sheku kanneh-mason + harry baker
30 november 2022 / 7pm + 9pm / mama roux’s
100% funded (sold out)
star cellist sheku kanneh-mason and pianist-composer harry baker explore song and improvisation through folk melodies, jazz standards, bach, and mahler in digbeth nightclub, mama roux's.
6pm: early set doors open
7-8pm: sheku + harry early set
8:30pm: late set doors open
9-10pm: sheku + harry late set
10pm-close: resident DJs (included with late set backing)
what are noisenights?
noisenights are our vision for the future of classical music: informal crowdfunded events featuring international soloists in bars, converted warehouses, and nightclubs.
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Most noisenights features two short classical sets, one early evening, one late. All tickets to the late set usually include live music for the rest of the night, including jazz, latin, afrobeat, swing and funk acts.
The first 10 iterations of noisenights have welcomed sell-out crowds in London over the last 12 months, and we're delighted that noisenight14 will bring the ground-breaking format to Birmingham for the first time.
Live music needs your backing more than ever. Becoming a noisenight backer means getting tickets to hear the world's best performers up close while becoming part of a community working for a positive future for live music.
Please note that due to the venue's license, this noisenight is strictly 14+, and all under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
This noisenight also takes place in London, Leeds, Newcastle, and Manchester.
the venue:
Based under the railway arches in bohemian Digbeth, Mama Roux's is Birmingham's party palace.
A home for disco and cabaret, noisenight14 will be the New Orleans-themed club's first classical night.
the music:
Sheku Kanneh-Mason will perform a special programme for noisenights with his collaborator Harry Baker, an award-winning improvising pianist and composer in jazz, classical and new-music.
The programme will feature improvisations around folk songs and jazz standards, in addition to compositions by Bach and Mahler.
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the programme:
Big Thief - UFOF
Arthur Hamilton - Cry Me A River
James Taylor - Something in the Way She Moves
J.S. Bach - Improvisation on Partita No. 2 in D Minor
Herbie Hancock - Tell Me A Bedtime Story
Harry Baker - Fare Thee Well
Nigel Kennedy & Kroke - Lullaby for Kamila
Sheku Kanneh-Mason - Melody
Gustav Mahler arr. Harry Baker - Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor: IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam
San Fermin - In This House
sheku kanneh-mason (cello):
Sheku Kanneh-Mason became a household name in 2018 after performing at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle, his performance having been greeted with universal excitement after being watched by nearly two billion people globally.
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Sheku initially garnered renown as the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition, the first black musician to take the title. He has released two chart-topping albums on the Decca Classics label, Inspiration in 2018 and Elgar in 2020. The latter reached no. 8 in the overall UK Official Album Chart, making Sheku the first cellist in history to reach the UK top 10.
Sheku has made debuts with orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony, Japan Philharmonic,BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and Baltimore Symphony orchestras.Forthcoming highlights include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, DeutschesSymphonie-Orchester Berlin, Barcelona Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and London Philharmonic orchestras, and on tour with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
In recital, Sheku has performed at illustrious venues and festivals around the world, including Wigmore HallLondon, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, and Aldeburgh Festivals, Zurich Tonhalle, Lucerne Festival, Festival de SaintDenis, Verbier Festival, Théâtre des Champs Elysées Paris, Teatro della Pergola Florence, L’Auditori Barcelona, the Auditorio Nacional Madrid, and Carnegie Hall New York. Current and future seasons include appearances at the Barbican Hall London, Berliner Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Suntory Hall Tokyo, and tours of North America, Italy, South Korea and China.
Since his debut in 2017, Sheku has performed every summer at the BBC Proms, including in 2020 when he gave a breath-taking recital performance with his sister, Isata, to an empty auditorium due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020, Sheku and his siblings performed in twice-weekly livestreams from their family home in Nottingham to audiences of hundreds of thousands around the globe. He has performed at the BAFTA awards ceremony twice in 2017 and 2018, is the winner of Best Classical Artist at the Global Awards in 2020 and 2021 (the latter as part of the Kanneh-Mason family), and received the 2020 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists’ Award.
Sheku continues his studies with Hannah Roberts at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a Bicentenary Fellow. He began learning the cello at the age of six with Sarah Huson-Whyte and then Ben Davies at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. He has received masterclass tuition from Guy Johnston, Ralph Kirshbaum, Robert Max, Alexander Baillie, Steven Doane, Rafael Wallfisch, Jo Cole, Melissa Phelps, Julian Lloyd Webber, Frans Helmerson and Miklos Perenyi.
Sheku was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List. He plays a Matteo Goffriller cello from 1700 which is on indefinite loan to him.
harry baker (piano):
Harry Baker is an award-winning improvising pianist and composer active in jazz, classical and new-music settings. His music has been featured on Jazz FM and BBC Radio 3, and his compositions recorded by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain on NMC Recordings.
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A key player on the UK jazz and classical scenes, Harry has performed at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the 606 Club, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. His music looks to unite his diverse influences, centring around improvisation and collaboration. Recent work includes performing his composition ‘Lament’, a semi-improvised piano concerto, with the Ripieno Players in a programme alongside a new composition by saxophonist Xhosa Cole (BBC Jazz Young Musician 2018).
In early 2020, Harry released his debut album, ‘The Floating Boy’, a suite for big band and voices performed by the Oxford University Jazz Orchestra and vocal group The Oxford Gargoyles. The album launch was accompanied by a feature interview in London Jazz News and was played on Jazz FM, leading presenter Helen Mayhew to comment that “the future of British jazz is in very capable hands.”
Upcoming projects include recording with Sheku for his new album on Decca Classics, in addition to a performance at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in early 2022. Harry will also be performing with his trio at Vortex Jazz Club on 27th October, and with Max Richter and Sinfonia Cymru on 4th November at the Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
Harry is in-demand as a session musician, and has appeared on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, in addition to BBC1&2 with choirmaster Gareth Malone. He is also a passionate advocate for music education, and works as Accompanist with London Youth Choirs and at the Royal College of Music, and as Musician-in-Residence at Bobby Moore Academy.
Rewards: unallocated standing tickets to the noisenight14 late set, at 9pm on Wednesday 30 November 2022. First-come-first served for the best views.
Rewards: unallocated standing tickets to the noisenight14 late set, at 9pm on Wednesday 30 November 2022. First-come-first served for the best views. Please note in order to qualify for a concession ticket, you must be in receipt of Universal or Pension Credit, or in full-time education. There are a strictly limited number of concession tickets available for each event. These are available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Rewards: unallocated standing tickets to the noisenight14 early set, at 7pm on Wednesday 30 November 2022. First-come-first served for the best views.
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