Hello friends.. this monthly roundup has been a long time coming, forgive me. April was not messing around! Last time I wrote I was about to head to Budapest for Classical:NEXT, then straight back into production for Ruthless Jabiru’s epic performance collab with Ensemble Offspring, BLACK ICE. After a couple of days in the recovery position, I’m back and with another awesome gig to tell you about!
But firstly, a huge thanks again to all of you who joined us at Peckham Levels on 24 April for BLACK ICE.. not least our guests Ensemble Offspring all the way from Sydney. The room felt truly electric! I’ve loved hearing everyone’s reflections and as I wrote in the aftermath, I really hope this was an evening of listening, imagination, friendship and solidarity that will live on in the memory. If you’re reading this now and disappointed to have missed us, subscribe here for news of future events.
Here’s our cute programme from the night, click to read:
and a few performance shots by my dear friend Monika Mabiki with beautiful dynamic ambience by Bailes and Light:
Such a joy to come together for another behemoth by Ruthless Jabiru and emerge the other side a little changed. Our quest continues towards the next dream! Ruthless Jabiru’s 15th anniversary Crowdfunder remains open with pledges from just £1. All proceeds benefit the orchestra’s musicians and creatives as we forge ahead in this 15th year: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/ruthless-jabiru-raise-the-ru
and.. SURPRISE!
I’m back at IKLECTIK next week conducting the live album launch of another dear friend, Gabriel Prokofiev’s Dark Lights on Thursday 28 May. The man himself will be on live electronics, Mariam Loladze-Meredith on piano feature. Doors 19:00/7PM and we’re serving glitchy experimental funk so get those tickets everyone:
Classical:NEXT was as enriching, inspiring, life-affirming this year as ever. So much has been packed in since then that it already feels like the distant past, but I’ve come to think of this annual pilgrimage as non-negotiable time with some of my closest friends who are out there pushing the envelope, leading with creativity, championing fearlessness. As well as the honour of being on this year’s Showcase Jury and witnessing our curated programme work its magic.. this edition I was asked to jump in at 24 hours notice as panellist for a screening of Mozart’s Sister—a documentary by Aus filmmaker Madeleine Hetherton-Miau. This was one in a series of filmic provocations around Women, Ritual & Hidden Legacies: Mozart’s Sister raised some important convos around our industry’s historical/systemic silencing of women that I’ll aim to revisit now I have a bit more bandwidth so follow along on socials for that.
or view here on
If not obvious, I was run off my feet for all of April self-producing a massive show! But I did manage this all-Classical:NEXT mixtape in advance of my touchdown in Budapest. As always, you can signup for my experimental mixtapes as-they-happen at: kellylovelady.com/category/mixtapes
And a few (now traditional) birthday-adjacent selfies to offer up.. here I am, legging it to and at my “party”.. aka our performance! Thanks for all your texts and messages, just realised I still need to reply to everyone..
Keep doing your bit for contemporary/experimental music everyone.. we’re grateful!
My album of BLACK ICE production photos by Monika Mabiki seems to have vanished from the email edition.. sorry everyone, really annoying but please checkout here as it’s too good not to share!