What's On

John Dowland Selection of Fantasies and Galliards
J S Bach Suite in E minor BWV 996
Georges Lentz Ingwe

‘The guitar is very susceptible to more populist directions and I’m veering away from that. There are acts of unspeakable violence everywhere, as portrayed by the media, alongside the issues of Trump and Brexit. We need to speak to higher goals and move in different directions to reflect, and to understand how to manifest that reflection.’ Sean Shibe

As an uncompromising new classical force, Sean Shibe is riffing on the chaos and calamity of our times to push his instrument into pioneering new shapes.

Over the years, he has been influenced by the contemporary classical repertoire of Europe alongside the avant-garde jazz of his dad’s record collection – think Sun Ra, John Coltrane and socialist mining songs from Scotland and the North East – growing up on a worldly-wise diet of sound that defies pigeonholing.

Coupled with his astute reactions to world power politics and the everyday violence that now permeates our social narratives, he’s harnessing these stimuli to pour fresh thinking onto his music.

Sean’s ‘bracingly original’ recording softLOUD featured lute music for classical guitar side by side with multi-track repertoire for electric guitar.

In that same spirit, Melancholia brings classical and electric together again, with George Lentz’s Ingwe – an Aboriginal word meaning ‘night’ – forming tonight’s centrepiece. The initial idea for the music came to Lentz during a trip to the Outback, where in a pub in Brewarrina, a man sat alone tuning up his electric guitar for that night’s gig. The composer wanted to evoke the loneliness and desolation of the place (and indeed his own loneliness) which he felt was encapsulated in that man’s sound.

Photo credit: Kaupo Kikkas

Part of the RNCM Original Voices series.

Spotlight

Spotlight: Sicilian Landscape

Tuesday 3 March 6.30pm

Contemporary classical guitar works with live electronics

Free admission, no ticket required