what are noisenights?

noisenights are our vision for the future of classical music: informal crowdfunded events featuring international soloists in pubs, basement bars, and cabaret clubs.

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Each noisenight features two short classical sets, one early evening, one late. All tickets to the late set include live music for the rest of the night, including jazz, latin, afrobeat, swing and funk acts.

Live music needs your backing more than ever. Being 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.

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the music:

Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály's Duo for Violin and Cello, alongside music by Bach, Bartók, and original arrangements of folk songs made specially by Laura and Max.

laura van der heijden (cello):

Hailed by the Guardian as a “thoughtful artist with much to say”, Laura van der Heijden has emerged as one of the leading cellists of her generation, captivating audiences and critics alike with the sensitivity of her sound and interpretations.

She can already look back on a number of exceptional achievements, among them being the winner of the BBC Young Musician competition, and performing with such distinguished musicians as Sir Andrew Davis, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Kirill Karabits, Huw Watkins, Krzysztof Chorzelski, and the Brodsky Quartet.

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In 2016 Laura was chosen by the Orpheum Stiftung in Switzerland, a foundation encouraging and assisting exceptionally talented young instrumental soloists. Under this umbrella she appeared in recital with Fazil Say at Zürich Tonhalle.

Laura’s 2018 debut album ‘1948’, featuring Russian music for cello and piano with pianist Petr Limonov, won the 2018 Edison Klassiek Award (broadcast live on Dutch TV), and the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award. The CD has been hailed as a “dazzling, imaginative and impressive” debut recording.

The 2019/20 season saw her perform with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Aldeburgh, the Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, the Prague Symphony, the London Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras.

In the past few years, Laura has performed with leading orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Hallé Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, as well as the European Union Chamber and English Chamber Orchestras. She has also given debuts in Holland, Germany, New Zealand, and in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of the inaugural BBC Proms Australia.

Recent highlights also include recitals at Tonhalle Zürich, Wigmore Hall and Musashino Cultural Foundation in Japan, as well as her participation at the music festivals of West Cork, Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, and Krzyzowa Music.

Chamber music is immensely important to Laura. She has collaborated with Tom Poster, Huw Watkins, Petr Limonov, Katya Apekisheva, Matthew MacDonald, and Krzysztof Chorzelski and regularly participates in international chamber music courses and festivals. She is also a regular player with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, an Associate Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall.

Laura plays a late 17th-century cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, on generous loan from a private collection.

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max baillie (violin):

British-German violinist Max Baillie traverses a diverse range of musical fields with a unique ease and versatility. He has worked with musicians from Steve Reich and Mischa Maisky to Bobby McFerrin and Bjork.

Soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader, Max also collaborates regularly with musicians from sibling cultures, bringing together Scandinavian folk music and Bach with his award-winning Lodestar Trio, and celebrating the Hungarian and Roma inspiration behind music by Brahms and Schubert with his quintet ZRI.

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A graduate of the Yehudi Menuhin School, Cambridge University, and Berlin’s UdK, Max’s teachers include Ivry Gitlis, David Takeno, and Natasha Boyarsky. He plays regularly with his father, cellist Alexander Baillie, and has a duo Sonnen with long-term friend and collaborator Vahakn Mattosian with whom he recently took part in Britten-Pears Foundation’s Festival of New. Together they bridge where experimental electronic music meets contemporary dance music.

Max regularly leads Swiss Chamber Orchestra CHAARTS including recent discs for Sony and Berlin Classics, and annual appearances at the Boswil Summer Festival. In February this year he directed Scottish Ensemble with a specially-devised program including his piece Mirrors In Time for 5-string electric, bass drum, and strings. Max is a regular member of Notes Inegales with whom he has collaborated with musicians from all over the world, with regular appearances at the London Jazz Festival.

Max plays at chamber music festivals in the UK and abroad, including Natalie Clein’s Purbeck Festival, Lawrence Power’s West Wycombe Festival, and SoNoRo in Romania and Italy.

Passionate about education, Max ran his own music course for a decade, Es Muss Sein, and more recently has founded new mentor scheme for recent graduates of the Yehudi Menuhin School, in collaboration with the school’s new administration. He has also run courses for the National Youth Orchestra and Aldeburgh Young Musicians.

Amongst projects for 2021 Max is preparing to make a disc of classical repertoire as re-imagined from New Orleans and 1940s Paris.

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support us

Can't attend this noisenight but still want to support live music and be part of our crowdfunding community?

Your donation means that we can continue to attract the UK's best musicians to our noisenights series and push the boundaries of live classical music. It also means that we can keep our events guide independently curated and expand our mindmusic programme which promotes mental health and wellbeing in our local communities.