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Nabihah Iqbal on a dark background in a white flowy blouse
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Manchester Collective: SERENITY 2.0

A nervous system reset features a new work by multi-faceted artist Nabihah Iqbal, her first classical commission for string quartet and electronics.

One minute, the sound vibrates through you, your hairs pulled on end. The next: a blissful calm descends. There’s furious amplified sound and then mysterious, holy light to slow the pulse back down…

Ever felt overstimulated by your phone screen? Ben Nobuto’s SERENITY 2.0 is a glitched-out collage of frenzied strings, percussion and samples.

It cycles restlessly through Japanese pop, news anchors and vocal-fried YouTubers – but the calm after the doomscrolling is worth the ride.

Musician and DJ Nabihah Iqbal has a similarly eclectic approach to art and music. Her work takes her everywhere, from Boiler Room raves to the Turner Prize.

What Psyche Felt, Iqbal’s first classical commission for string quartet and electronics, takes its title from a poem by John Keats, mirroring the Romantic poet’s effusive enthusiasm for the beauty of nature.

The finale? Eric Prydz’s colossal house anthem ‘Opus’, reimagined.

What Psyche Felt is commissioned by Manchester Collective with support from their Commissioning Club.

Performers

Manchester Collective

Rakhi Singh violin

Julian Azkoul violin

Alex Mitchell viola

Nick Trygstad cello

Beibei Wang percussion

Nabihah Iqbal electronics

Repertoire

Bryce Dessner: Aheym (Homeward)

Nabihah Iqbal: What Psyche Felt (London premiere)

Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel): Squint

Interval

Ben Nobuto: SERENITY 2.0

Dobrinka Tabakova: Insight

Eric Prydz: Opus arr. Ben Nobuto

Need to know

Age guidance
For ages 7+

For your visit

This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre

The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.