This weekend, Baritone William Berger will perform Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, with La Nuova Musica, at Kings Place London. In the title role, usually performed by a tenor, William’s warm Baritone voice is sure to rejuvenate the famous Greek legend. Conductor of La Nuova Musica, David Bates described, to BBC3 In Tune, the ‘freedom’ with which they are interpreting the works, bringing them ‘into our own time’ (Suzy Klein at the BBC), having fun with the music, and making them more accessible for a wider audience.

William Berger – ‘one of the best of our younger baritones’ Gramophone Magazine – was a student, and now an associate, of London’s Royal Academy of Music as well as an alumnus of the Young Singers Programme at the English National Opera. He has performed an incredulous amount of Operatic roles, as well as acclaimed concerts, with 2012 set to be one of his busiest and most successful years.

Tickets are available here. Online savers are a great deal for just £9.50; get your tickets as soon as possible, for what will be, such a great event!

Paul Foster-Williams

(Written on June 20, 2012 )

We are very excited to welcome the wonderful Baritone William Berger to our artist roster. William will be performing with La Nuova Musica at Kings Place this June in his L’Orfeo debut. He is also performing the role of Alcandro in Garsington Opera’s production of L’Olimpiade this June.

In September William will be releasing his debut recital disc Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage on Delphian Records. The programme for the recital was devised by William for the 2011 Lucerne Festival and describes an imaginary voyage through a restless night, with music by Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, Wolf, Vaughan Williams, Liszt and Strauss.

To keep up to date with William’s work, visit his facebook page.

(Written on April 27, 2012 )

WildKat PR have just completed an exciting competition and ‘check-in’ venture in collaboration with Kings Place, a hub for music, art, dialogue and food situated in the heart of London’s Kings Cross in an award-winning building.

The ‘King of Kings Place’ competition covered both digital and physical media, fusing social ‘check-in’ technology with the format of a traditional competition. Sane & Able teamed up with WildKat PR to come up with an inventive and original way to get people to attend the Kings Place Festival between 8-11th September, encouraging them to explore the building and the events it offers. The competition let visitors ‘check in’ to the 6 venues around Kings Place with their phone or stamp card. The festival was a mix of classical music, traditional Indian dance, folk, comedy, spoken word and even food demonstrations. One of the main aims of the competition was to enable audiences to cross platforms and introduce them to medias they might otherwise not have explored. Recent studies by the Arts council suggests audiences rarely cross genre so we wanted to encourage people to explore the building and the range of events the festival had to offer.

The festival and the competition were a huge success with an estimated 10,000 people attending the festival and a large amount of the guest of all ages taking part in the competition on the smart phone app foursquare or with stamp cards. Through Twitter alone we reached over 130,000 people and had some great pictures from visitors sent to our and Kings Place’s social media sites.

Highlights of the festival included Aianna Witter-Johnson, a touch sensitive dance floor by composer Philip Venables and Mozart with Puppets.

Visit http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/festival for photos of the festival.

(Written on September 26, 2011 )

The fourth annual Kings Place Festival is taking place this weekend (8-11th September) and promises to deliver an outstanding array of performances – 100 to be exact – including classical and contemporary music, spoken word, dance, and even food demonstrations in the Green & Fortune Food Hall.

Following on from the immense success of last year’s festival, the line-up in 2011 is the strongest yet, and ticket sales are at an all-time high. An even larger number of free and family events are being presented, with highlights including the Aurora Orchestra teaming up with The Little Angel Theatre to produce Mozart with Puppets, poetry adventures with Apples and Snakes, as well as Indian dance classes and ‘a cappella’ choir events for all ages to enjoy.

Another exciting and innovative venture can be found in the foyer of Kings Place. A giant, touch-sensitive dance floor has been engineered by composer Philip Venables, and as well as featuring a professional dancer, adults and children alike are invited to try it out for themselves. WildKat PR had already visited the dance floor during the early stages of its construction, and were extremely impressed by the technology used to create such an intriguing installation.

World-class soloists from the classical music world will be showcasing their talents across the duration of the festival, performing music ranging from the early Baroque to more modern repertoire. Featured are pianists William Howard and Ivana Gavric, as well as string ensemble the Brodsky Quartet. Jazz fans can enjoy performances from acclaimed artists Robert Mitchell, Ayanna Witter-Johnson and John Etheridge, and comedy enthusiasts can see John Hegley and Ardal O’Hanlon performing their stand-up routines in front of a packed-out audience.

Situated in the heat of the Kings Cross area, the central London location makes the festival easily accessible by tube, overground and bus. There is sure to be something to suit every taste, and with every event costing £4.50 or nothing at all, it is excellent value for money; truly an event not to be missed.

Tickets can be bought online from the Kings Place Festival website, or purchased over the box office telephone line on 020 7520 1490.

(Written on September 7, 2011 )

The Telegraph

I don’t hate Bach

I suppose the only way to avoid being misunderstood in print is to avoid writing anything at all.

Gramophone

Three Years of Kings Place

As Kings Place prepares for its fourth festival, its founder reflects on the highs and lows of the launching a new arts space

The Arts Desk

BBC Proms: Missa Solemnis, LSO, Davis

Sir Colin Davis: his Beethoven speaks of many decades of exploration and understanding

The Guardian

Top classical picks for autumn

The Leipzig Gewandhaus descend on London for all nine Beethoven symphonies, ENO goes French baroque with Castor and Pollux, and Glasgow gets minimal

Los Angeles Times

Music review: Juanjo Mena and Labeques at the Hollywood Bowl

There is a moment in Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, which Katia and Marielle Labèque played at the Hollywood Bowl Thursday night, that is stunningly other.

The Telegraph

Radio 3 is getting out of tune with its audience

The row over the new schedules shows how the station is edging ever nearer to the comfortable banality of Classic FM.

The Times

Is there a cure for being tone deaf?

After a lifetime of mangling tunes, Sathnam Sanghera sought advice. Is he actually tone deaf and is there a cure?

(Written on September 5, 2011 )

Kings Place have just launched a fresh new freestyle and vocal contest open to everybody, with the aim of celebrating musical fusion and creative experimentation.

Leading on from Kings Place’s Mozart Unwrapped series, Mozart [un]RAPPED has taken samples from a live Mozart performance from the Aurora Orchestra and invited skillful producers to take on the challenge of remixing Mozart themselves, to create tracks that entrants re-work and add to in order to leave their mark on Mozart.

Participants can freestyle, rap, sing on the tracks using the RJDJ online widget and the RJDJ iPhone/iTouch App – both especially designed for the competition. Artists such as reggae pioneers Black Slate and award-winning Hip Hop duo Herma Puma will participate in the tracks, and will be judging the competition entries at the finale on 24th July at Kings Place.

Submissions deadline: 20th July 2011
Finale event: 24th July 2011
For full information, visit the Kings Place website.

(Written on June 30, 2011 )

We are very excited to welcome another new client to our roster! WildKat PR are now working with Kings Place, the iconic hub for music, art dialogue and food in King’s Cross, to promote their fourth arts Festival in September 2011.  This varied and exciting Festival comprises 100 events in just 4 days, from Comedy, Classical, Jazz, Folk and Contemporary music performances to the Spoken Word.

The Festival features a huge variety of artists, including appearances from world-class performers such as the London Sinfonietta and the Sacconi Quartet.  Other highlights include performances from the Jazz Repertory Company, talks by journalists from the Guardian, and family events including a touch-sensitive Contact dance floor.

For more information about the exciting and varied events taking place at the Kings Place Festival in September 2011, visit the Kings Place website and keep checking the WildKat PR blog for more updates.

(Written on May 24, 2011 )

The WildKat team had a quick question and answer interview with GéNIA when she came in to discuss her latest release on the Nonclassical label. She is performing the music of Max de Wardener at King’s Place on Monday 18th October as part of the Out Hear series. Click here for more information on her concert, and here to view a longer interview with GéNIA.

(Written on October 14, 2010 )

After a very successful first post of ‘WildKat’s Unmissables‘, here is the second instalment to keep Londoners busy for another fortnight. Being local to the capital offers so many opportunities to see some truly spectacular performances that occur across the city every day –the WildKat team have collaborated some information on the top performances that are a must see for the next few weeks! Keep watching for bi-weekly updates.

What? The Purcell School of Music Soloists

Where? Wigmore Hall

When? Sunday 10^th October, 7.30pm (Click here to purchase tickets!)

- Katherine Robb – Violin – Schnittke Violin Sonata No. 1

- Tyler Hay – Piano – Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 2 in Bb Minor Op. 36

- Olga Jorgensen – Piano – Liszt Polonaise No.2 in E

- Jordan Black – Clarinet – Schumann Fantasiestücke Op. 73

As we were  talking about trying to involve younger people in classical music last week, we thought this would be a very topical concert. The Purcell School, Britain’s oldest specialist school for talented young musicians, presents the second of two instrumental recitals featuring its senior instrumentalists, selected by audition to present short recitals. These talented youngsters are an inspiration to us all and this evening promises to be an outstanding event.

What? Listen.to.my.world – Peter Gregson

Where? Kings Place

When? Monday 11^th October, 8pm (Click here to purchase tickets!)

As part of the Out Hear series at Kings Place, prepare for an overwhelming, stimulating experience, providing the soundtrack to the vibrant world around us! Peter Gregson is blurring the boundaries between contemporary music and interactive technology. He presents an evening of live music from around the world including music by Max Richter, John Metcalfe, Steve Reich and Zoe Keating. Featuring music from New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Berlin and London, the relevant city will be brought into the concert hall for the duration of each piece, using location-aware, real-time software. This unique project explores whether our perception of a city influences our appreciation of the music that it inspired!

(Of course this is a biased plug!)

What? Rigoletto- Verdi

Where? Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

When? Monday 11th October, 7.30pm (Click to purchase tickets!)

Featuring: Royal Opera, Dan Ettinger (Conductor), Wookyung Kim (Tenor: The Duke of Mantua), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone: Rigoletto), Eglise Gutiérrez (Soprano: Gilda)

Verdi is considered to be one of the greatest composers of opera and Rigoletto is often considered the first of his mature masterpieces. The Royal Opera is always worth seeing as you are guaranteed a first class performance from some of the world’s leading soloists, they are bound to portray one of Verdi’s most successful operas with depth and confidence! Being performed in one of London’s grandest venues (see below), this is a performance not to be missed.

What? An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan with the London Chorus

Where? Cadogan Hall

When? Thursday 14^th October, 7.30pm (Click here to purchase tickets!)

- Richard Suart – Baritone

- Exerpts from The Mikado, Gondoliers, Iolanthe, and the Pirates of Penzance

The London Chorus are delighted to present an evening of excerpts from four of Gilbert and Sullivan’s best-loved operas – all in celebration of Ronald Corp’s 25 years as the London Chorus’ music director. Enjoy Richard Suart, one of the finest exponents of Gilbert and Sullivan, perform with one of London’s best choirs, conducted by the hugely respected Ronald Corp. For all the aficionados of the best of British light opera – this is it!

What? Music as Theft

Where? Kings Place Hall

When? Saturday 16th October, 7.30pm (Click to purchase tickets!)

Featuring: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Sinfonietta, Nicholas Collon (Conductor).

The name of this show is a slight give away, the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment combine in concert to perform pieces that are based on older musical elements. Six works will be performed, including a new commission by Richard Causton and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. This evening will be fun for classical music enthusiasts and the evening ends with the performers joining the audience at the bar.

What? MacMillan conducts MacMillan

Where? Queen Elizabeth Hall

When? Monday 18th October, 7.30pm (Click to purchase tickets!)

Featuring: Britten Sinfonia, Nicholas Daniel (Oboe), James MacMillan (Conductor).

Shostakovich- Chamber Symphony C minor.

MacMillan- Oboe Concerto (London premiere)

Beethoven- Symphony N0.2 D minor.

This exciting concert displays the talents of two musicians, the oboist who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Nicholas Daniel and James MacMillan, conductor and composer. This will be the London premiere of MacMillan’s oboe concerto which was composed for Nicholas and Britten Sinfonia. The programme being performed is diverse for an orchestra and with new works you can always expect to be taken by surprise.

(Written on August 31, 2010 )