Across Generations: Birwistle's Silbury Air

Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, Great Britain

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7:30 PM

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Important Info

Type: Classical Concert

City: London, Great Britain

Starts at: 19:30

Duration:

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

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If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Programme

Overview

Join the London Sinfonietta for a striking season finale that brings together four decades of commissioned brilliance from Britain and Poland. Experience the enigmatic echoes of Birtwistle’s Silbury Air, the playful shimmer of Bray’s Reflections in Time, and world premieres by Andrzej Ojczenasz and Zygmunt Krauze in a vibrant concert of contemporary chamber music.As the curtain rises on the finale of its UK/Poland season, the London Sinfonietta offers a tapestry of chamber music spanning forty-one years of artistic partnership. Harrison Birtwistle’s Silbury Air conjures the silhouette of the ancient mound with seventeen minutes of shifting textures—tolling bells and clock-like pulses that emerge and recede across the ensemble’s landscape. Charlotte Bray’s Reflections in Time follows, weaving eight pairs of instruments into a delicate interplay of shifting hues and buoyant rhythms inspired by newborn curiosity. The program then unveils two world premieres: Andrzej Ojczenasz’s Primo: spatia continua, a torrent of raw energy drawn from Virgil’s epic verse, and Zygmunt Krauze’s radiant Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, where the piano’s luminous voice engages in spirited dialogue with the ensemble. This final concert celebrates the Sinfonietta’s fearless pursuit of sonic discovery and the enduring creative dialogue between Britain and Poland.

Venue Info

Queen Elizabeth Hall - London
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road

Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten.

The QEH was built along with the smaller Purcell Room as part of the Southbank Centre arts complex. It stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival of Britain of 1951, and the Hayward Gallery which opened in 1968.

The QEH stands on the site of a former shot tower, built as part of a lead works in 1826 and retained for the Festival of Britain. The QEH and the Purcell Room were built together by Higgs and Hill and opened in March 1967.

The venue was closed for two years of renovations in September 2015 and reopened in April 2018.

The QEH has over 900 seats and the Purcell Room in the same building has 360 seats. The two auditoriums were designed by a team led by Hubert Bennett, head of the architect's department of the Greater London Council, with Jack Whittle, F.G. West and Geoffrey Horsefall. They form part of the Southbank Centre arts complex along with the larger Royal Festival Hall (RFH) and an art gallery, the Hayward Gallery (opened in October 1968).

Important Info

Type: Classical Concert

City: London, Great Britain

Starts at: 19:30

Duration:

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