NEWS: Lighthouse Poole to host live streaming of unique music collaboration.

Lighthouse to host stream of unique concert collaboration 

Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts, has joined fellow members of the Music Beyond Mainstream consortium and the Music Venue Trust to participate in the #saveourvenues campaign by streaming the film of a unique collaboration between American singer songwriter John Grant and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. 

The stream goes live at 8pm on Friday (12 June) as a Facebook premiere at https://www.facebook.com/lighthousepoole/.  

The project in 2014 saw John Grant paired with the 34-piece chamber orchestra and included the commissioning of four new songs from him that were released on his third album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure. The orchestral arrangements were composed by violinist and composer Fiona Brice (Anna Calvi, Roy Harper, Placebo) and the concerts were conducted by Christopher George. 

No strangers to contemporary collaborations, Royal Northern Sinfonia has previously collaborated with artists as diverse as Pet Shop Boys, Joanna Newsom, Efterklang and Spiritualized. 

The concert is free to view, but donations can be made to #saveourvenues via the campaign’s main fundraising page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-venues-national-campaign. 

Music Beyond Mainstream has 12 partner venues of over 1100 capacity that are committed to artistically ambitious programmes and works collaboratively with artists to create experiences in live music that would be unlikely to be produced in any other way. One such member is the Sage Gateshead, home to the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the UK’s only full-time chamber orchestra. 

Beverley Whitrick, Strategic Director of Music Venue Trust, says: “We hugely appreciate this act of solidarity from Music Beyond Mainstream, who recognise that all venues are part of a live music ladder, that sees artists start their careers in grass roots venues before progressing onto larger stages.  

“Their help and generosity are very much appreciated by the many venues we represent. We would particularly like to thank the team at Sage Gateshead for making this remarkable archive performance available to the #saveourvenues campaign.”