Nu Civilisation Orchestra: The Stuart Hall Project

Nu Civilisation Orchestra play the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on Wednesday 21 October, their music serving as the live soundtrack to John Akomfrah's documentary The Stuart Hall Project. It's a double bill of sorts: the film runs on screen while the ensemble plays along in the room, the two coming together as a single work.

The Stuart Hall Project is a portrait of Stuart Hall, the pioneering thinker, co-founder of New Left Review and one of the most influential voices in British Cultural Studies. The music the orchestra is playing is Miles Davis's, and the whole thing marks the centenary of Davis's birth. So the evening pulls together film, music and cultural history in one go.

On stage is the Nu Civilisation Orchestra Ensemble, led by musical director Peter Edwards, with Mark Kavuma on trumpet. The ensemble is a five-piece, and they're playing Davis's music live to the film. The wider Nu Civilisation Orchestra was founded in 2008 by Gary Crosby OBE and is now led by Edwards; they've built a reputation as a bold, shape-shifting ensemble that reinvents itself with every project, and this one is no different. The night is as much about the film as it is the music, with both working together.

The performance is at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, on the University of York's Heslington campus, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets range from £7 to £20 and you'll need to book in advance.