Barbican’s Sound Unbound weekender set to give classical music a festival feel

Crash the party: a cymbal-ic scene from the 2015 event. Photograph: Mark Allan

Classical music’s elitist reputation will be once again challenged by the Barbican later this month, as they prepare a repeat of 2015’s Sound Unbound weekender.

The festival, encompassing sixty performances staged all over the Barbican complex from the Lakeside Terrace all the way through to the main hall, will take place over the weekend of 29 – 30 April.

Among the high profile acts involved are Anna Meredith (in the form of a gallery-wide sound installation created specifically for the Barbican Curve), multi-talented pianist and entertainer Chilly Gonzales, and German composer Sven Helbig, performing the UK premiere of new work I eat the sun and drink the rain.

The film music of John Williams (performed by the London Symphony Orchestra) and the Calder Quartet’s performance of the score from Hitchcock’s Psycho are likely to be pop culture-riffing crowd favourites, while traditionalists may be more inclined to take in Handel’s Water Music, or Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring reworked for two pianos.

Composer Anna Meredith will bring a specially written piece to Sound Unbound ’17. Photograph: Kate Bones

2015’s Classical Weekender bridged the gap between classical and modern electronic music, and as such local outfit Nonclassical will again be providing the late-night entertainment. The group/label, helmed by Hackney’s own Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei Prokofiev, of Peter and the Wolf fame) has put on ‘classical club-nights’ at venues like Hoxton Bar & Kitchen and The Shacklewell Arms in its 10+ year history.

Barbican Head of Music Huw Humphreys told the Citizen: “Sound Unbound is all about getting people to come and listen to a great variety of classical music, and introducing its many facets to people who might think the genre is not for them.

“The atmosphere will be very relaxed and the musicians will introduce the music from the stage. These are some of the best musicians of our time, and they will be joining forces with the Barbican’s fantastic family of resident and associate orchestras to break down the boundaries between classical and contemporary music.”

Sound Unbound 2017: The Barbican Classical Weekender takes place 29 – 30 April 2017. For more information and tickets, click here.