A double bill of harpsichord improvisation by Jean Rondeau, followed by Bach with percussionist Tancrède Kummer.
Jean Rondeau is at the Purcell Room on Sunday 7 March, part of a double bill that pairs his own improvisatory harpsichord work with Bach played alongside percussionist Tancrède Kummer. The evening is built around UNDR, an improvisatory piece Rondeau has been developing since he first engaged with Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2016. He's spent years working through the score's mysteries and its capacity for spontaneity, imagining a different narrative for each of its thirty variations. The piece is punctuated by the spoken words of choreographer and photographer Valère Novarina, artist Shura Rusanova and poet Ezra Pound, and it reinvents itself in real time with every performance, so it'll be a different version from one night to the next.
The night runs as two distinct halves: an improvisatory harpsichord piece followed by Bach with percussion. It's a bit of a shift in focus across the two sets, and the UNDR side of things is where the improvisation takes centre stage. Rondeau is a Southbank Centre Resident Artist for Classical Music for the Spring/Summer 2027 season, and this is one of the dates he'll be playing during that residency.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in London and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
It starts at 7pm at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, SE1 8XX. Standard entry is from £20, for ages 7 and over, with under-12s needing to be accompanied.
Date
Sunday, 7 March 2027
19:00
Location
Purcell Room, Southbank CentrePrice
Paid
Recommended Age
+14 years
