Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd November 2013

Introduction to the festival

Stoke Newington Contemporary Music Festival is back. Following last year’s successful pilot, London’s local new music festival offers no less than 19 premières – brand spanking new pieces specially written for us and for you, which you won’t be able to hear anywhere else. Focussed around themes of the past and the present, the piano and the voice, our events encompass solo piano, string quartet, voice and choir and spoken-word, in the inspiring and vibrant settings of St Mary’s Church and Ryan’s bar. Headline artists Stephen Gutman and Elena Riu are both international pianists at the top of their game – hear them unleash their contemporary-music expertise on programmes mashing up the old and the new. Adventurous young ensemble Ishirini bring a feast of the new to the table and a new string quartet deliver a packed programme of premierès linked to the bicentenary of French maître Charles-Valentin Alkan; Ishirini with a selection box showcasing their eclectic new music and commissioning programme. Plus absolute classics by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Henry Cowell, John Adams, Benjamin Britten, Kurt Schwitters and more.

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