Lift music is given a conceptual twist by former Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed this week. As part of the Southbank’s Chorus! festival, Creed has recreated his Work No. 409 especially for the Royal Festival Hall’s glass lift: as visitors go up and down the six-level lift, their ascent and descent will be charted by the rising or falling pitch of professional choristers Voicelab.
Creed’s voice installation is one of a number of free events and performances that are taking place to celebrate two years of choral activity in the RFH’s foyers. The public will be able to join choral clubs to learn new pieces and create new vocal ensembles that will perform intimate concerts in one of the other RFH lifts. You may never view lift music in quite the same way again.
Meanwhile, Folk Against Fascism’s Village Fete brings the festivities of a “village celebration” to the Southbank Centre on 2 May. The day will feature ceilidhs on the banks of the Thames, courtesy of the Oyster Ceilidh Band, while an evening jamboree at the Queen Elizabeth Hall will include a performance by Chumbawamba, a member of which – if you can’t remember anything else about the unlikely 1990s chart-toppers – once famously poured a jug of water over John Prescott.
A major highlight for Chorus! is the European premiere of Philip Miller’s REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape & Testimony at the RFH on 6 May. Inspired by the testimonials of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the work mixes operatic and South African styles and combines vocal soloists, chorus and string octet with animated projections of photographs and texts. Certainly a powerful mix of music and digital art.
- Chorus! continues at the Southbank until 9 May
- Check out what's on at the Southbank Centre