Matthew Barley and 51 Strings

Matthew Barley brings his project 51 Strings to St George's Bristol on Friday 6 November, starting at 7.30pm in the Main Hall. It's a specially commissioned piece that gathers a quartet of plucked string instruments to build new soundworlds from dances and lullabies from around the world, alongside new compositions and improvisations.

The line-up is a global one. Barley is on cello, joined by Hanna Rynnänen on kantele from Finland, Dawda Jobarteh on kora from Gambia, and Adriano Adewale on berimbau and percussion from Brazil. The kora and the kantele each have 21 strings, and the berimbau — a Brazilian instrument that began as an Angolan musical bow — adds another string world and Brazilian grooves, with the kora player also on percussion. Together, that's 51 strings on stage.

The whole thing grew out of the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, which asked Barley to build a project around the cello. He recalled a collaboration with sarod player Amjad Ali Khan and imagined a quartet of three other plucked strings. He calls the resulting improvisations 'Designed Improvisations': structured templates that evolve differently each time they're played, allowing the music to flow from one piece to the next without stopping for applause between songs.

It's part of the 'Just Announced' series at St George's and is suitable for ages 12 and over. Tickets start from £10, with a 9% booking fee online and over the phone and a £2.50 postage fee where applicable. Under 25s get in for £5 or can get discounted tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.