Brighton Dome Returns in 2010 with a Wide-Ranging World Music and Folk Program

The 2010 spring season at Brighton Dome (Brighton, UK) has an incredible mix of events to please event the widest of tastes. The music program features an exciting mix of jazz and folk greats, world music stars, stunning classical music and more, starting with a tribute to one of the most influential English singer-songwriters of our era with Way to Blue –The Songs Nick Drake, on Thursday 21 January. This very special evening, curated by his producer Joe Boyd, features an exceptional line-up including Vashti Bunyan, Lisa Hannigan, Scott Matthews, Danny Thompson, Teddy Thompson, Green Garside and Krystle Warren, celebrating Nick Drake’s music through modern interpretations of his timeless songs.

The annual triple-bill from leading African artists returns – African Soul Rebels 2010 has an all-star line-up featuring Grammy-nominated Oumou Sangare who is one of Africa’s truly great divas, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, one of the great African bands of the 70s and The Kalahari Surfers who mix dub rhythm, punk aesthetic and social comment which resulted in their first three albums being banned in their native South Africa. Then a seven-piece ensemble from the vast cattle-rearing plains of Colombia’s Orinoco delta arrive in the form of Cimarrón on Friday 26 March.

Folk music continues on Saturday 30 January with Tom Paxton who emerged in the early 60s alongside Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and who is known for his timeless classics Ramblin’ Boy and the Last Thing on My Mind. Portuguese folk then arrives with the queen of fado, Mariza, on Sunday 7 February, before we return to Brighton folk music from Novello-nominated The Leisure Society who perform as part of the Wilkommen Collective evening on Saturday 3 April.

In a rare live appearance, award-winning video artist Chris Cunningham heads up a dramatic audiovisual performance with some very special guests on Monday 19 April. Combining global commercial success with cult status and regarded as the most highly respected artists in his field and now, in one of only a handful of UK performances, presents a live multimedia show featuring remixed, unreleased and brand-new videos and music.

Other big names this season include Courtney Pine on 18 February who brings his new project ‘Transition in Tradition’ – a homage to the first great saxophone star Sidney Bechet – to Brighton and on Friday 5 March founder and keyboard player of 70s ska band The Specials best known for hits Ghost Town and Free Nelson Mandela, Jerry Dammers, presents an evening of retro-future jazz on Friday 19 February with the 19-piece The Spatial AKA Orchestra.

Pianist, conductor, composer and writer Joanna MacGregor performs in the second of a series of very special Brighton Dome recitals on Sunday 11 April. For this concert she presents a typically colourful programme that crosses centuries and continents including music by Bach, Chopin, Piazzola and Mussorgsky. The series which spotlights major international musicians and which began with Radu Lupu (October 09), will continue later this year with Imogen Cooper.

The music of composer/pianist Ludovico Einaudi has been described as minimalist, classical, ambient, contemporary and deeply touching. His new project Nightbook is an exhilarating journey through the different emotional states between light and darkness with his six-piece group combining the piano with strings, percussion and live electronics from Robert Lippok, who is one third of the post-rock trio To Rococo Rot on Sunday 28 February.

Following their recent sell out season, the London Philharmonic Orchestra return on Sat 6 Feb with conductor Osmo Vänskä for a concert of Sibelius and are joined by soloist Sergey Malov on violin for the Brahms Concerto. Their second concert is conducted by Gunther Herbig for more Brahms in Symphony No. 2 and Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and then the wonderful Hélène Grimaud will perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra also return with another packed series of concerts: an all Beethoven concert includes the magnificent Choral Symphony on Sun 17 Jan; on Sun 31 Jan they are joined by BBC Young Musician of the Year Peter Moore for the Gordon Jacob Trombone Concerto; on Sun 14 Feb there’s a very romantic program in the form of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture and works by Rachmaninov, Khachaturian and Bernstein; on Sun 7 Mar is a concert that features the string orchestra with Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings alongside Barber, Bridge and Gough.

The big finale concert of the season includes Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Glinka’s Russian and Ludmilla Overture alongside some newer repertoire of Maxwell Davies, Jonathan Dove and then a work selected by the audience. The Johann Strauss Gala also returns on Sat 13 Feb for an evening of traditional Viennese evening of music showcasing the magnificent music and sparkling song from the Strauss family and friends.

There are a number of rock and pop events to whet the widest of appetites including Massive Attack on Tue 9 Feb, NME Awards Tour 2010 on Mon 15 Feb, Noisettes on Fri 26 Feb, The Stranglers on Tue 9 Mar, Jethro Tull on Wed 10 Mar, Mumford and Sons on Fri 12 Mar, The Soldiers on Thu 18 Mar, Editors on Sat 20 Mar, Joan Armatrading on Tue 13 Apr, Boy George on Tue 20 Apr and La Roux on Wed 28 Apr.

Brighton Dome is located at 29 New Road in Brighton (UK). For up to date information on bookings and events visit www.brightondome.org or call the Ticket Office on 01273 709709.