what are noisenights?

noisenights are our vision for the future of classical music: crowdfunded gigs taking world-leading musicians to iconic independent venues.

read more

At the centre of every noisenight is a one-hour classical set. We platform international soloists and ensembles while also giving opportunities to outstanding new artists. All noisenights take place in gig venues where you get to experience classical music up close.

Live music needs your backing more than ever. Backing a noisenight means getting tickets to hear the world's best performers in grassroots venues and being part of a community working for a positive future for live music. Putting it simply, you giving your backing will make this gig happen and secure you a ticket.

After a noisenight reaches its funding target, we'll e-mail all backers to confirm it and a small amount of extra tickets will be made available. Tickets are released in four stages, which increase in price the closer to the event they're purchased. Book early to get the best price.

Please note that due to the venue's license, this noisenight is strictly 10+ (under 16s need to be accompanied by a responsible adult).

back this / get tickets >>

the music:

The Atlantic Ocean separates Senegal and Cuba, the respective birthplaces of kora maestro Seckou Keita and piano virtuoso Omar Sosa, a distance diminished by their shared ancestral connection to Africa.

read more

In the summer of 2012, Omar and Seckou were invited to perform together in London by their mutual friend, the drummer Marque Gilmore. “Seckou arrived just before the gig, took out his kora andstarted playing,” Omar remembers, “and I clicked with him like we had been playing together all our lives.”

Seckou loved Omar for his “high level of musical spirituality.” Omar saw in Seckou a rare ability to blend, collaborate, but never lose his identity. Both men started their careers as drummers, so the melodies grooved. For this collaboration they're joined by master percussionist Gustavo Ovalles, after their critically acclaimed Tiny Desk performance together.

back this / get tickets >>

omar sosa:

Cuban composer and pianist Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today. He fuses a wide range of jazz, world music, and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original urban sound – all with a Latin jazz heart.

read more

Omar Sosa’s musical trajectory has taken him from Camagüey and Havana to touring in Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua in the 1980s; to a sojourn in the African-descent communities of Ecuador in the early 1990s; to an extended presence on the San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene; to his current engagement with artists from France, Cuba, Brazil, and several North, West, and East African nations.

His career embodies the expansive outlook of a visionary artist who has taken Monk’s uncompromising spirit to heart, while working ceaselessly to craft and project a unique, cosmopolitan voice. Mr. Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC in 2003 for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States. Over the years, Omar has been nominated six times for a GRAMMY and twice for the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. In 2003 he received the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association in NYC for his recording Sentir; and a nomination from the Jazz Journalists Association for Latin Jazz Album of the Year in 2005 for his recording Mulatos, featuring Paquito D’Rivera.

In 2008, Omar Sosa was commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Oakland East Bay Symphony to compose a major work for symphony orchestra (From Our Mother), supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2009, Omar was invited by the city of Girona, Spain and the Festival de Músicas Religiosas y del Mundo de Girona to write another work for symphony orchestra (Oda Africana). Also in 2009 the Barcelona Jazz Festival commissioned a tribute to Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue recording, featuring Afro-Cuban interpretations of the seminal Davis work on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The compositions from this Kind Of Blue tribute form the basis of Omar’s new CD, Eggun, released in February 2013, with his new band, The Afri-Lectric Experience, featuring Joo Kraus on trumpet, Peter Apfelbaum on tenor saxophone, and Leandro Saint-Hill on alto saxophone. Special guests include Lionel Loueke and Marvin Sewell on guitars, and Pedro Martinez, John Santos, and Gustavo Ovalles on percussion.

back this / get tickets >>

seckou keita:

Since arriving in the UK in 1999, Seckou has been on an epic creative journey that has seen him broaden the idiomatic scope of his instrument as well as spread his wings, literally and figuratively.

read more

Nicknamed "the Hendrix of the Kora", Seckou has been celebrated for his ingenious tunings and virtuosity and praised as "one of the finest exponents of the kora". Performing all over the globe as a solo artist and with his ground-breaking quintet, he has captivated audiences at WOMAD, Hay, Glastonbury, Tokyo Jazz, Chicago World Music Festival, Sydney International, Montreal Jazz Festivals and many more places.

Acclaimed collaborations with numerous jazz, pop, Latin, folk and classical artists, notably include Damon Albarn & the Africa Express; Welsh harpist Catrin Finch; Cuban pianist Omar Sosa; AKA trio with Italian guitarist Antonio Forcione and Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale; Paul Weller and the Folk Collective; The Lost Words, Spell Songs (2019) joined by the words of Robert McFarlane and artwork of Jackie Morris. Since 2007, he has had several opportunities to perform with classical ensembles including Orchestre National de Bretagne, which has spurred him towards his dream of leading an orchestral work specifically for the kora.

Overall, Seckou has released 11 albums as a leader and co-leader. Through this work, he has earned numerous accolades including three Songlines Music Awards, and several BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including 2019 Musician of the Year. "I don't know if I'm a folk musician, a jazz or a world one," he said at the time. "Forget about categories. My music is just music for the soul."

back this / get tickets >>