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Getting Classy in Vauxhall 2024

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Now that you’ve completed that new year’s resolution of running around Kennington Park six times, it’s time to work on your grey matter. It’s that time in the Greater Kennington cultural calendar (it’s a thing, trust us) for us to enlighten you about the ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series of concerts and events at various places in Vauxhall, Kennington and Oval from 29 Feb to 3 March. The press release boldly describes it as ‘a four day festival of live music and song, featuring a diverse, world class line up featuring acclaimed musicians and captivating performances’. 

The concept behind these five concerts is to put on shows that are varied, lively, and accessible to people who (like us) are not habitues of the Royal Opera House and might otherwise be a bit intimidated by this genre. The event is being co-hosted with the London Philharmonic Orchestra with each night set to a theme, the themes being classical soul,  mythical events, piano vs. violin, and a cappela singing. There are also a few events geared to kiddos. 

Classical Vauxhall are also laying on two walks which sound fantastic. One is called ‘Astronauts, Aeronauts, Animals & Agents’ and another about the music of Vauxhall. There is also a workshop about historic dance. And please note that ‘historic dance’ probably refers to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and not the time in 2005 you ripped off your shirt in a ketamine haze at Fire nightclub.

The director of the festival and the brains behind the whole shebang is Fiachra Garvey and he is joined by artists such as Elena Urioste, China Moses, Mary Collins, Tony Tixier and Adjoa Andoh. To be honest we have no idea who any of these people are – But– we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s beautiful. Elena and her amazing violin are featured here.  Tickets are £22.15 for the concerts so not exactly cheap, but a great way to support local culture and artists who are also doing outreach at schools. Some folks from KR towers went in 2023 and they described it as both amazing and great fun.  A nice way to get a little culture in your life without venturing much further than your local pub. 

Only 10 days to go until our ‘Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington (+ 1 Sunday Roast)’ countdown, people! 

Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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OK people, now that you’ve completed that new year’s resolution of running around Kennington Park six times, it’s time to work on your grey matter. It’s that time in the Greater Kennington cultural calendar (it’s a thing, trust us) to enlighten you about the ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series of concerts at St. Mark’s Church in Oval from 2 to 5 March. The press release boldly describes it as ‘a four day festival of live music and song, featuring top artists and four centuries of composers’. While the revival of dead white men might not sound like a merry blast, it seems that these artists have their own unique twist on things. 

The concept behind these five concerts is to put on shows that are varied, lively, and accessible to people who (like us) are not habitues of the Royal Opera House and might otherwise be a bit intimidated by this genre.  Each night is set to a theme, from jazz in Hollywood to finding comfort in chaos (very hard to do in Vauxhall) and feature a range of artists performing short pieces. The last day is a freebie and is dedicated to young artists learning their trade.  

The director of the festival and the brains behind the whole thing is Fiachra Garvey and he is joined by artists Clifton Harrison, Tamsin Waley, Rakhi Singh, and the Julian Bliss Septet. To be honest we have no idea who any of these people are – But– we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s beautiful. Rakhi and her amazing violin are featured here.  

Tickets are £22.15 so not exactly cheap, but a great way to support local culture and artists who have probably didn’t have much work during the pandemic. Some folks from KR towers went in 2022 and they described it as both amazing and great fun.  A nice way to get a little culture in your life without venturing much further than your local pub. 

Only 10 days to go until our ‘Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington (+ 1 Sunday Roast)’ countdown, people! 

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Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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As amazing as it is, only a few weeks ago none of us had heard of Wordle, Duolingo or, god help us all, Partygate. Now they seem to be dominating our lives at the expense of getting out and going things. If you fancy building those brain cells in a different way, we suggest the upcoming ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series of concerts at St. Mark’s Church in Oval. The press release boldly describes it as ‘a four day festival of live music and song, featuring top artists and four centuries of composers’. By that last comment let’s hope it doesn’t entail digging people out of the ground.

Classical Vauxhall returns on 10 – 13 February and is live after a year of streaming. We had friends who went in 2020 and they described it as both amazing and great fun.  Festival Director and the brains behind it Fiachra Garvey is joined by artists Elizabeth Llewellyn, Kangmin Kim, and Leonard Elschenbroich with pianist Alexei Grynyuk. We actually have no idea who any of these people are – But– we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s remarkable. Elizabeth Llewellyn and her great voice are here..

The concept behind these five concerts is to put on shows that are varied, lively, and accessible to people who (like us) are not habitues of the Royal Opera House. Each night is set to a theme, from Love and Loss to Brahams and feature a range of artists doing short pieces. We are particularly fascinated by ‘The Royal Opera House is Burning, Late Night Drag’ on 13 February which bills itself as a ‘classical drag opera like no other’ with works from Les Mis and Wicked.  

Tickets are £22.15 so not exactly cheap, but a great way to support local culture and artists who have probably not had much work for the past two years. And imagine the one-upmanship you can have with your friends who sat at home watching a TV show about Katie Price doing her house up. 

Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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Twelve months ago the most optimistic of you lot said ‘great, I’m going to use this lockdown period to get really fit/do an online course /Run 15 times around Kennington Park’. But even in this era where time seems to be a meaningless concept, you haven’t actually done any of those things. Well here’s your chance to finally tick something off your list……getting into classical music. 

‘Classical Vauxhall’ returns on 18 – 21 March and can be streamed for free on these dates. It will of course be virtual this year, and we have trusted colleagues who went to the live events in 2020 and said it was amazing. Festival Director and the brains behind it Fiachra Garvey is joined by artists Jess Gilliam (saxophone), Zeynep Özsuca (piano), Elena Urioste (violin) & Tom Poster (piano), Hanna Hipp (mezzo-soprano) and Emma Abbate (piano). We’ve never actually heard of any of these people -BUT – we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s remarkable. Jess and her Sax is here   

The press release for this event intriguingly states that the performances will be set in closed venues ‘live in Vauxhall’. That got our grey matter working…where?  Perhaps Gentlemen’s Sauna ‘Chariots’ (doubtful as all the water would wreak havoc with the instruments)?   Notorious nightclub ‘Fire’ (the acoustics under a railway arch must be awful)? With a bit of research we discovered they will be held in the most more rarefied environments of St. Marks Church and Brunswick house, so easy on the eyes as well. 

The streams are free and will also give you a change to learn more about music in Vauxhall and the history of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Book here: http://bit.ly/CVaux-2021