Corinne Bailey Rae, Laura Mvula will salute Nina Simone with special performances at London’s Southbank Centre.
The move is part of Montreux Jazz Festival’s residency at the London venue, bringing together talents both young and old, new and established. The famed Swiss festival touches down by the banks of the Thames, hosting a weekend of music between January 31st to February 2nd, 2025.
On January 31st, Southbank Centre will play host to Mississippi Goddam: A Celebration of Nina Simone performed by Tomorrow’s Warriors’ Nu Civilisation Orchestra with arrangements by Jules Buckley. Featuring a host of pivotal young musicians, vocals will come from Corinne Bailey Rae and Laura Mvula, alongside China Moses, Ni Maxine and Tony Njoku.
Elsewhere, February 1st finds Soweto Finch performing his new album ‘Soundtrack To The Apocalypse’, while Lucy-Anne Daniels and Peter Edwards lead the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in ‘The Fire Inside’, their tribute to writer and political activist James Baldwin, on February 2nd.
Mathieu Jaton, CEO of Montreux Jazz Festival, says…
We are thrilled to embark on this extraordinary artistic partnership with Southbank Centre, uniting two cultural institutions with a shared passion and values for music, inclusivity and creative freedom. The Montreux Jazz Festival has always been a platform for innovation, and this collaboration allows us to extend that spirit of discovery to new audiences in London.
Together, we aim to not only celebrate the rich legacy of jazz but also explore the meaning of jazz today in order to inspire future generations of musicians and music lovers through cross-cultural exchanges and talent development. What better way to showcase the incredible diversity of the modern jazz scene than through the lens of Nina Simone. Few artists have shaped the history of music and the Montreux Jazz Festival as profoundly as she has. Her legacy of resilience and artistic brilliance remains a source of inspiration for us all.
Tickets go on general sale on Thursday (November 7th) at 10am via: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/events/southbank-centre-x-montreux-jazz-festival/
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