Championing unconventional live experiences and a more accessible classical scene, Sound Out Leeds will be putting on events throughout the city until next summer.
As an organisation dedicated to reframing the conventions of classical music for the modern day, spotlighting innovation within the scene and making it more accessible to everyone, Leeds International Concert Season are programming with fresh, boundary-breaking talent in mind.
Their 2024/2025 schedule is no different – thinking up new, unconventional ways that classical music can be discovered and experienced, it ranges from shows in pubs to cabaret settings.
This side of the year, highlights include a collaboration between Manchester Camerata — one of the UK’s most pioneering orchestras — alongside composer Rushil Ranjan and singer Abi Sampa. Taking place on 2 November at the Howard Assembly Room, the evening will centre Ranjan’s Manchester Camerata-commissioned Māyā composition, which blends western orchestral sounds with Carnatic music — a musical tradition of South India studied by Sampa since she was a child. Bringing the tradition into a new context, the show will explore themes of love, identity and spirituality.
In February, wind and string group Meliora Collective will play another standout show on the schedule. Taking place at 3pm at the Old Woollen, Sunny Bank Mills, the piece will focus on indigenous storytelling and music, brought to life by an all-female group of musicians. The following week will also see a five-instrument performance in bar, kitchen, venue, and arts space The Wardrobe — one of this year’s less conventional venues.
Another example of forward-thinking programming takes place later in the summer, on 1 May, when turntablist, DJ, and producer NikNak will premiere a special Leeds International Concert Season-commissioned fusion of electronic and orchestral music. “This commission blends turntablism and electronic music production elements with orchestral music in a way that feels fresh,” she says, capturing the spirit of the wider programme. “Turntablism is often categorised into either hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, DJ Shadow for example), or experimental music, like Shiva Feshareki’s or Christian Marclay’s works; I think both worlds are incredibly valid to each other. In my practice I pull inspiration from them to create something new and unique. What I’m doing with Chineke! Orchestra is creating a new piece from scratch, no pun intended, using turntables as an instrument alongside an orchestra. It’s something that doesn’t happen very often.”
View the full season, and get tickets, online now.
