Manchester Collective: Voice of the Whale
In their first major touring project this year, the experimental collective starts their year-long residency with a strange and unsettling set of otherworldly music.
In the dark and lonely depths of the Pacific Ocean, the whales are singing. Listen closely. Can you hear them?
Molly Joyce’s ecstatic High and Low opens the programme – solo piano presented as a celestial, supercharged, percussive force of nature.
Curved Form (St Endellion) by Alex Groves, performed live for the first time, conjures up a meditative seascape for live electronics and strings.
He submerges his listeners in cascading tides and layered textures, contrasting sharply with Andrew Hamilton’s frenetic In Beautiful May.
In the end though, it’s back to the sea. Down, down, down.
The night finishes with George Crumb’s enigmatic Vox Balaenae, performed on instruments that are amplified and modified.
Music from another world.
Performers
- Manchester Collective
Repertoire
- Molly Joyce: High and Low for piano
- Alex Groves: Curved Form (St Endellion) (World premiere)
- Andrew Hamilton: In Beautiful May for violin & tape
- George Crumb: Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for electric flute, electric cello & amplified piano
Need to know
Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer at 9.15pm: pre-concert talk between Adam Szabo, chief executive of Manchester Collective and Toks Dada, Head of Classical Music at the Southbank Centre. Admission free.
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entry£25*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
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Multi-buy discount
Classical Music: Autumn/Winter 2021/22
As part of our classical music multi-buy offer, book multiple Autumn/Winter concerts in the same transaction to receive a discount:
- 3 – 4 events: 10% discount
- 5 – 7 events: 15% discount
- 8 – 10 events: 20% discount
- 11 – 14 events: 25% discount
- 15+ events: 30% discount
Discounts apply to selected events from September 2021 until January 2022 inclusive. Offer can't be combined with Spring/Summer multi-buy.
Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
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More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.
Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. The key for this room is available from the Welcome Hub on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.
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Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.
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