Caroline Shaw (viola, vocals, keyboard), Andrew Yee (cello)
King’s Place, London Tuesday 18 May 2026
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Picture (c) Anja Schüts
Hall One in King’s Place may seat several hundred people, but for the duration of this concert Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee were flatmates on its stage. Such was the intimacy created through their 75 minutes of music making, it felt as though the audience were eavesdropping on a private musical conversation between close friends.
Shaw and Yee have known each other for many years, a bond celebrated on their collaborative album Or, The Whale, a new release on Platoon. This event was ostensibly the album launch, but the reduced lighting and onstage plants gave a front room aesthetic, showing the album to be something much more intimate and meaningful for the artists to share.
Both Shaw and Yee are comfortable with free improvisation, a quality evident as they completely reordered the published programme. Though on the face of it this was a classical concert the evening had a pleasing ‘genre neutral’ feel. Electronic touches, folk-based rhythms and phrases, Americana and jazz all mixed freely within the sphere of Yee’s cello and Shaw’s viola, not to mention the keyboard, where she manipulated vocal melody and harmony. Here was creative machine learning, applied to music looking as far back in time as it did forwards.
The two played passionately, though at times the quiet dynamic had the audience leaning forward in their seats, keen to catch all the musical whispers from Yee’s feather light string crossing or Shaw’s lightly applied tones. A firmer tone was applied to Yee’s own The Light After, a passionate utterance, while both performers combined effectively for music from their collaboration on the score for Moby Dick. Shaw’s Limestone & Felt explored a satisfying combination of North Carolina quilt makers and subtle instrumental accompaniment. Meanwhile there was an extraordinary arrangement of Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Here Shaw replaced the piano part with her own manipulated vocals, a daring move that worked against the odds.
Reaching back into the distant past was Shaw’s In manas tuas, a striking reimagining on solo, manipulated viola of the original Tallis work. Sonically placed at the other end of a vast cathedral, the performance effectively picks out the details of the original with emotionally charged laser beams.
This was a moving ode to friendship, the two performers effectively finishing each other’s musical sentences as we looked on gratefully.
The music of Max Cooper continues to fire the imagination. His latest album is borne of a commission from the Royal Albert Hall for a live show, and he chose to explore “the relationship between physical form and human emotion.”
The press release nails his ability to fuse deep thinking and raw emotion. “Across 10 spatial audio-visual works, Cooper examines how structure in sound, architecture, biology and art, shapes the way we feel. Musically, Feeling Is Structure leans into Cooper’s more intricate and deliberate compositional side. Rather than improvisation, the record focuses on carefully designed systems and processes that build evolving sonic architectures. Precise at the micro level, but deeply emotive in impact.”
What’s the music like?
Very satisfying, especially on headphones. There is always a lot going on in Max Cooper’s music, with a great level of detail revealing itself with repeated listening. That said, the first few encounters are satisfying too, as there is a lot of feeling behind these beats.
The bleeps and loping beats of Pattern Index set the scene, a dubby rhythm bringing an unexpected similarity with early music from The Orb. Gradually the sonic canvas pans out, with the spacious Becoming supporting what feels like the workings of a large machine.
Cooper uses complex rhythms to often thrilling effect, with This Is A Bridge ratcheting up the tension and releasing a good deal of kinetic energy, while the beats get super busy on Obsessive Compulsive Order. Meanwhile the busy Bass Mosaic reaches all corners of the audio system. Four Tones Reflected and Ebb And Flow are rich sonic tapestries, while the beats retreat for the spectacular spectrum of Chrysalis to fully reveal itself.
Does it all work?
It does. A great deal of thinking has gone into the structure of this album – hence the title – and the quasi-orchestral textures are full of incident and colour.
Is it recommended?
It is. Feeling Is Structure is a deeply effective and thoroughly modern fusion of process and emotion. Max Cooper plays to his strength with music that emphatically ticks the intellectual and emotional boxes. Arguably his most successful album to date.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has announced its 2026–27 Season: a year of artistic ambition, civic pride and musical breadth under Music Director Kazuki Yamada. The season brings together major symphonic journeys – including Beethoven and Mahler cycles – with new commissions, international touring and landmark moments such as the CBSO Chorus’s 1000th performance. Looking both forwards and back, the orchestra returns to Coventry Cathedral for Britten’s War Requiem, while a wide‑ranging programme that embraces film, popular music and cross‑genre collaborations reflects the CBSO’s commitment to sharing exceptional music with the widest possible audiences.
Shaped by extensive listening to the people of Birmingham, the 2026-27 Season responds to a city where music plays a vital role in daily life, with 96% of residents saying it is important to them. Research also revealed a strong desire for live music and shared cultural experiences, with more than half of respondents valuing a ‘great night out’ with family and friends, alongside a growing appetite for diverse and cross‑genre programming. Embracing scale, risk and joy in equal measure, the new season opens on 17 September 2026.
Looking ahead to the new season, Emma Stenning, CEO at the CBSO comments: “Over the past two years we have listened closely to the people of Birmingham – through research, audience feedback and the work of our Community Board – and that dialogue has shaped a season designed to offer something for everyone. We continue our Mahler journey and present a complete Beethoven symphony cycle with our Music Director Kazuki Yamada, while welcoming Ilan Volkov as our new Principal Guest Conductor and Collaborative Artists Jess Gillam, Alice Sara Ott and Rushil Ranjan, each bringing fresh energy and ideas to the CBSO. Our return to Coventry Cathedral for Britten’s War Requiem will be a defining moment of the season, sharing a powerful message of peace that feels especially resonant today. Alongside this, film and pop concerts, cross‑cultural collaborations and our family programming allow us to broaden our audiences, reflect the diversity of our city and invest in the next generation of music‑lovers. We hope you’ll join us for a truly special year of music‑making.”
For Remembrance Day, Kazuki Yamada brings Britten’s humanitarian masterpiece home to Coventry Cathedral, with a plea for peace as resonant now as the day it was written. A timeless, intensely moving meditation on man’s inhumanity to man, the CBSO gave the world premiere of the piece at Coventry Cathedral in 1962 and the Orchestra’s return in 2026 also marks 50-years since Benjamin Britten’s death. This performance will be followed by an international tour.
Mahler symphonies to open and close the season
KazukiYamada and the CBSO continue their Mahler cycle: a signature artistic journey that explores music grappling with life, death and renewal. The 2026-27 Season opens with Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony, in a concert which also celebrates the 1000th performance of the CBSO Chorus. The season will close in June 2027 with Mahler’s 3rd Symphony.
Three Collaborative Artists redefining what an orchestra can do
This season sees the CBSO welcome Alice Sara Ott, Jess Gillam and Rushil Ranjan as Collaborative Artists, who each offer fresh perspectives and exciting programming across genres, venues and formats. Pianist Alice Sara Ott brings major concerto and chamber performances at home and on tour, saxophonist Jess Gillam appears as a soloist, presenter and creative collaborator across concerts and education projects, and composer‑producer Rushil Ranjan expands the orchestra’s sound world through his genre‑defying Orchestral Qawwali Project.
Beethoven’s full symphony cycle
Marking 200 years since Beethoven’s death, Kazuki Yamada and the CBSO will perform all nine symphonies in 2027, celebrating one of the most famous and enduring symphonic cycles of all time alongside performances of the Violin Concerto and a wide‑ranging programme of chamber music.
A major commitment to new music
In addition to exciting projects with CBSO’s Collaborative Artists – Alice Sara Ott, Jess Gillam and Rushil Ranjan – the CBSO’s first Composer in Residence, GRAMMY-nominated composer Anna Clyne, is central to the season; including the world premiere of her new viola concerto ‘Resonant Forms’ with Lawrence Power, a performance of PALETTE by the CBSO Orchestral Residency scheme, and a Decca recording of Glasslands with Jess Gillam and Alpesh Chauhan.
Ilan Volkov debut season
The CBSO will welcome Ilan Volkov for his first season as Principal Guest Conductor and repertoire will feature Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, Messiaen’s Turangalila and a Shakespeare inspired programme.
Film and pop music concerts
From Classic FM Hall of Fame and Jules Buckley’s Quincy Jones celebration to Guitar Heroes, ABBA and Home Alone – the CBSO season is packed with popular family-orientated concerts that celebrate milestones in popular culture. There will also be concerts that celebrate special anniversaries; such as 50 years of Star Wars: A New Hope and the 20th anniversary of Casino Royale in partnership with esk live and B:Music; and 25 years of the legendary film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring presented by The Flying Music Company at BP Pulse Live.
Kazuki Yamada’s generous and joyful programming
The CBSO’s Music Director,Kazuki Yamada also champions programmes that invite audiences in through joy and familiarity this season, treating much‑loved repertoire with the same care, imagination and musical rigour as the symphonic canon. From a festive ‘double Nutcracker’ that sets Tchaikovsky alongside Duke Ellington’s sparkling reinvention, to a Night at the Opera with an all-star cast, celebrating the enduring power of great melody and drama.
Concerts for young children and families
From toddlers to teenagers, the CBSO’s family and Notelets concerts are presented by CBSO musicians and designed to remove barriers and spark a lifelong connection with music. Created especially for under‑6s, Notelets are joyful, interactive performances where children can sing, dance and discover orchestral instruments for the very first time, supported by free creative activities and opportunities to meet the musicians. Across the season, BSL‑interpreted family concerts further widen access, ensuring orchestral music is welcoming and inclusive for audiences of all ages.
A season that embraces scale, risk and joy in equal measure
From vast, ambitious works such as Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony and Weinberg’s rarely performed operatic epic The Passenger, to symphonic film, jazz‑inflected reimaginings and large‑scale popular orchestral projects, the season demonstrates a willingness to programme at full stretch – artistically, logistically and imaginatively. Rather than separating the serious from the celebratory, the CBSO places demanding contemporary and 20th‑century masterpieces alongside exuberant, high‑craft crossover, asserting that ambition, curiosity and pleasure can and should coexist on the same stage.
Kazuki Yamada, Music Director, CBSO, comments:“It brings me so much happiness to be looking forward to another season with this wonderful orchestra and our fantastic audiences. And what a year of music making it’s going to be: 18 concerts at home and another 21 across the UK and around the world. Wherever we perform, I am always proud to share the CBSO’s incredible energy, openness and spirit with our audiences.” The CBSO would also like to thank the many guest musicians, soloists and ensembles that will join them for the 2026–27 season.
Ana Roxanne returns with an album on which she wants her voice to be clearly heard. To that end she has removed the tape noise, looping and layering that has dressed the vocal in the past, so that Poem 1 employs a raw presentation of her, ‘heartbroken and reflective’.
The piano assumes greater importance, with Roxanne noticeably shifting towards classical music, both in titles (Berceuse in A-flat minor, Op. 45) and in her use of source material, with One Shall Sleep taking its lead (or should that be lied?) from a Robert Schumann song.
What’s the music like?
In a word, intense. Roxanne’s voice is an extraordinary instrument, and leaving it in a raw state was the right way to go for maximum emotional impact on these songs.
The music is slow, which only heightens the strength of feeling, the concentrated impact akin to that of a David Lynch movie. For Roxanne could easily have been the centrepiece of Twin Peaks on this evidence, the likes of Untitled II reaching almost uncomfortable strength of emotion as she somehow controls the vocals. Berceuse in A-flat minor, Op. 45 is one of the standout pieces, just Roxanne and her listener in the room, while the Schumann-inspired One Shall Sleep is preoccupied with feelings of loss and grief.
The close-up recording means the intake of breath can be clearly heard on Cover Me, while Wishful (draft) finds deeper hues in the production.
Does it all work?
It does, though given the strength of emotion it helps for the listener to be in the right mood to appreciate Ana Roxanne’s power as a vocalist.
Is it recommended?
Yes. A powerful song cycle for modern times, headed by an extraordinary voice.
For fans of… Julee Cruise, Cocteau Twins, Keeley Forsyth
Released earlier this year, A Sky So Close is the latest solo album from Thievery Corporation co-founder Eric Hilton.
“This record is an atmosphere, a state of mind. I indulge myself by making music that I want to listen to,” he says. “It’s a more solitary record than some of my other work, there is not a big list of guest performers on this one. It’s really like my stream of consciousness.”
What’s the music like?
This slow-paced, lounging music is the sort of thing Hilton can do in his sleep, but few can match the richness and sense of atmosphere that he achieves. Beats are slow, based on hip hop, but the music above has no restrictions in terms of colour or region, which makes it all the more intoxicating.
Hilton has a lovely sense of pace in his music, not to mention the colours the listener experiences in each. Akasha is languid and rather exotic, Breathe Me In is set in a sensual heat haze, while The Endless Raga is a beauty. There is an elegance to his writing that comes across in the title track, as the press release promised, and throughout he creates vivid pictures in the listener’s eye.
Ghatam goes deep, with some lovely sonorities, while the Natalia Clavier guest slot on Lalita is a rather special one.
Does it all work?
It does, largely. The only qualm – a very slight one from this listener – is that Hilton uses the same pitch (‘D’) for the root in a lot of his work. It would be lovely to hear him branch out from this a bit more.
Is it recommended?
It is indeed. Eric Hilton makes sultry summer music – and the hotter the temperature the more you’ll enjoy this rather seductive album.
For fans of… Thievery Corporation, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Nightmares On Wax, Quantic
Arcana.fm 