London Jazz Festival: The Waste Land
Southbank Centre
Photo by Olesya Zdorovetska
T.S. Eliot’s 'The Waste Land' with music by Nick Roth, featuring the Guildhall Session Orchestra. For four voices, jazz quintet, orchestra and film.
Conceived and Directed by Adrian Dunbar.
T.S. Eliot’s 'The Waste Land' is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century. Loosely following the myths of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King, it alludes riverine to a vast range of world literature, music and popular culture, leaving contemporary poetry in its wake.
Directed by Adrian Dunbar, with original score by Nick Roth, the Unreal Cities setting of the poem is composed for four actors, film and jazz quintet and is expanded for this performance with a full orchestral treatment in collaboration with the Guildhall Session Orchestra. The piece was commissioned by the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival 2015, supported by Faber & Faber, and created with the permission of the T. S. Eliot Estate, becoming the first authorised setting of the poem in its 100-year history.
This Unreal Cities performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall marks the first occasion that an Irish ensemble has headlined the EFG London Jazz Festival.
Joining for this performance is Guildhall Session Orchestra, a dynamic ensemble of talented alumni from Guildhall School of Music & Drama which has recently been making waves in the music world, collaborating with celebrated artists and pushing creative boundaries.
Voices: Anna Nygh; Orla Charlton; Frank McCusker; Stanley Townsend.
Musicians: Alex Bonney trumpet / electronics; Nick Roth saxophones / objects; Alexander Hawkins piano; Oli Hayhurst bass; Simon Roth drums
Programme
Nick Roth - The Waste Land (2015), orchestral version (2025)
Tickets
£25 + booking fee.
2 availble performances: 6pm, 8pm. Book tickets here.