Bi Feiyu

SPIRIT LEVEL

China Now - 12 February 2008, 7.45pm

Be the first to experience the magic of Bi Feiyu's The Moon Opera at the opening event in our China Now literature series. Newly translated into English, the novel is set in the dramatic world of the Peking Opera, where aging star Xiao Yanqui performs in The Moon Opera 20 years after she spurned the role in a fit of jealousy. With a special focus on translation, Bi Feiyu discusses his work with his translators Howard Goldblatt and Li-chun Lin.

Supported by Arts Council England.

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EAR Present

EAR

January 26th 2008

This specially created club night showcased everything from poets to MCs, classical instruments to avant-garde electronica, singer-songwriters and DJs

Among the artists who performed were singer Natascha Eleonore; bassist Renell Shaw with his band Descendants of Quest; flautist and beatboxer Shlomo; multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Catherine Anne Davies; vocalist and viola player Nila Raja; singer-songwriter Sam Carter; experimental electro-ethnic artist Mieko Shimizu; composer and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, amongst others. 
 
In addition, a collective of young artists from Central Saint Martins, Camberwell School of Art, and London Metropolitan University were engaged to design visuals across the spaces in the Spirit Level including a life-size tree installation in the Spirit Level Foyer.

Welcome...I appreciate you passing through.

EAR

2007 was a turbulent year with many highs… Glastonbury Festival, BBC 1Xtra, residency at The Southbank Centre as an Emerging Artist and collaborating with the amazing Nitin Sawhney on his new album…
I feel the foundations have been set & throughout 2008 I’m going to chase my dreams with everything I have.

I want to use this online facility to connect with those of you who feel my music & want to join me on this crazy journey. Check out the myspace for more info / music / blogs / videos etc. www.myspace.com/organicurban ~ the brand new material produced by legendary production team ‘Bacon & Quarmby’ (Finley Quaye, Ziggy Marley, The Pretenders etc.) will premier on there soon.

In turn, I hope 2008 brings you the motivation to shed old fears and hesitations and gives you the opportunity to find the strength you need to pursue your dreams with fire-like determination.

I am trying to learn from the mistakes I made in 2007 and leave them there…I woke up this morning with a sense of urgency to put right what I can and to not feel down about the things I cannot change.

I feel a sense of freshness in the air and excitement looming at the changes to come. I have chosen to leave fear behind. My resolutions will embody the emotions that I am feeling right now, so that in months to come, when my strength may seem diminished or the fire in my determination seems somewhat extinguished, I can recall what made me write this right now. My documentation here today will be my testimony to my friends and to myself. I intend to try my very best to be all I can be this year.

I wish you all the same. May strength be with you and please stay in touch,

Much love & respect

x~Natascha Eleonoré~x

Gamelan Classes

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION

Southbank Centre and Morley College Adult learning programme are holding beginner and intermediate gamelan classes on Thursday evenings at Southbank Centre. These sessions will be led by experienced tutor Peter Smith, in the new Gamelan Room in Spirit Level of Royal Festival Hall. The classes start on Thursday 4 October. The beginners class runs from 5.30pm-7.30pm, and the intermediate class runs from 7.30pm-9.30pm.

Enrolment for these courses is through Morley College. Please phone 020 7450 1889 or visit www.morleycollege.ac.uk

For more information on the Gamelan, visit www.morleycollege.ac.uk/departments/music/javanese-gamelan

Southbank Gamelan Players

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Ensemble in Residence at Southbank Centre, Southbank Gamelan Players has achieved an international reputation for collaborating with dancers, puppeteers and composers from Indonesia, Europe and the USA. The ensemble - comprising many players who have studied extensively in Java and Bali - performs both traditional Javanese repertoire and champions new music for gamelan.

Renowned Javanese musician, composer and ethnomusicologist Dr Rahayu Supanggah agreed to act as Associate Artist at Southbank Centre and works closely with Southbank Gamelan Players to devise innovative projects for the future direction of the gamelan programme.

In 1988, the Royal Festival Hall was presented with a full set of Central Javanese gamelan instruments Kyai Lebdhajiwa (The Venerable Spirit of Perfection) as a gift of friendship from the people of The Republic of Indonesia to the people of Great Britain. Since its arrival, the gamelan has become a popular and important part of artistic and educational life at Southbank Centre. Founded by Alec Roth, the gamelan programme has inspired similar education programmes throughout Great Britain and Europe - many of which rely of the expertise of the tutors from Southbank Centre.

www.sbgp.org.uk

Lemn Sissay

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Lemn has recently commenced a year-long residency with us, as Poet in Residence. He is the author of four poetry collections: Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist (1988); Rebel Without Applause (1992); Morning Breaks in the Elevator (1999) and The Emperor's Watchmaker (2000). He is also the editor of The Fire People: A Collection of Contemporary Black British Poets (1998), and his work has appeared in many anthologies. His stage plays are Chaos By Design, Storm, and Something Dark.

Lemn is also an Associate Artists at Artsadmin. Examples of his television explorations include a six-part jazz series for BBC2, and in 2004 he presented the first National Poetry Slam and The New Brit for the BBC. His work has featured in various short films including the British Film Institute sponsored The Elevator, featuring Gary Lewis. A documentary about Lemn's extraordinary life and search for his father, Internal Flight, was recently broadcast on BBC1.

He has been commissioned to write poems by various bodies including the World Service, and his work has become public art, particularly in Manchester, where his poems appear on buildings and streets. Lemn reads his work around the world and is featured on many albums, most notably Leftism by Leftfield.

The Independent on Sunday says of his work: 'His poems are the songs of the street, declamatory, imaginative, hard-hitting.'

Read more from Lemn by visiting www.lemnsissay.com

Resolutions

EAR

last year/this year:

last year I:

-wrote 56 songs mostly about ------ and ----- and recorded (most of) them with Paul draper and Nitin Sawhney and blue may and some by myself
- sold 500 copies of my ep on pre-order and make my fingers bleed stamping each and everyone by hand. Then had to make 500 more.
- felt a little bit weird about getting reviewed in the daily mirror. felt better when i read the review. 
-promised myself i would learn how to play banjo PROPERLY. Failed miserably. spent too much time emailing instead
-got asked to be artist in residence at the southbank centre and got to see Brian Wilson sing "god only knows" 
- finally succumbed to the mac and got myself a proper pro tools set-up so i can join in the geeky boy-conversations
- gave the old dark side a chance and fell in love with the shins, didn't fall in love again but carried on torturing myself (mostly) about the same old same old, reinventing the contemporary malcontent
- continued to successfully abstain from drinking until may, then august. fell into a vat of rum in December and drank myself through the entire tom waits back catalogue, watched five movies without actually watching them and made my left eye bleed,
- went deaf in one ear for a day
- played islington academy and drunk so much baileys before i even got on stage that it seemed like the room was swaying in time with each rush of blood
- supported scout niblett in Brighton and tried to stop looking puzzled every time someone called her "Emma"
- visited two aquariums and fell in love with a skate called mister ray.
- got three buses to play a gig in hackney and got accidentally hit in the face with a flying guitar amp 
- got lost on hampstead heath
- got lost in little venice
- stood on a train platform in harrow wanting to die 
- didn't get invited to your birthday (you know who you are)
- shouted and swore at some guys in the audience for talking only to find out later that they were actually shouting about how much they loved the music... 
- danced like a fool to old suede songs at "feeling gloomy" and gave myself whiplash whilst scaring the life out of Tim (probably)
- cried so much i lost my voice but acquired two more tones in my upper range
- played in front of a bazilion people with nitin sawhney at the royal festival hall
- got to take a shower in the rfh dressing rooms before the builders had really finished...
- acquired mysterious bruises but stopped feeling sick every time i ate.
- had a terrible birthday (again)
- played at the bbc electric proms
- got my first national radio play and won the bbc introducing listeners' vote 
- felt disappointed in patrick wolf and the dresden dolls but played "videotape" by radiohead on repeat and became addicted to the shins
- bought another piano even though i shouldn't/couldn't/will live to regret it
- lusted after too many guitars and not enough boys 
- cried at the rufus wainwright old vic show when he played "the art teacher"
- spent 15 days in hospital waiting rooms, waiting.
- thought about dyeing my hair blonde at least four times then accidentally dyed it blonde by leaving in the highlighting lotion too long the day my dad's father died and it no longer seemed important to wash it off.
- spent around a month of my time travelling on trains, mostly travelling backwards.
- got given an iPod but never used it
- hoped it would be fatal
- thought about starting an emo super-group comprising solely of female musicians 
- listened too much and didn't demand enough
- drank too much white wine in the sun at reading and became fixated by trent reznor's leather gloves and enjoyed lost prophets a little bit too much.
- took too many taxis
- spent an amazing and exhausting two weeks writing and rehearsing ten completely original compositions for the re-opening of the royal festival hall. almost learnt to love reggae.
- got asked by Courtney Love to join her band. got scared and turned it down.
- recorded a cover of The Magnetic Fields' "The Book of Love" on Christmas Eve and tried not to laugh too much whilst playing sleigh bells and making my friend Duncan sing really low backing vocals.
- read about 250 books whilst finishing my doctorate. Felt old about finally leaving university but kept getting ID'd in the supermarket anyhow.
- didn't get a proper job
- wore fake eyelashes whilst holding imaginary cigarette holders that leave trace a ladder of smoke that leads to the stars...
- nearly broke my guitar whilst wearing ridiculously high heels at the Jazz Cafe. because i could. 
- finally impressed my parents by being on the same album as Paul McCartney (out next year)
- got addicted to rum and ginger beer which surpassed the cream soda and martini cocktail of the winter of 2004.
- thought about emigrating to America, Iceland, Poland, Paris, the end of the garden. 
- didn't leave the country once
- finally made it to iTunes.
- blagged a comprehensive knowledge of the life and works of Sylvia Plath after being invited to sing and talk about her at the ICA not having read "The Bell Jar" for nearly 10 years because it made me feel so ghastly.
- ran around in the butterfly house at London Zoo
- got terrible skin for 3 months and finally empathized a little too late with all those girls at school...
- started making mixtapes again

this year -

- i want to be in technicolor...

Orchestra of the age of enlightenment

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Resident Orchestra of Southbank Centre

Principal Artists:
Ivan Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Simon Rattle CBE

‘The OAE is quite possibly the finest orchestra in the land, period instruments or no, and thus one of the finest in the world’ (Evening Standard).

It's 1986. For some 10 years there has existed a largely London-based core of players of Baroque instruments who have played for bands run autonomously by experts. Confidence and standards have improved greatly. Music-making has been transformed.

And then a group of players forms a self-governing orchestra of period instruments - the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE). There's no single conductor. Instead, conductors or directors from violin or keyboard are appointed on a concert-by-concert basis. The OAE is quickly recognised as special, and the recording industry clasps it to its bosom.

In celebration of its 21 years, six great conductors who have played pivotal roles in the Orchestra's history have been named as Principal Artists (Ivan Fisher, Vladimir Jurowski and Sir Simon Rattle) and Emeritus Conductors (Frans Bruggen, Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Roger Norrington). And the OAE continues to thrill through its dynamic, refined and extraordinary playing.

The OAE has been an Associate Orchestra of Southbank Centre for 13 years, becoming a Resident Orchestra last season. In addition it is Associate Orchestra at Glyndebourne, and is the first period instrument orchestra to offer an apprenticeship scheme, the OAE Experience.

This season the OAE celebrates revolution. Not only examining the music surrounding the French Revolution in the four-part series The Eve of Revolution, but highlighting the revolution in music-making that the OAE started. The 2007/08 Season has concerts with all our Principal Artists, and starts with a dynamic new production of the seminal operaDido and Aeneas.

In addition the ground-breaking and award-nominated late night series, The Night Shiftreturns for a further three events.

JOIN THE FRIENDS!

You can get to know the orchestra better by becoming a Friend of the OAE. Friends receive the bulletin Enlightenment with news of concerts and exclusive events, opportunities to meet the players and free concert programmes. To join for as little as £25 simply call the OAE office on 020 7836 6690.

www.oae.co.uk

Photo: Chi-Chi Nwanoku MBE by Eric Richmond

London Sinfonietta

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Associate Artist of Southbank Centre

'A band of individual virtuosos blending into an ensemble of thrilling panache' (Observer).

In 2007/08 the London Sinfonietta presents a thought-provoking series at Southbank Centre that places contemporary music at the heart of today's culture. Featuring world premieres by Simon Holt, Karin Rehnqvist and Thomas Ades, alongside the music of modern greats such as Luigi Nono, Olivier Messiaen and Steve Reich, the London Sinfonietta is an ensemble that seeks to redefine musical experiences mixing music with visuals, dance and poetry.

www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk

London Philharmonic Orchestra

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre

The London Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates three milestones during 2007/08: the 75th anniversary of the Orchestra's first performance on 7 October 1932; the first season with its new Principle Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, and its return to a refurbished Royal Festival Hall.

The season's musical programmes are also celebratory with works ranging from Beethoven's five piano concertos to a recognition of anniversary years for Elgar and Korngold. There are the first five symphonies of Mahler, the Ravel piano concertos, the great violin concertos, Verdi's immortal Requiemand a concert performance of Bellini's La straniera in partnership with Opera Rara. Nicola Benedetti plays the world premiere of a new work by John Tavener, and there are further premieres by Matthias Pintscher and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Leonidas Kavakos and Sergey Khachatryan head a line-up of great violinists as do Maurizio Pollini, Emanuel Ax and Richard Goode of great pianists. Conductors Kurt Masur, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Christoph Eschenbach feature and there are debut performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra by Simone Young. Debut soloists include Dejan Lazic, Yossif Ivanov and Marisol Montalvo.

Saint Etienne

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

"We are very pleased to have been given an opportunity to spend a year working at Southbank Centre as Artists in Residence. We're planning a series of films and events, including a Christmas music festival and a monthly club where we can meet people, exchange ideas, and bring them along on the journey with us. Collectively, the Royal Festival Hall is probably our favourite  building in London, and we'll be working on a film and music project that will capture the next chapter in its history, something we will premiere at the Royal Festival Hall the week it reopens." 

Shlomo with special guest DJ Yoda

EAR

Friday 22 February 7.45pm

Part of Sholomo's ongoing Music Through Unconventional Means series, this event sees Artist in Residence and beatboxer Sholomo collaborate with DJ Yoda, who mixes everything from nursery rhymes, country, soul and reggae to drum and bass and 1980s pop. In 2007, DJ Yoda has played to packed clubs from Beijing to New York and supported Fat Boy Slim on tour,

Tonight's collaboration will see DJ Yoda's groundbreaking audio-visual performances combine with Sholomo's beatbox antics, culminating in a specially created piece in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, folled by a party set from DJ Yoda in The Front Room.

More info/Book tickets

Camilo Tirado

EAR

Camilo has studied Tabla with Hanif Khan, Mohammed Asani and Keshav Sathe. He is currently working towards a degree in Music Technology at the University of Huddersfield. His music palette includes electroacoustic composition, dub, dance music and Indian classical. He draws inspiration from sources as diverse as Taoism, physics and global politics. 

Braydz

EAR 

An MC, poet and lyricist. He is part of the hip-hop duo Blind Alphabetz, whose debut album Lovolution was recently released at the end of 2007. Blind Alphabetz have supported Dead Prez, Public Enemy, Guru, RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, and Saigon, amongst others.

Read Braydz blog here

Ayanna Witter-Johnson

EAR

A jazz vocalist, cellist, pianist and composer. She studied composition with Errollyn Wallen and Andrew Poppy and now studies with Alwynne Pritchard at Trinity College. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Colourful Radio and Resonance FM. Ayanna has played with artist such as Soundspecies UK, the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, Soul II Soul and Jason Yarde, with whom she worked as assistant orchestra for the Hugh Masekela and LSO project.

Named by Courtney Pine as 'one of our rising stars of the future', she performed with him at the Barbican recently. She also played at the London Jazz Festival at Southbank Centre.

Read Ayanna's blog here

Operation Soapbox

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION

The interactive website for Operation Soapbox is now live - if you are a participating group or if you'd like to find out more about the project you can logon at www.southbankcentre.co.uk/soapbox

What do young people from across Britain want to say to the world? As participants in a giant national conversation what question would they ask? What messages would they send? And how could those ideas be explored and articulated other than through words?

Inspired by those questions, Southbank Centre is inviting schools and youth groups from around the UK to be part of Operation Soapbox, a national project to explore how we express ourselves and how new ideas form.

Using the medium of the soapbox - the traditional vehicle for independent expression - young people nationwide are asked to join a creative experiment with each other and with the public. Participating schools or classes receive a Soapbox Satellite - an ordinary looking box containing an extraordinary question or idea - as a catalyst for a year of exploration. What they do with the box and its cargo is up to them. All we ask is that they use it as a springboard for their own conversations, ideas and experiments. And that they send back their 'findings', in one form or another, by Summer 2008.

For more details about the project or to register your interest as a participating group, please call 020 7921 0871 or email soapbox@southbankcentre.co.uk

(A Southbank Centre project, in collaboration with AOC)

Love the Festival Hall

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION

Memories delivered daily

Southbank Centre has launched a nationwide call for memories of the Royal Festival Hall, with the support of Age Exchange and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Was it a musical event, a turn across the largest ballroom floor in London or a visit to the Festival of Britain that secured your affection for the Royal Festival Hall? Perhaps it was someone you met here, a childhood visit or simply the building itself. Do you have a memorable moment or a special story of the Royal Festival Hall?

Why not share it and be part of our archive of memories, which will launch when we open our doors again in the summer of 2007. Share your story and be part of a living archive - a people's history - a celebration of over 50 years of priceless memories and unforgettable moments.

Visit lovethefestivalhall.org.uk to learn more about the project and entrust your memory to the archive. Thank you.

Takacs Quartet

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION

As part of their residency at Southbank Centre, The Takacs Quartet are engaged in a two year education project involving students from Stoke Newington School, Hackney, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drame.

This project is linked into our commissioning of James MacMillan to write a quartet for the Takacs, to be premiered in May 2008. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about major works in the string quartet repertoire, as well as learning about the process of music composition.

To keep in touch with this and more Learning and Participation at Southbank Centre, register your details so you can be sent updates.

PLAY

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

18 August - 2 October 2006

176,900 people visitors experienced this project in just seven weeks. We invited visitors to take the stage and become the orchestra!

"On the outdoor terrace, seating is laid out as if in an orchestra. When you take a seat the instruments that belongs there begins to sound, playing its part in a piece of music. Moving around the space and trying different seats, you experience a musical score in constant evolution. By switching on your mobile phone's Bluetooth function, you can download unique ringtones and send sounds back to eventually become part of the music played by the virtual orchestra."

Click here for more information on this project.

Natascha Eleonoré

EAR

A singer who performs an eclectic blend of soul, reggae and hip-hop, moving between hard-hitting lyrics and smooth soulful singing. She has been featured on BBC 1Xtra and BBC Asian Network, and performed with Catch 22 at Glastonbury this summer. Her forthcoming debut album features Afro-Cuban rhythm legends Horacio 'El Negro' Hernandez, Robby Ameen and Richie Flores. She played recently at Southbank Centre on as part of B.Supreme – the UK’s Festival for Women in Hip-Hop.

Read Natascha's blog here

Trading Places

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

People, poetry and photography of Lower Marsh

What is the poetry of the places where you live? What are the hidden stories of the street you walk down every day?

Trading Places was a project inspired by the Poetry International Festival 2006. Kwame Dawes' Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swap Country is a collection of poems based on the memories of elders in his local community in South Carolina. In a parallel journey of reminiscence Southbank Centre worked with the people of Lower Marsh, Spread the Word an the Lomographic Society International on a project that discovered the hidden poetry of everyday places and captured a portrait of this street through photography.

Working with school children, local young people, residents, shop owners, office workers, market traders and elders we created an interactive wall of songs, snapshots, poetry and memories, a 'Lomowall', at the front of the Royal Festival Hall.

Visit the minisite: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/tradingplaces/

Catherine Anne Davies

EAR

A multi-instrumentalist who writes dark and twisted songs and sings with "A voice that sounds like a lake of black honey." (Metro)

Currently recording tracks for her debut album with producer Paul Draper (Mansun, Skin, Komakino) Catherine is also collaborating with Nitin Sawhney for his forthcoming album London Undersound. She will be performing as part of the Girl Friday event at Southbank Centre, programmed in collaboration with The Lipster, in March 2008.

Read Catherine's blog here

Emerging Artists in Residence (EAR)

EAR

Southbank Centre's Emerging Artists in Residence (EAR), is a multi-talented group which came out of the Aftershock London project directed by Nitin Sawhney in 2007. Featuring some of London's hottest new artists including singer - songwriters, rappers, MCs and beathboxers alongside spoken word artists and DJs.

The EARs are:

Each EAR has their own page which you can access by clicking here

Hidden Love Song

LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION

February 2006

Hidden Love Song was part of a series of installations on the hoardings keeping the public in touch with education at the Royal Festival Hall during the building's transformation:

"Valentine's Day and a new composition by Mark-Anthony Turnage is celebrated in a new collaboration between Southbank Centre, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Central Saint Martins and two primary schools in Lambeth and Kent.

The new installation is the latest in a series to brighten a popular commuter route alongside the Royal Festival Hall. The installation contains hundreds of love messages written by Londoners, hidden behind a silver film. Visitors to the South Bank walking past the installation will be encouraged to scratch away the silver to reveal the poems and messages, while being serenaded by excerpts from Turnage's composition: Hidden Love Song."

Related Media:

Saxophonist Martin Robertson plays a fragment of Hidden Love Song

Pupil at Ashmole primary school reads his poem about love

Participation is the key word

Hi to anyone who is reading our new blog! To the Learning and Participation staff and Artists please feel free to add as much as you like to the blog; whether it be facts about The Spirit Level, what you do in The Spirit Level, events or workshops you have run in the past, currently or are going to put on in the future and even inspirational bits and bobs. The more the better!

Have fun!

Emma and Nina