ARTS
From brand new opera to reimagined Greek classics, electronic contemporary music to experimental physical theatre, the CLF Art Cafe is a venue known for its eclectic and adventurous programme, specialising in new and contemporary work across the arts.
Pandora's Box
presented by The Opera Story
POSTPONED
Some stories are better kept secret…
The Opera Story's fourth new opera retells the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box in an exciting new work with music by Alex Woolf, and a libretto by Dominic Kimberlin (returning after his wonderful Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs two years ago.).
Follow the story of these five friends who are about to learn they did not know each other so well after all.
Secrets don’t stay secrets for long!
SOLO 08 | Rakhi Singh
presented by SOLO
POSTPONED
Rakhi's a highly versatile musician equally at home collaborating with the likes of Steve Reich, Björk and Philip Glass, leading ensembles like the Manchester Collective and London Contemporary Orchestra, and composing searing electroacoustic works with producer and composer Sebastian Gainsborough.
For SOLO, she'll be performing an eclectic set taking in everything from J S Bach's 'Chaconne' from his Partita No. 2 to Salvatore Sciarrino's Caprices, plus new works from present-day pioneers; Vessel, Oliver Coates, Emily Hall & Alex Groves.
Handel Remixed: Volume II
presented by London Handel Festival
POSTPONED
After last year’s exhilarating debut appearance, Festival Voices return to the London Handel Festival and Bussey Building with a varied setlist of well-known Handelian choruses and arias from Messiah, Jephtha and Theodora, remixed live with electronic music in FV’s unique house style. Featuring baroque ensemble, chorus and a wicked dose of playfulness, Handel Remixed: Volume II will challenge conventions, surprise the sense and inspire the imagination in ways the composer would no doubt have utterly relished.
Festival Voices
Ensemble FV
Gregory Batsleer Conductor
Nico Bentley Producer/DJ
Opera Walks into a Bar
POSTPONED
All the best jokes start in bars. Some of our best anecdotes start with a drink, as do half our relationships and possibly just as many of our breakups. We pop corks to celebrate and we cry into wine.
And drink is one of opera’s most popular characters. It pops up all over the place – in dimly lit cellars, at extravagant cocktail parties and as bottles of poison. We’re recreating opera’s best drinking moments and inviting you to get yourself a pint and join us.
Directed by Daisy Evans
Between The Lines x Leafcutter John & Friends
Thu 21 May
Serious is very proud to present a new series of Between The Lines, joining forces with some of our favourite artists, labels and collectives to present a series of performances of boundary-pushing music throughout May in the CLF Art Café in Peckham’s Bussey Buildings.
On Thursday 21 May we are joined by legendary electronic musician and producer Leafcutter John, who has put together a night of new collaborations and projects spanning the wide range of his extensive musical output. He’ll be performing with saxophonist and composer Helen Papaioannou in a first time collaboration, and to support he’s invited his friend Ruth Goller (of Melt Yourself Down and Vula Viel fame, amongst others) who will perform with her new trio Skylla, featuring vocalists Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant.
Exploring the intersections between electronic, experimental, jazz, and more – Leafcutter John has been a serial collaborator and left an indelible mark across the UK’s musical spectrum, and with this show in continues to push into new musical territory.
Presented in association with Border Community
Between The Lines x Erased Tapes: Anne Müller + Daniel Thorne + Hatis Noit
Thu 28 May
Serious is very proud to present a new series of Between The Lines, joining forces with some of our favourite artists, labels and collectives to co-curate a series of performances of boundary-pushing music throughout May in the CLF Art Café in Peckham’s Bussey Building.
On Thursday 28 May our friends at Erased Tapes have curated a beautiful triple bill, continuing their Erased Tapes 2020 series, featuring German cellist and Nils Frahm collaborator Anne Müller’s first live appearance in London since the release of her debut album Heliopause, a solo set from Immix Ensemble founder and saxophonist Daniel Thorne, and the enchanting London-based Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit, plus some surprises on the night.
Join us in Peckham’s hallowed Bussey Building for a night of sonic exploration that defies categorisation.
Enescu Octet
Manchester Collective
presented by CLF Art Cafe
Sat 27 Jun
Quite simply, MC have put a bunch of their favourite music into this show. Rather than sticking to a single theme or composer, in this programme they get the chance to show off their musical range - to flex their muscles as they get close and personal with some of the greatest music ever written.
This show takes us from focused and intense works for just one instrument (Bach’s G Major Cello Suite), to the huge combined string sound of Enescu’s String Octet; from the shape-shifting Koan by James Tenney to the haunting Modlitwa, a musical prayer by father-daughter compositional team, Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik.
In the words of Stephen Pritchard (Observer/Guardian/Bachtrack): “Catch it if you can - the future has arrived.”
Creative Team
Manchester Collective - string octet
Programme
BACH Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
PANUFNIK Modlitwa
TENNEY Koan
TAVENER The Lamb
ENESCU String Octet in C Major, Op. 7