The Edge of the Abyss: EFG London Jazz Festival performance featuring Club Inegales
Klimt / Schiele Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna
Friday 16 November 2018 6.30 - 7.30pm
The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£15, £9 concessions
Klimt / Schiele
In response to the ‘Klimt / Schiele’ exhibition, Club Inégales revisit the music of early 20th century Vienna in a performance that begins with Schoenberg and travels into the unpredictable musical landscapes of the 20th century.
Stravinsky wrote that he felt "on the edge of an abyss" when composing The Rite of Spring between 1912/13. Around the same time, Einstein produced his theory of general relativity, and Freud was redefining the human psyche.
Late 19th century Vienna was much a melting pot for these changing times, and both Klimt and Schiele built on the reputation of Vienna as the capital for music in central Europe, producing works such as Musik (1895, Klimt), and The Cellist (1910, Schiele). While, at this same time, the high Romanticism of composers like Mahler and Strauss was at its height, the tonality-breaking expressionism of composers like Schoenberg was heralding a more dangerous, relativistic 20th century.
In this exclusive event, the directors and keyboardists of Club Inégales Peter Wiegold and Martin Butler, alongside singer/violinist Alice Zawadzki, will explore this extraordinary transitional time and, working with the works of Klimt and Schiele, present a performance that begins with Schoenberg and takes us into the new worlds of the 20th century, towards the liberation of sound and the beginnings of jazz. Zawadzki has a distinctive and individual presence on the creative European music scene, described by Jamie Cullum on Radio 2 as “uncategorisable, beautiful - a real force to be reckoned with”.
Club Inégales is generously hosted by law firm Jones and Allen at Euston, London where Peter Wiegold has directed some 80 performances since 2011. The club hosts performers from across world traditions, and each evening resident band Notes Inégales collaborate with guests, who have included free improviser Evan Parker, African-American jazz guitarist Lionel Loueke, Scottish folk fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, writer Will Self, comedian John Hegley, Korean musicians Gamin and Hyelim Kim, Gambian kora Sura Susso and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
In partnership with EFG London Jazz Festival.