Southampton’s Turner Sims announces 2017 autumn programme

Turner Sims, the University of Southampton’s world-class concert hall, today, (26 May 2017), announces its 2017 autumn season.  
 
Featuring a global programme packed with exclusive performances, the quality of the lineup is matched only by its breadth, which spans jazz, classical, contemporary, world and folk music.
 
Located on the University of Southampton’s scenic campus, Turner Sims is widely acknowledged as one of the finest concert halls in the UK, praised by artists and audiences for its acoustics and intimacy. Under the direction of Kevin Appleby, it presents a broad and ambitious programme of internationally significant performers that commands the respect of music aficionados from Southampton and beyond.

Autumn 2017 at Turner Sims presents opportunities to discover new things, with a programme full of the familiar and unfamiliar, presented by exceptional artists.

Highlights include: 
  • Big Band celebration – the autumn programme’s jazz strand features three big bands: Holland’s ICP Orchestra mark their 50th anniversary as one of the world’s leading contemporary music ensembles in 2017; composer and arranger Mike Gibbs celebrates his 80th birthday with an all-star British line-up; and Beats & Pieces, the Manchester-based band influenced as much by Michael Jackson, Björk or Radiohead as they are Duke Ellington, Gil Evans or Loose Tubes mark their 10th anniversary
  • Exclusive performances from violinist Chloë Hanslip and pianist Danny Driver, clarinettist Emma Johnson and Friends, Armida Quartet, Binker & Moses + guests, Darius Brubeck Quartet, Reis / Demuth / Wiltgen Trio and the dynamic early music group Spiritato
  • An eight-recital piano series curated by Turner Sims featuring internationally-renowned artists including Federico Colli and Cédric Tiberghien, who present exclusive programmes for Turner Sims. They are joined by Imogen Cooper, who will perform a three-concert series focussed on Beethoven and Haydn
  • UK, European and international jazz artists including Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (US), Denys Baptiste (UK), Portico Quartet (UK), Reis / Demuth / Wiltgen Trio (Luxembourg) and Andy Sheppard Quartet (UK)
  • Vienna Piano Trio, who conclude their three-year residency with Turner Sims with a four-concert series focussed on the work of a young Beethoven, performing his complete Opus 1 set, and Schumann’s first piano trio. The series is only being performed at Turner Sims and the Trio’s other home, the Konzerthaus in Vienna
  • Debut performances from American jazz outfit Aaron Diehl Trio, the world’s first professional black and minority ethnic orchestra, Chineke!, London drum & sax duo Binker & Moses, pianist Cédric Tiberghien and saxophonist Trish Clowes
  • A special world music series that includes Cuban composer Omar Sosa, Senegalese kora master and singer Seckou Keita, Malian guitarist Habib Koité, fellow Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté, Finnish trio Värttinä and Iranian kamache player Kayhan Kalhor
Folk music features prominently in the programme, with pioneering trio Lau celebrating the release of their first retrospective album Decade (The Best of 2007-2017) and feted Irish outfit Lankum also bring their distinctive sound to Southampton. BBC Folk Award winner Bella Hardy performs music from her new album, and in an era where migration is never far from the headlines, there’s a timely retelling of Peter Bellamy’s legendary folk ballads The Transports.

Also on the programme is a unique collaboration between seven-time Grammy-nominated pianist, composer and bandleader Omar Sosa from Cuba and Senegalese kora master and singer Seckou Keita, who will perform together in Transparent Water. This intercultural dialogue continues in an encounter between Malian kora master Toumani Diabaté and the Persian classical music performer from Iran, Kayhan Kalhor, in one of just a handful of opportunities to hear them in the UK.

There is a two-part series of lectures in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Planet Earth II: Cities sees producer Fredi Devas deliver a behind-the-scenes look at the ground-breaking show, while adventurer and filmmaker Benedict Allen reveals the full story of his dramatic return to Papua New Guinea for BBC Two series Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest in Adventures in Paradise.

Other highlights include world-renowned chanteuse Ute Lemper performing her celebrated show Last Tango in Berlin – The Best of Ute; a wide-ranging performance by gifted Russian guitarist Irina Kulikova that includes her compatriots as well as work from Bach and Chopin; a special performance from pianist Marc-André Hamelin playing Feinberg, Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ sonata and Schumann; a Tchaikovsky showcase from Southampton’s professional orchestra Són; and a Debussy centenary celebration from Piatti Quartet.
 
Kevin Appleby, Concert Hall Manager at Turner Sims, says:
“We’re very proud to be bringing audiences in Southampton a lineup of such extraordinary musicians from around the globe, some of whom join us for their only UK performances. From masterful renditions of the jewels of the canon to the pioneering trailblazers of tomorrow, this is a rich and varied programme for what promises to be one of our most exciting seasons to date.”
  
Turner Sims welcomes leading magazines Gramophone, Jazzwise and Songlines as media partners for this season.
 
Turner Sims Southampton is provided by University of Southampton and gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Council England.
 
Turner Sims is proud to be a member of the following organisations: British Association of Concert Halls (BACH), Europe Jazz Network, Jazz Promotion Network.
 
For the full programme visit www.turnersims.co.uk
 
To book, call the Box Office on 023 8059 5151 or visit www.turnersims.co.uk