otherworldly beautiful quintet for piano and winds also dates from the first half of the 1780s, which he himself described in a letter to his father as "the best thing I have written in my life".

Michael Nyman

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 25, 2026

Organ concert: Johannes Skoog · Bamberger Symphoniker

Feb 22, 2026

Organ favourites with Johannes Skoog · Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Feb 22, 2026

Organ favourites with Johannes Skoog · Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Sep 1, 2026

Nyman, Kapustin & Mozart · Odense Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Nov 9, 2025

Classical Coffee Mornings: Kezia Colton · Royal Albert Hall

Oct 24, 2024

The Orchestral Forest · Sinfonia Smith Square

About

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