Rock ‘n Roll Royalty comes to Kettle’s Yard

John Paul Jones Credit: Kettle's Yard

Kettle’s Yard has unveiled its 2012 New Music Series featuring 12 cutting edge concerts performed by world class musicians.

Anchoring the series on 20 May is Led Zeppelin’s bass guitarist and keyboardist John Paul Jones. The rock legend joins Stephen Montague in an exclusive and concert. The evening will end with the Cambridge University New Music Ensemble performing his original works.

John Paul Jones is widely considered as one of the most influential Rock bassists of all time. Along with being a member of Led Zeppelin, Jones also has a solo career and has worked with many other Rock ’n Roll acts such as Sonic Youth and Heart.

This year’s series begins on 29 January with four tubas, YouTuba, who meet in the woods for a ’Tuba Bears’ Picnic’. This musically diverse show is accompanied by text from BBC Radio 3 presenter and poet, Ian McMillan.

On 12 February Kettle’s Yard presents the Irish duo, violinist Darragh Morgan accompanied by pianist Mary Dullea performing Finnissy and Nancarrow.

On 27 February, Flam by Orlando Gough comes to Kettle’s Yard. This truly irresistible work is presented over a simple cup of coffee and performed by virtuoso singers/actors Melanie Pappenheim and Rebecca Askew.

Other attractions include world premieres from the Efthymiou Twins and Gabriel Prokoviev. The young Chinese American pianist Jessica Zhu will perform a programme of ’Powerful Women’ exploring music written by the most talented female composers of today. Percussion duo The G Project play an evening concert that breaks the boundaries of classical stereotypes and perform works by Turnage, Cage, Ford and Poppy.

The series is programmed by composer Stephen Montague, an Anglo/American composer, pianist and conductor. Born and educated in the USA, Stephen has lived in Europe since 1972 where he was first a Fulbright Scholar in Warsaw until moving to London in 1974 where he worked as a freelance composer. His works cover a wide spectrum of interests from music for the concert hall to large outdoor, multi-media events using hundreds of performers. His music is published by United Music Publishers.

The full programme can be viewed here: http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/newmusic Tickets are available online or by phone on 01223 748100. Sunday Coffee Concerts are only £7/£4 concessions and the two evening concerts £10/£6 concessions.