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Welcome
Welcome to the Overture, a unique Southbank Centre celebration which welcomes back the Royal Festival Hall after two years of restoration and redevelopment. One of London's most beautiful and friendliest buildings, it has a special place in so many people's hearts that we thought we should ask as many people as possible, including you, to join in.
All events are free. The performers are as likely to be six as sixty, or to be from Berwick upon Tweed as Brighton. All 21 acres of the Southbank Centre site will come alive, with special events in the Royal Festival Hall itself. From high art to a helter skelter with garden sheds thrown in, we've designed the Overture to surprise and delight but there's one ingredient needed to make it complete: you.
There are many ways to get involved: busk with Billy Bragg, perform a Bollywood Dance, or stroll down the 1950's Road.
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Beautiful Beginnings
Jazz musician Laka D conducts a unique ensemble of four concerts including every six- and seven-year-old at school in Lambeth, their families and a nine-piece band featuring legendary trumpeter Harry Beckett. These specially commissioned concerts reflect the wide range of music on offer during The Overture - expect everything from Beethoven to Jarvis Cocker.
Saturday 10.20am & 1.50pm, Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 11.20am & 3.50pm, Royal Festival Hall
FLAG: Original dance and music
This special version of a celebrated dance performance piece, directed by Lea Anderson of The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs features a cast of 180 from dance groups all over the country. Making the most of the new Royal Festival Hall, the performers begin in the auditorium then break out through the building and out onto the balconies and terraces to offer a truly breathtaking spectacle.
Saturday 3.30pm & 6pm, Royal Festival Hall & Outside
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Appearing Rooms
Get wet (or avoid getting wet) in Jeppe Hein's interactive fountain. Back by popular demand after its exciting and playful appearance in 2006, this fountain uses high powered jets to make walls of water appear and disappear, allowing you to move from space to space.
Throughout the weekend until 16/09/07, Riverside Terrace
National Youth Choir
Recognised as one of the world's greatest choirs by any standard, the most senior of the six National Youth Choirs embraces young people aged 16 - 22. Expect power, passion and professionalism.
Saturday 5.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof
Lucky Dip Concerts
By getting a Lucky Dip ticket you don't know what you're going to get, but we promise it will be good! This is your chance to immerse yourself in a whole new world or find yourself at a free concert by one of your favourite performers.
Luck Dip 1:
Friday 8.30pm
Royal Festival Hall
Luck Dip 2:
Friday 11.30pm
Royal Festival Hall
Luck Dip 3:
Saturday 8.30pm
Royal Festival Hall
Luck Dip 4:
Saturday 11.30pm
Royal Festival Hall
An Unexpected Harmony
A unique collaboration of baroque and gospel song bringing together over 300 non-professional choral singers from across the UK. They are joined by one of Southbank Centre's Resident Orchestras, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the internationally renowned choral group, The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers, and Ken Burton, Britain's leading gospel choir director, with his celebrated London Adventist Chorale and Croydon SDA Choir.
Sunday 1.45pm, Royal Festival Hall
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg was recently described by The Times as a 'national treasure'. In his career, Bragg has made an indelible mark on the conscience of British music, becoming a guardian of the radical dissenting tradition of the country's political, cultural and social history.
Billy Bragg's Big Busk
Bragg leads a mass sing-along with guitar accompaniment of his favourite London songs. Bring your guitar and rehearse with Billy at 7pm. Find the chords on the Downloads page.
Saturday (Rehearsal) 7pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Saturday (Performance) 8.30pm, Southbank Centre Square
Billy Bragg's Book signing
Billy signs copies of his book The Progressive Patriot.
Saturday 2.45pm, Foyles
Billy Bragg's Performance
Saturday 2.30pm, Riverside Performance
Sunday 1pm, Riverside Terrace
Sunday 2.30pm, The Hayward Stage
Book Fair
Read at the The Overture book fair - London's oldest and best outdoor book market. Extended opening hours.
Throughout the weekend, Festival Riverside
Indigo Moss
Indigo Moss play basic two-step rhythms beneath a country tune. A hideous sound couldn't be any more wrong and yet, somehow, this feels so right.
Sunday 11.30am, Ballroom Balcony at Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 2pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof
Skylon spirits
It was a dramatic 300 foot sliver of suspended steel which came to symbolise the soaring, optimistic spirit of a post-war nation. Now Southbank Centre Artists in Residence Stan Won't Dance recapture Skylon's bold statement of confidence, optimism and belief through a series of aerial duets on the Royal Festival Hall's new riverside light masts. A prelude to the company's large scaled outdoor extravanganza at the Southbank Centre in July 2007.
Saturday 2pm, 5pm & 6.30pm, Riverside Terrace
Sunday 12 noon, 2.30pm & 5.30pm, Riverside Terrace
Click here for advanced booking information
Akademi / South Asian Dance UK Presents
Praveshhhh (New Beginnings) celebrates a new chapter in the life of the Royal Festival Hall through a fusion of kathak, bharata natyam and contemporary dance alongside the river, natural symbol of rebirth and flow.
Saturday 5.30pm & 9pm, Riverside Terrace
Overture House Band
Some of the UK's finest improvising musicians come together featuring Harry Beckett (trumpet), Annie Whitehead (trombone), Winston Clifford (drums), Josfina Cupido (percussion), Jennifer Maidman (bass), Deirdre Cartwright (guitar), Diane McLoughlin (sax), Pete Whyman (sax), Dave Frankel (piano), and led by the irrepressible Laka D (vocals). Also appearing across in the Royal Festival Hall Auditorium concerts; Beautiful Beginnings.
Sunday 1.15pm, Royal Festival Hall Level 2 Foyer
The Last Movement
BSL signed performance
The Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Paul Daniel, leads a grand performance of the last movement of Beethoven's Symphony No.9 with a choir of around 1,300 singers drawn from many of the country's finest choirs, including Southbank Centre's Voicelab massed choir - Surge. With a new English translation specially written for The Overture by Billy Bragg.
Sunday 6pm, Royal Festival Hall
Silent Disco
This highly unusual event will bring 1000 people together in a surrealistic setting for a mix of contagious grooves embracing everything from the famous 1951 Royal Festival Hall riverside dance nights to the latest sounds of the 21st century. Dancers are given their own headphones.
Friday & Saturday 11.30pm, Riverside Terrace
British Gospel Arts Gospel Workshop Choir + The Club Oxford Gospel Choir, Horsham Community Gospel Choir & Harrow Youth Gospel Choir
Sunday 11.30am, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof
Apples & Snakes
A showcase of immediate and dynamic poetry presented by the UK's leading organisation for performance poetry with artists from across the UK. Spoken word veterans share the stage with young contenders, representing a full range of styles from hip-hop through free verse to luxuriantly lyrical. Whether you prefer grimy tales from the urban sprawl, dreamy evocations of nature, or just something to make you laugh, we guarantee a quality show. Hosted by Southbank Centre Artist in Residence Lemn Sissay. www.applesandsnakes.org
Saturday 4.30pm, The Hayward Stage
Saturday 8pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Frank Turner
Former frontman with punk band Million Dead, Frank Turner has turned his attention to his lighter side with his recent debut album, Sleep is for the Week.
Saturday 12.15pm, The Hayward Stage and 8pm, Level 5 Balcony at Royal Festival Hall
Love Song for the Royal Festival Hall
Perform a Bollywood dance dedicated to the Royal Festival Hall. Actress and choreographer Shobna Gulati leads you through a classic Bollywood dance from the 1950s - think picturesque settings, high emotion and romantic gestures.
Sunday 12 noon, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Shlomo
Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, Shlomo, is one of the world's finest human beatboxers. His pioneering live show has incorporated beatboxing and drumming at the same time, as well as creating original material by beatboxing into a loop sampler.
Sunday 4pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Julian Bliss
A chance to see one of the country's top clarinettists in a programme including Weber, Tiberiu Olah and Messager, accompanied by John York. Julian appears with the kind permission of EMI Classics. With thanks to mdc music & movies.
Sunday 10.30am, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Sheds and Beds
The allotment and its accompanying garden shed are as much a part of London as Buckingham Palace and jellied eels. Clare Patey, formerly from 'The Museum Of...' invited many different artists - Martin Brockman, Lizzie Clachan, Glen Neath, Gavin Morris, Thomas Matthews, Cathy Wren, Alice Power, Alice Purcell, and Spacedog UK - to lock themselves in their sheds and come up with something thought-provoking. See a hive of bees in residence, bell ringing puppets, beds of strawberries, or witness a shed tantrum, or join them for a giant tea party on Sunday.
Throughout the weekend, Southbank Centre Square
Bollywood Brass Band
Funky drummers and a hot six-piece horn section play massive hits from Indian films, driven by the huge beat of the dhol drum.
Saturday 1pm,
Southbank Centre Square
Take to the Terrace and The Last Dance
Ballroom dance with compere Nicky Miles as he invites you to take to the floor and join Ross Mitchell and his band. A Ballroom and Latin style dance cabaret featuring top artists and young performers.
Friday 7 - 10pm, Riverside Terrace
Sunday 6.30pm, Southbank Centre Square
Ballroom Dance Stars
Whether you can tell your pasa doble from your bossa nova or not, join Matthew and Nicole Cutler from Strictly Come Dancing for a world class Latin American ballroom dance show which is bound to leave you going cha cha cha.
Saturday 5pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Farnham Youth Choir, Amabile & Chantage
A trio of accomplished choirs offer an eclectic and energetic afternoon of performance. Kendal's Amabile were crowned BBC Youth Choir of the Year in 2006, while Chantage won BBC Choir of the Year 2006.
Saturday 3.30pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Eating and Drinking
Caffè Vergnano 1882, EAT, Feng Sushi, Giraffe, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien,
ping pong, Queen Elizabeth Hall Bar & Café,
Royal Festival Hall Canteen,
Riverside Terrace Café,
Skylon, Starbucks, Strada, wagamama
8am - 1am
Virtual Guestbook
Your online drawings, comments or words will be featured in our giant night time projections. Sign our virtual guest book and see your light tags projected large.
Sunday 11am & 6pm, The Hayward Stage
Candidate
With stripped back folk sounds and layered production styles, Candidate combine modern low-fi techniques with older folk styles.
Sunday 11am & 6pm, The Hayward Stage
Saint Etienne present
Turntable Café
Artists in Residence, Saint Etienne, present a weekend long Turntable Cafe, including film, music and live bands. With Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. In association with agnès b.
Saturday 8am - 1.30am, Level 6 Function Room at RFH
Sunday 8am - 9pm, Level 6 Function Room at RFH
London Adventist Chorale
Former Choir of the Year winners, the internationally renowned London Adventist Chorale are dedicated to the art of spirituals, choral, classical and contemporary sacred music.
Sunday 5pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall roof
Hold tight
Informal hang out experiences are available throughout the site; a family picnic zone; a flower market; a helter skelter and carousel. Southbank Centre's quality restaurants and cafes invite you to sample everything from breakfast and afternoon tea to cocktails and barbecues.
Bonachela Dance Company Presents Soledad
Artist in Residence Rafael Bonachela presents Soledad. Soledad is a twisted reinvention of the tango set largely to the haunting strains of Astor Piazolla.
Saturday 7.30pm & 11pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Lights & Projections
Masters of light and projection, The Light Surgeons and Gaia Nova, ignite the external walls of the Royal Festival Hall with a montage of archival footage dating back to the Festival of Britain.
Friday & Saturday from 10.30pm throughout the night, Riverside Terrace & Southbank Centre Square
Bellowhead
In three years, 11 piece folk big-band Bellowhead have literally exploded onto the festival scene. Their music is steeped in English folk and dance, and the feel is exciting, intoxicating, slightly sinister and deeply funky. Throughout The Overture they are playing different sets in different configurations of Bellowhead.
Spiers & Boden: Saturday 11.30am, Level 2 bar
Bellowhead: Saturday 1.30pm, The Hayward Stage
Bellowhead: Saturday 7.30pm, Riverside Terrace
Farmyard Animal Trio: Sunday 1.30pm, Riverside Terrace
Benji & Paul: Sunday 2.30pm, Southbank Centre Square
Bellowhead: Sunday 4pm, The Hayward Stage
Tai Chi, Yoga & Kalaripayattu
Tai Chi: Wake up with early morning Tai Chi. Tai Chi sessions for people of all ages and abilities. With Tai Chi UK, led by Mike Jacques. London School of Tai Chi Chuan and traditional Health Resources led by Linda Coviello.
Saturday & Sunday 8 - 10am, Southbank Centre Square
Yoga: Yoga led by Susan Reynolds from The Life Centre.
Saturday and Sunday, 8 - 9.45am, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Kalaripayattu: Leading South Indian martial artist and dancer Jasmine Simhalan demonstrates and gives an open workshop.
Saturday & Sunday, 8 - 10am, Riverside Terrace
Hayward breakfast
It's the early bird special. We're offering free entry to Antony Gormley's new exhibition, Blind Light, between 8am and 10am. Why not kick-start your day with a view of this spectacular exhibition?
Saturday & Sunday 8am, The Hayward
Gamelanathon
To mark the exciting return of our beautiful Indonesian gamelan to the Royal Festival Hall, internationally renowned gamelan musician and composer, Dr Rahayu Supanggah, joins our own Artists in Residence, the Southbank Gamelan Players. Joined by 25 gamalan ensembles from across the UK, they perform both inside the Royal Festival Hall and in a specially-commissioned riverside pavilion based on a traditional Indonesian pendopo designed by students from Central St Martin's College of Art & Design.
Friday 8pm - 1.30am
Saturday 8am - 1.30am
Sunday 11am - 9pm
Royal Festival Hall Upper Level Foyers, Riverside Terrace
Back in time
Relive the early days of Southbank Centre from the time of the Festival of Britain with a stroll past historic British vehicles from the 1950s, as their owners take you back in time. Cars supplied by Johnny Vercoutre, Time for Tea.
Saturday and Sunday 10am - 6pm, Southbank Centre Square
Living Archive & Opening Stories
Leave your thoughts and memories of the weekend with Living Archive and watch a great building reawaken with Opening Stories. An installation celebrating visitors' memories of spaces around the Hall.
Throughout the weekend, Spirit Level and Foyers at Royal Festival Hall
Choir Invisible
Based in the East Midlands, Choir Invisible were a BBC Choir of the Year finalist in 2006 and specialise in spiritual music across a range of genres.
Sunday 3.40pm, The Hayward Stage
Shopping
Foyles, mdc music & movies and Southbank Centre Shops
10am - 10pm
Ku-Da-Mix
Kuljit Bhamra and David Braun-White present the Ku-Da-Mix Orchestra featuring guest soloist Abdullah Chhadeh. Working together to explore collaboration, composition and new musical sounds, Kuljit and David have successfully brought together 18 exceptional musicians to form Ku-Da-Mix, in order to create a new, integrated sound that reflects culturally diverse life in 21st century Britain. The orchestra includes traditional and less familiar instruments.
Saturday:
10am, Riverside Terrace. 11am, The Hayward Stage. 12 noon, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof. 1pm, Level 5 Balcony at Royal Festival Hall. 3.30pm, Southbank Centre Square. 6pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Sandarbh (Reference)
Indian classical dance star Gauri Sharma Tripathi draws us into a unique rhythmic dialogue with an ensemble of kathak artists from the UK and India.
Sunday 3pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 4.30, Festival Riverside
Central Hall Community Gospel Choir, Croydon Seventh Day Adventist Choir & Kaine Gospel Choir
Three highly-acclaimed and diverse community and gospel choirs from around the country offer a sampling of their repertoires.
Sunday 3pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof
Paco Pena
One of the world's greatest exponents of flamenco guitar gives a solo performance of heat and passion.
Saturday 1.30pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Led Bib
Making free jazz infectious and accessible, Led Bib are blazing a trail with their fiery live shows and two critically acclaimed albums, combining the energy and passion of rock with the technical virtuosity of jazz.
Friday 5.30pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
London African Gospel Choir
London African Gospel Choir combine dance, costume and performance to take their pan-African repertoire beyond the church walls, here with performances of Babawetu and Mercy.
Sunday 11am, Riverside Terrace
Girls Night Out, World Song, Woven Chords & Global Harmony
Musical performance doesn't have to be a spectator sport, as demonstrated by Devon's Girls Night Out (BBC Choir of the Year finalists in 2006), Coventry's World Song, Lincolnshire's Woven Chords and Melton Mowbray's Global Harmony. All three are non-auditioned, community choirs who specialise in unaccompanied harmony songs from across the globe.
Saturday 2.30pm, The Hayward Stage
BBC Symphony Chorus, London Orpheus Choir, Billingshurst Choral Society and the Angmering Chorale, The Bach Choir, South London Choir & Brighton City Singers
Sunday 2pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Anomalous Creatures
Southbank Centre Artist in Residence Maresa von Stockert presents a series of dance theatre moments featuring three exceptional dancers performing on the terraces and squares of the Royal Festival Hall.
Saturday: 11.30am, 1pm, 6pm & 8.30pm, Riverside Terrace
3pm & 4.30pm, Southbank Centre Square
Sunday: 10.30am, 1.30pm, 2pm & 5pm, Riverside Terrace
12 noon & 3.30pm, Southbank Centre Square
London Sinfionetta's in C
London Sinfonietta leads a mass performance of Terry Riley's In C, in a collaboration between the Royal College of Music, the London College of Communication, Charles Edward Brooke School and Southbank Centre.
Saturday 6pm & 9pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Africa Brass with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
An extravaganza of music making inspired by John Coltrane's Africa album. Performed by the LPO's Renga ensemble, Open Ear Orchestra and musicians from Brighton and Hove.
Saturday 10.30am & 12.15pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
The Bruk Out Crew
Powerful hip-hop moves led by Leanne Pero.
Saturday 6pm, Southbank Centre Square
The Sixteen - Tudor Glory
Led by Harry Christophers and recognised as one of the world's greatest vocal ensembles. These Southbank Centre Associate Artists perform spellbinding music by Tallis and Britten.
Sunday 5.30pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
David Levale's A Soulful Celebration
David Levale and his team, iGospel, leads a mass choir in a gospel and soul song event.
Saturday 12.20pm, Royal Festival Hall
Saturday 2pm, Southbank Centre Square
Natalie Clein & Xuefei Yang
Two rising classical stars, guitarist Xuefei Yang and cellist Natalie Clein, dazzle with the guitar and cello. This year sees Natalie record the Elgar Cello Concerto, and the release of Xuefei's debut album, Romance de Amor. The artists appear with the kind arrangement of EMI Classics. With thanks to mdc music & movies.
Saturday 2.30pm, The Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall
Portico Quartet
Combining contemporary jazz with modern classical influences - think Reich and Glass - Portico Quartet are fast building a reputation as one of the most interesting and creative groups to emerge in recent years. Their sound is unique, a fusion of Swedish hang drums, double bass and soprano sax. Featuring Jack Wyllie, Milo Fitzpatrick, Duncan Bellamy and Nick Mulvey.
Saturday 4pm, Hayward Outdoor Stage
Saturday 8pm, Royal Festival Hall Level 2 Foyer
Crouch End Festival Chorus
One of the country's most innovative and versatile large choirs, Crouch End Festival Chorus have an impressive reputation for 20th century music and new choral commissions.
Sunday 4pm, Riverside Terrace
Singing River
Six London choirs perform on a converted barge as it sails from Tower Bridge up the Thames to the Royal Festival Hall, culminating in a grand choral piece composed by Orlando Gough (The Shout) and performed together with a 150 strong choir from Southbank Centre's Voicelab led by Mary King and Matthew Morley. Direction and Choreography by Tom Ryser.
Friday & Saturday 10pm
(start time from Tower Bridge 9.20pm)
Riverside Terrace
Southside Crew
Hot moves by this Lambeth hip-hop crew led by Sunanda Biswas. Rochelle Teko, Rachel Tonelty, Elysha Henry-Simms, Aisha Idris, Massai Lawrence , Joshua Panda, Reiss Harris Brown, Joanne Daniels, Laura Henry, Kimberley Henry, Tolu Adetioye
Saturday 12 noon, Southbank Centre Square
London Forest Choir, Royal Choral Society, Blackbird Leys Choir
This is a chance to experience the sound of some great choirs outside the gala performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which is performed at 6pm on Sunday.
Sunday 12.30pm, The Hayward Stage
