BBC’s Bob Harris and author/music journalist Colin Hall set out upon an intimate speaking tour based around their mutual love and appreciation of The Beatles, including rare archive from Bob Harris’ collection of interviews with Lennon & McCartney.
By 1963 the pair had written so many songs they simply couldn’t all be accommodated on just their own Beatles releases, so it made artistic and economic good sense to be offered to other artists for recording and the Merseybeat boom of 1963 & 1964 gave them a tailor-made outlet in artists such as Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and Tommy Quickly. This is the story behind those songs, the hits, the misses and the demos that the group never released: ‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’
‘Whispering’ Bob Harris, OBE has been at the very heart of UK music scene for the best part of fifty years. He has established a worldwide reputation as one of the most trusted and influential broadcasters of his generation – described by Radio Times as “…one of the greats of British contemporary music broadcasting” and by The Mail On Sunday as “a national treasure”.
For the past 20 years Colin Hall has been the custodian at John Lennon’s childhood home ‘Mendips’ (guiding the likes of Bob Dylan, Yoko Ono and James Taylor around the property), he’s written two books on The Fab Four and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary with Alexei Sayle titled ‘The Lennon Visitors’. Colin was incredibly in the audience at the Village Fete where John was first introduced to Paul..! The two friends have worked on several projects together before including the upcoming film Pre:Fab (which focuses on the band’s early days as The Quarrymen), a WBBC production of ‘The Songs The Beatles Gave Away’ and 2007’s Sony Award winning ‘The Day John Met Paul.’
Based in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall yet reaching out to the wider world, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening explore the connecting threads of music, landscape and people over a period of almost 2000 years.
Songs range from themes of freedom, nature and venturing out into the world after times of darkness, to a Roman inscription with links to Libya and Syria magnetically pulled into the 21st century with glorious vocal harmonies and the wildest of piping.
Named after the old Northumbrian word for twilight, The Darkening is made up of four North-East England-based members: Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle, vocals), Amy Thatcher (accordion, synth, clogs, vocals), Kieran Szifris (octave mandolin), Joe Truswell (drums, percussion); with Josie Duncan from the Isle of Lewis (vocals, clarsach). Together these dazzling musicians create musical magic; dynamic and unique “Ancient Northumbrian Futurism”.
American countertenor Reginald Mobley, harpsichordist/director Laurence Cummings and the Academy of Ancient Music explore a different vision of the English Baroque in which the music of Purcell, Handel, and Ignatius Sancho redefined the culture of a nation.
Curated by Reginald Mobley, Sons of England weaves music and words to explore alternative histories of the English Baroque, culminating in a Sancho-inspired new commission by composer Roderick Williams: musical history shaping a shared future.
Baroque England was a nation turned inside-out: a fledgling democracy that could also be profoundly unjust, a culture convinced of its own uniqueness but which welcomed genius from all lands. Tonight, the Academy of Ancient Music explores an era that’s never felt more current.
The music of the London-born Purcell sits alongside masterpieces by Handel – a German who became English by choice, and Ignatius Sancho, who was born into slavery but found freedom and musical success in Georgian England.
The programme will include works by Henry Purcell, Samuel Pepys, GF Handel, MC Festing and Ignatius Sancho, and a new work by Roderick Williams.
We would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for their support of this performance.
It is still one of the best kept secrets in showbusiness that Dame Patricia Routledge trained not only as an actress but also as a singer and had considerable experience and success in musical theatre, both in this country and in the United States.
Her many awards include a Tony for her Broadway performance in the Styne-Harburg musical Darling of the Day and a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.
Her one woman show Come for the Ride toured the UK in 1988 and in 1992 she played Nettie Fowler in the highly acclaimed production of Carousel at the National Theatre. In this fascinating encounter with the writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson, she recalls this very special part of her career with access to some rare and treasured recordings.
Writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson is former Chief Classical Music Critic of The Independent newspaper and a founder member of The ArtsDesk.
Sarah Jane Morris celebrates 10 women that blazed their own musical trails, in a collection of new songs that tell their stories in words and music that encapsulates each one’s own style.
This remarkable concert by Sarah Jane and her band salutes some of the women that changed musical history: Bessie Smith, Joni Mitchell, Billie Holliday, Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Rickie Lee Jones, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush.
Liverpool piano legends John Gough and Tom Kimmance will be joining forces to play both of the Tung’s Steinways in a ‘two pianos, four hands’ recital.
John was previously a music tutor in the University’s Department of Music, and Tom, once one of John’s pupils, is now a current member of staff. They have performed widely together over the last 12 years including for Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos.
Programme:
Mozart: Piano Sonata in D major K. 448
Bach-Grainger: Blithe Bells (‘Sheep may safely graze’ from Cantata BWV 208) Brahms: St Anthony Variations (variations
Brahms: St Anthony Variations (variations on a theme by Haydn)
Debussy: Petite Suite (arr. for two pianos by Henri Busser)
Rodney-Bennett: Three pieces from 4 Piece Suite
Delius-Trimble: La Calinda
Chaminade: Valse Carnavalesque Op. 73
Guitarist Tom Ollendorff teams up with one of the jazz world’s great piano players, Aaron Parks, for an unmissable concert in Liverpool.
Parks, a forward-thinking jazz musician, first came to the public’s attention during his time with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Tom is known for his highly distinctive sound which blends virtuosic technique, sophisticated harmonic concepts with nuance and sensitivity.
Fairport Convention have been entertaining music lovers for over half a century, having formed in 1967. During that time the band that launched British folk-rock has seen many changes, but one thing has remained the same – Fairport’s passion for performance.
This year’s Winter Tour will present a mix of long-established Fairport favourites and some surprises from albums old and new.
Fairport Convention have won a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award and Radio 2 listeners voted their ground-breaking album Liege & Lief ‘The Most Influential Folk Album of All Time’. Their story has been celebrated with television documentaries on BBC Four and Sky Arts.
The band features founding member Simon Nicol on guitar and vocals, Dave Pegg on bass guitar, Ric Sanders on violin, Chris Leslie on fiddle, mandolin and vocals. Fairport will be joined on stage by former member Dave Mattacks on Drums.
Support tonight comes from the brilliant PLUMHALL (Michelle Plum and Nick B Hall). Using a mesmerising combination of acoustic and electric instruments (occasionally with electronica), they create breathtaking soundscapes to their powerful original songs.
Presented in association with Liverpool Philharmonic
Straight off the TV and onto the live stage, Andy and the Odd Socks bring their brilliant madcap mix of songs, slapstick and silliness to life with a show to entertain families of all ages.
Featuring a host of popular songs from their much loved CBBC TV series Andy and the Band, children’s TV megastar Andy Day (Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures, Andy Safari Adventures) along with Moxy, Rio, Blu and Cousin Mac deliver a hilarious, uplifting, fun live performance that not only has songs for everyone to sing along to, but also has a positive message to be yourself and proud of who you are.
HSP presents Pip Blom at O2 Academy Liverpool on 6th February 2024.
The Dutch indie band, named after their lead singer, head to Liverpool for a special show. The band have released three albums, with their most recent being Welcome Break.
