Barbican Announces Further 2015 Contemporary Music Dates

Colleen + Ex-Easter Island Head

24 May 2015 / 19.30 / LSO St Luke's
Tickets: £15 plus booking fee

In her previous four albums for The Leaf Label and Second Language, singer songwriter Colleen - the alias of French musician Cécile Schott – explored the use of acoustic instruments outside their traditional context, with compositions ranging from contemplative to playful. Scheduled for release on Thrill Jockey in April 2015, her new album Captain Of None will focus on a melodic repertoire, with fast-paced tracks rooted by prominent bass lines and her instruments of choice, the treble viola da gamba and her voice. For her debut performance at LSO St Luke's, Colleen performs music from her new album as well as a selection of songs from past releases including her 2013 recording The Weighing Of The Heart.

Opening the evening, Liverpool-based collective Ex-Easter Island Head present their rhythmic minimalism, featuring multiple prepared electric guitars struck with percussion mallets to create works that explore group interplay, repetition and melodic invention through purposefully limited means.

Ryoji Ikeda - supercodex

27 May 2015 / 19.30 / Village Underground
Tickets: £20 plus booking fee

Ryoji Ikeda returns to material from his acclaimed 2013 Barbican co-commission superposition, with supercodex, a club-oriented experience which takes place at Village Underground on 27 May 2015. This live set, performed by the artist on stage for the first time in London, is an intense exploration of the intersections between music and visual art through mathematics, quantum mechanics and logic, the work draws on Ikeda's residency at Centre For Nuclear Research (CERN). The performance accompanies an immersive, disorientating installation, supersymmetry, which combines colliding, mutating, sound, text and visual data, utilising forty projectors and computers. Produced by the Vinyl Factory, the installation takes place at Brewer Street Car Park.

Ikeda's surgical approach to production and DJing first marked him out when he emerged on the music scene in the mid 90s, before shifting towards more abstract formalism and the extremes of audio perception. Now equally comfortable performing at Sonar festival as at Tate Modern, Ikeda has consistently pushed the boundaries of what is possible in electronic music and sound experimentation. Ikeda's pioneering influence is deeply felt across contemporary electronic music from post-digital glitch to minimalism.

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Burda: The Asil Ensemble Featuring Karima Skalli

The Music Of Umm Kulthoum And Mustafa Said

Presented by Shubbak – A Window On Contemporary Arab Culture And Abu Dhabi Festival

11 July 2015 / 19.00 / Barbican Hall

Tickets: £20-35 plus booking fee

Internationally renowned Moroccan singer Karima Skalli and the 12 musicians of the Asil Ensemble present the opening night of Shubbak, the UK's largest festival of contemporary Arab culture. The concert features three Burdas – song cycles combining poetry and music, which have inspired composers and poets across the centuries. For the first time, the famous Nahj El Burda by the legendary Umm Koulthoum will be presented alongside a new composition by oud virtuoso Mustafa Said, artistic director of Asil Ensemble, with music set to new poetry by Palestinian author Tamim Barghouti, together with a classical Burda to words by 12th century poet Al Busari. The concert is preceded by a talk by Kamal Kassar, director of the Amar Foundation, discussing the performance and the work of collecting historical recordings of Arab music as a resource for today's composers and musicians (5.15pm, Open stage, Barbican foyer). Members of the Asil Ensemble will also join acclaimed violinist Ahmed Al Salhi for a pre-concert free-stage performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the death of renowned Arabic violinist Sami El Shawa (6pm, Open stage, Barbican foyer).

Produced by the Barbican

Part of Shubbak - A Window On Contemporary Arab Culture with support from The Arab Fund For Arts and Culture (AFAC), the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, British Council, Arts Council England, A.M. Qattan Foundation and the Al Qattan Charitable Trust

Homage to Sami El Shawa is presented by the Foundation for Arab Music Archiving & Research (AMAR) in association with Abu Dhabi Festival

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King Creosote

10 October 2015/19.30/Barbican Hall
Tickets: £15 - £20 plus booking fee

Following two sold out Milton Court Concert Hall performances in September 2014, where he presented music written for Virginia Heath's documentary From Scotland With Love, King Creosote returns to the Barbican with his band for his debut in the Hall. Playing his biggest London show to date, the Scottish singer songwriter will perform songs from his previous albums, as well as pieces he wrote for From Scotland With Love. The culmination of a tour including shows across UK and Europe, the announcement of this Barbican headline performance also marks the release of King Creosote's next single out of From Scotland With Love album on Domino records. Titled Largs, the track will be out on 2nd March.

Produced by the Barbican
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COMING UP SOON

The Gloaming
Tue 3 Mar 2015 /Barbican Hall/20:00
Tickets: £15-25 plus booking fee
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Matthew E. White
Tue 10 March 2015/ LSO St Luke's/ 19:30
Tickets: £20-25 plus booking fee
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Strata East – A Mystical, Magical Force
Sun 22 March 2015 / Barbican Hall /19:30
Tickets: £15- 25 plus booking fee
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We Have An Anchor
Tuesday 31 March 2015/ Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £15 – 30 plus booking fee
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Benjamin Clementine
Wednesday 1 April 2015/ Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £15 – 25 plus booking fee
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Hello Terry Riley: James Holden, Koreless, Luke Abbott
Thu 9 April 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £15-£30 plus booking fee
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David Sanborn Band + John Scofield and Jon Cleary
Sat 11 April 2015 / Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £20 - 30 plus booking fee
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Chilly Gonzales & Kaiser Quartett
Sat 11 – Monday 13 April 2015/Milton Court Concert Hall/20:00
Tickets £15 – 20 plus booking fee
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Sinéad O'Connor
Mon 13 April 2015 / Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £20 - 30 plus booking fee
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MEXRRISSEY
Mexico Goes Morrissey
Sat 25 April 2014 / Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £15-25 plus booking fee
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s t a r g a z e presents: The Dodos orchestral plus Greg Saunier : Deerhoof Chamber Variations
Tue 28 April 2015 / Village Underground / 19:30
Tickets: £20 plus booking fee
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The Etudes by Philip Glass
Performed by Philip Glass, Maki Namekawa, Timo Andres, Clare Hammond and Víkingur Ólafsson
Wed 29 April /Barbican Hall/19:30
Tickets £20 – 25 plus booking fee
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Villagers
Friday 1 May 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £17.50-20 plus booking fee
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Eliane Elias + Ed Motta
Tue 4 May 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £20–35 plus booking fee
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Mountains and Waves: Bryce Dessner and New American Music
Marathon Weekend curated by The National's Bryce Dessner
Saturday 9 – Sunday 10 May 2015
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Colleen
+ Ex-Easter Island Head
24 May 2015 / LSO St Luke's / 19.30
Tickets: £15 plus booking fee
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Ryoji Ikeda - supercodex
27 May 2015 / Village Underground / 19.30
Tickets: £20 plus booking fee
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Fatoumata Diawara and Roberto Fonseca
Saturday 30 May 2015/ Barbican Hall/ 19:30
Tickets: £15 - 25 plus booking fee
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Giant³ Sand
Tuesday 2 June 2015/Union Chapel/19:30
Tickets: £22.50 plus booking fee
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Nico Muhly Sentences
Britten Sinfonia/Iestyn Davies/Nico Muhly
Saturday 6 June 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets £10–£35 plus booking fee
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Markos Vamvakaris – The Patriarch of Rebetiko
Featuring Stelios Vamvakaris & Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand)
Thursday 11 June 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £15 – 30 plus booking fee
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Burda: The Asil Ensemble featuring Karima Skalli
The Music of Umm Kulthoum and Mustafa Said
Presented by Shubbak – A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture and Abu Dhabi Festival
11 July 2015/Barbican Hall/19.00
Tickets: £20-35 plus booking fee
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Sly and Robbie meet Nils Petter Molvaer
Featuring Eivind Aarset and Vladislav Delay
Friday 17 July 2015 / Barbican Hall/ 19.30
Tickets: £15 – 25 plus booking fee
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King Creosote
Saturday10 October 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £15 - £20 plus booking fee
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War Work: 8 songs with film
Composed and directed by Michael Nyman
Thursday 10 December 2015 / Barbican Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £17.50–25 plus booking fee
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Drawing Life
Composed by Jocelyn Pook
Saturday 30 January 2016 / Milton Court Concert Hall / 19:30
Tickets: £10–20 plus booking fee
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Notes to Editors

Barbican Box Office: 0845 120 7550
www.barbican.org.uk

Press Information

For any further information, images or to arrange interviews, please contact the Barbican's music media relations team:

Sabine Kindel, Media Relations Manager
t - +44 (0)20 7382 7090
e – sabine.kindel@barbican.org.uk

Eleonora Claps, Senior Media Relations Officer
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6199
e – eleonora.claps@barbican.org.uk

Eleanor Nimmo, Media Relations Officer
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6196
e – eleanor.nimmo@barbican.org.uk

Sagar Shah, Media Relations Assistant
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6138
e – sagar.shah@barbican.org.uk

About the Barbican
A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins everything it does. Over 1.5 million people pass through the Barbican's doors annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. The architecturally renowned centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, the Pit, Cinemas One, Two and Three, Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants. The City of London Corporation is the founder and principal funder of the Barbican Centre.