This is London Magazine September Edition 2026 - Flipbook - Page 26
Maria Baranova
26
PASTORAL AT THE BARBICAN
Movement, sound, silence and colour
come together in Pastoral (1-3 October),
a new evocative contemporary dance
performance by renowned
choreographer Pam Tanowitz, with
music by Pulitzer Prize-winning
composer Caroline Shaw, inspired by
Beethoven's depiction of the natural
world.
Opening the Barbican's autumn/
winter 2026 Theatre & Dance season,
this major collaboration between
Tanowitz, Shaw and award-winning
visual artist Sarah Crowner, is set to a
specially commissioned score that
responds to and transforms Beethoven's
Symphony No. 6 in F major (Pastoral).
Performed by an ensemble of seven
dancers and three live musicians,
Pastoral combines Tanowitz’s unique
choreographic language, both rigorously
balletic and refreshingly rooted in the
present day, shaped by over thirty years
of experimentation.
Shaw’s composition refracts and
reimagines Beethoven’s original score,
incorporating moments of silence that
reflect the aural experience of life, while
Crowner’s décor design draws on her
abstract cut-and-stitch painting
canvases, forming a shifting landscape
in magnificent jewel colours.
The Barbican Centre is at Silk Street,
EC2. Box Office: 020 7870 2500.
Right: Inês Loubet performs Late Night
Jazz at the Royal Albert Hall on
15 October.
LATE NIGHT JAZZ
After two packed winter and spring
seasons of Late Night Jazz, the Royal
Albert Hall has unveiled the next wave of
acts to take to the Elgar Room stage in
September and October, with musicians
hailing from countries including Peru,
Korea, Sudan and Portugal.
First up in the autumn series is Tamar
Osborn on 24 September. The
saxophonist will celebrate the release of
Varier: Berlin, the first instalment of
Osborn’s Varier album cycle, and the
first release under her own name, having
been known previously as the creative
force behind modal jazz ensemble
Collocutor.
Two nights later (26 September), the
‘Diva of the Sudanese Desert’ (BBC
News) and pioneer of Nubian jazz,
singer Amira Kheir will be performing
music inspired by her homeland of
Sudan, and exploring jazz, soul, rock,
desert blues and experimental music.
Matt Todd, Director of Programming
at the Royal Albert Hall, said: ‘We take
great pride in giving a platform to some
of London’s finest jazz musicians. It has
been incredible to see this programme
grow steadily to a point where rising
international artists and are excited to be
performing as part of the series.’
THE LAST SHIP AT THEATRE ROYAL
DRURY LANE
Global reggae icon Shaggy is set to
co-star with Sting in the reimagined
2026 adaptation of Sting's musical The
Last Ship for just two nights at Theatre
Royal Drury Lane. The production has
toured globally this year, including stops
in Amsterdam, Paris, and Brisbane, as
well as a limited nine-show run at the
famed Metropolitan Opera House in
New York.
Sting plays a leading role in The Last
Ship, the musical he first developed in
2011, initially inspired by his 1991
album The Soul Cages, which earned a
Tony nomination for Best Original Score.
Rooted in his own childhood in the
British shipbuilding town of Wallsend,
The Last Ship tells the moving story of a
community of shipbuilders in the North
East of England, faced with the closure
of their shipyard – the heart of their
existence. Sting takes on the role of
Jackie White, the shipyard’s foreman
whose health is failing just as his
leadership is needed most. In this very
personal show, the artist immerses the
audience in the hometown he was
desperate to escape, a world where love,
loss, and hope intertwine.
17-time Grammy Award winning artist
Sting will perform throughout the run of
this newly reimagined production from
22 September - 3 October.
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