Friday 16 December, 7.30pm
The Tallis Scholars: Hymns to the Virgin
The Virgin Mary has inspired composers since the earliest days of sacred music as an art form. In this concert the Tallis Scholars present a selection of such inspirations, from both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, ranging from Josquin to Stravinsky.
Tickets: £26.00 – £34.00
Saturday 17 December, 5.30pm
Lighting the Dark: A Christmas Concert
Martin Green has gathered a host of remarkable friends to join him on a journey round the darker corners of Christmas and into the light. His accordion and electronics, familiar to fans of award-winning folk adventurers Lau, sit with fiddle on the rich and warm bed of an all-star brass trio and the fiddle of Ultan O’Brien (Slow Moving Clouds). Together they draw the older music and stories of Christmas, and even a carol or two, into a new light
Tickets: £14.00
Sunday 18 December, 7.45pm
Awake Arise
Featuring traditional songs, folk carols, spoken word and newly written music, five of the folk scene’s most inventive artists celebrate our varied winter traditions and reflect on the hope and joy music can bring to us in the darkest season. Award-winning trio Lady Maisery (Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans and Hazel Askew) are joined by the beguiling musical partnership of Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith, bringing the outstanding vocals, sensitive instrumentation and powerful social conscience that has won them widespread critical acclaim.
Tickets: £18.00
Wednesday 21 December, 7pm
Winter Solstice
Co-produced by South Asian Arts-uk & Opera North
For the long dark night of Winter Solstice, disappear into the music of the mountains of the Mediterranean and the foothills of the Himalayas. Rediscovering the musical connections that span continents, master dilruba player Kirpal Singh Panesar, talented rabab player Saphwat Sinab and Greek composer, sound designer and lyra player Dimitris Menexopoulos create an immersive concert specially designed to celebrate the ancient spirit of this time of year. With visuals and a soundscape evoking the cold clear nights of winter mountains, the campfire, and an infinity of stars, this soulful and stirring concert welcomes in the return of the light.
SAA-uk SPOTLIGHT Project funded by PRS & PPL
Tickets: £10
2023
Thursday 26 January 2023, 7.15pm
Ordinary Lives: The Merlin Shepherd Quartet
A special concert for Holocaust Memorial Day, with a klezmer performance by The Merlin Shepherd Quartet together with readings in poetry and prose. The music of East European weddings and social occasions, klezmer was played for and by Yiddish-speaking Jews and formed a stepping stone between the worlds of the secular and the sacred. Made up of modes and melodies taken from prayer, and deeply emotionally charged, Klezmer music takes us to the heart of understanding the spiritual world of Eastern European Jews.
A DARE presentation in association with the University of Leeds.
Tickets £10 – £15
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Sunday 5 February, 7.45pm
RIOPY + support Adam Naas
French pianist and composer RIOPY wants to change the world, one note at a time.
Raised in a cult, he was deprived of any outside culture, but when he discovered an abandoned piano he found that music allowed him to quiet his mind from his OCD anxieties and to retreat into his own private world. After ten years of travels, and a piano from Chris Martin, RIOPY began to compose for cinema and adverts – but he still faced the struggle of chronic depression. His first two albums found success worldwide, and in 2022 he released [Extended] Bliss.
Presented in partnership with Serious.
Tickets: £24.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 11th February, 7pm
FILM: An Affair to Remember
Dir. Leo McCarey |US, 1957 | Cert PG | 115 mins
The Howard Assembly Room looks forward to Valentine’s Day with a classic Hollywood romance on the big screen. Falling helplessly in love aboard an ocean liner, playboy Cary Grant and nightclub singer Deborah Kerr hatch a plan to meet in six months, having split from their other halves. But a terrible accident en route throws their dreams into doubt. Grant and Kerr’s easy chemistry, natural comedy and sassy dialogue steers this classic Hollywood love story clear of the cornball, and it’s regularly voted among the greatest celluloid romances of all time.
Pre-book a table for food downstairs at Kino for before or after the film, show your tickets, and receive a glass of fizz on the house for each diner.
Tickets £7.50
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Wednesday 15 February, 7.15pm
Miah Persson and Joseph Middleton
In partnership with Leeds Lieder
Internationally renowned Swedish soprano Miah Persson is joined by Leeds Lieder director Joseph Middleton for her first recital in Leeds since her brilliant Festival debut in 2019. The first half of the evening’s programme explores Persson’s Scandinavian roots, with works by Grieg, Nystroem and Sibelius before culminating in Strauss’s Vier Letze Lieder (Four Last Songs).
Tickets: £14 – £22
Friday 17 February 11am, 1.30pm, 3.30pm
Little Listeners: Mini Vixen
Based on the music and story of Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen and led by a cast of professional opera singers and musicians, this interactive and relaxed concert is a fun, family-friendly adventure into a mystical woodland where a Vixen meets a Fox. Experience the magic of opera, storytelling and music, whatever your age, with singing and moving around encouraged.
Tickets: £7 children, £2 adults, £1 babies
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Friday 24 February, 7.30pm
FILM: I Am Not A Witch
Cert 12A |dir. Rungano Nyoni | 1 hour 33 minutes | UK/France/Germany/Zambia 2017
In a remote Zambian community, 8-year old orphan Shula is denounced as a witch and exiled to a witch camp run by a corrupt government official. Exploited as a witch for hire and a tourist exhibit, Shula is forced to decide whether to resign herself to life at the camp or take a risk for freedom. A BAFTA-winning and strikingly original debut by Zambian-born director Rungano Nyoni, I Am Not A Witch masterfully combines deadpan comedy, tragedy, and vivid visuals.
Tickets: £7.50
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Thursday 2 March, 7.30pm
Škampa Quartet
Coinciding with Opera North’s mainstage revival of The Cunning Little Vixen, the Škampa Quartet bring their unrivalled instinct for the accents and rhythms of Czech music to Janáček’s Quartet no 1 (Kreutzer Sonata) and Dvořák’s Quartet in G major. Mozart’s String Quartet 21 in D major, ‘The Violet’ – the first of the composer’s ‘Prussian’ quartets written for King Friedrich Wilhelm II – opens the programme.
Tickets: £23.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Friday 3 March, 7.45pm
Arcadia Live: Will Gregory & Adrian Utley
Cert 12A |1 hour 31 minutes
Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory lead an exceptional line-up of musicians and singers including folk singer Lisa Knapp in their live soundtrack to Paul Wright’s acclaimed film. Through 100 years of archive footage, Arcadia explores the changing face of the British countryside. Traversing nature and humanity, changing landscapes, rituals ancient and modern, it takes in folk carnivals, masked parades, water divining and harvesting. Set to a powerful score of folk, classical, electronic dance music and archive recordings, Arcadia captures the beauty and brutality, the magic and madness of rural Britain.
Produced by Sound UK and funded by Arts Council England.
Arcadia (film) produced by Hopscotch Films, supported by BFI and Creative Scotland.
Tickets: £14 – £22
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Thursday 9 March, 7.30pm
FILM: 8½
Dir. Federico Fellini | Italy/France, 1963 | 138 minutes | Cert 15
One of the most influential films of all time, Fellini’s shimmering self-portrait in a hall of mirrors retains the power to dazzle and delight. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a film director struggling with creative block and a messy love life as he attempts to make an epic sci-fi movie. Surrealist dream sequences, flashbacks and farcical predicaments collapse in on themselves as we follow Guido’s desperate quest for fulfilment. Shot in luminous black and white, it’s a masterclass in cinematic storytelling that repays endless viewings: visually stunning, darkly funny and, crucially, emotionally involving. Screened to complement Opera North’s performances of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.
Tickets £7.50
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Friday 10 March, 6.30pm
Restorative Yoga with live music
part of the Howard Assembly Room’s Wellbeing Weekend
Take some time to unwind, pay deep attention to yourself and practice the art of letting go in the beautiful surroundings of the Howard Assembly Room. Live music will wind around teacher Gerry Turvey’s deeply relaxing restorative yoga poses, focusing on self-care, well-being, staying present, and finding inner joy. Bolsters and blankets to support you will be provided, but please bring your own yoga mat. Suitable for all levels including beginners
Tickets: £15.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 11 March, 11am
Singing For Wellbeing with Amy J Payne
part of the Howard Assembly Room’s Wellbeing Weekend
Join mezzo-soprano Amy J Payne (Carmen, A Little Night Music, La traviata) for an informal workshop focused on connecting with our breathing and finding our voices. This easy-going 1-hour session will give you an insight into how opera singers train their breathing and how these techniques can help everyone feel more connected to themselves and others through the joy of group singing. Open to all ages and abilities, no need to read music or have sung before.
Tickets £6
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 11 March, 3pm
Little Movers: Rhythm Stories
Part of the Howard Assembly Room’s Wellbeing Weekend
Meet, explore and dance different characters from West African stories such as rule-breaking spider Kweku Ananse. A fun, rhythmic and lively one hour dance workshop led by Nii Kwartey Owoo and the Asasaa Ensemble, accompanied by live drumming. For all ages (children under 5 must be accompanied by an adult).
Tickets: £2
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Sunday 12 March, 4pm
Ch-ch-Changes: Relaxed Concert
Presented in an informal and friendly setting, this relaxed and dementia-friendly one-hour concert features music and songs about change and renewal. Works by Handel, Schubert, Barber, Britten, Debussy, Fauré and others are performed by Opera North’s Annette Saunders (piano) Luke O’Toole (flute) and soprano Bibi Heal. With a relaxation on ‘rules’ such as having to keep quiet or sit still, this event is ideal for people with learning disabilities or autism, people living with dementia, or anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment.
Tickets: £6
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Thursday 16 March, 7.45pm
Lisa O’Neill
Irish singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill has quietly built her reputation with a unique folk sound, distinctive voice and powerful writing. Filled with tension and emotion, her songs draw on tales from the past to illuminate themes of love, loss, heartache and sorrow. Lisa’s fourth album, Heard A Long Gone Song, garnered huge acclaim both at home and abroad, with a 5-star review and a coveted Best Folk Album of 2019 from The Guardian, and the song Blackbird featured in Peaky Blinders.
Presented in partnership with Please Please You and Brudenell Presents.
Tickets £15
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Friday 17 March, 7.45pm
Hack-Poets Guild: Blackletter Garland
Three of the UK’s most innovative and prestigious folk artists, Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann, lead a five-piece band bringing broadside ballads vividly to life for a new generation and offering a rare insight into Britain’s history. With Letterpress printing demonstrations in the atrium and screening of a filmed talk.
Produced by Sound UK. Commissioned by Sound UK and OCM. Funded by Arts Council England. Supported by the Bodleian Libraries
Tickets: £10 – £15
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 18 March, 7.45pm
Manchester Collective: Black Angels
in partnership with Leeds International Concert Season.
The Collective returns to George Crumb’s fearsome Vietnam-era lament Black Angels, more relevant than ever today. The second movement of Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ picks up the thread of mortality, destiny and spirituality, and there are contemporary counterpoints in the shape of a brand-new commission by New York hip-hop artist, activist, poet and composer Moor Mother; Edmund Finnis’ Second String Quartet; and Gabriella Smith’s fast and furious Carrot Revolution.
Tickets: £20.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 15 April, 7.30pm
Tenebrae: Bach and MacMillan – I Saw Eternity
Tenebrae brings its trademark passion and precision to this dramatic programme, contrasting Bach’s iconic motets with the sacred music of Sir James MacMillan. Bach’s motets are pillars of the choral repertoire, requiring minute attention to detail as well as a full emotional range. Here, Tenebrae performs the three most well-known of the set, culminating in the joyful ‘Singet dem Herrn’. Like Bach, MacMillan has written much of his music for the church and his settings of the Tenebrae responsories paint a vivid picture of the events of Holy Week.
Tickets £17.50 – £26
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Thursday 20 April, 7.15pm
Roderick Williams and Joseph Middleton: The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin)
Roderick Williams returns to the Howard Assembly Room following last year’s spellbinding English Winterreise to perform another of Jeremy Sams’ wonderfully communicative Schubert translations. A 20-song cycle for voice and piano based on poems by Wilhelm Müller, The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin) tells the story of a young journeyman who meets and falls in love with a miller’s daughter and whose passion leads to jealousy and despair.
Tickets £14 – £22
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 22 April, 4pm
Different Trains: John Adams and Steve Reich
Two minimalist masterpieces, hurtling across America and Europe by road and rail in an intimate concert featuring Opera North musicians: John Adams’ thrilling Road Movies features propulsive opening and closing movements, with splintered shards of bluegrass and folk in contrast with a lyrical central section reminiscent of Aaron Copland. Steve Reich’s milestone Different Trains offers a fleeting window on the pleasures and horrors of the twentieth century, with sampled archive speech embedded within the ferocious playing of a string quartet.
Tickets £10
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Tuesday 2 May, 7.45pm
Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson spent a decade in San Francisco and Brooklyn honing his formidable talents as a horn player, working with Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, David Byrne and Bon Iver. He also made his name in the film world composing for Hereditary and Color Out of Space. His utterly unique voice as a solo performer, principally on saxophones and clarinets, produces a rich cinematic soundscape that moves in the experimental border areas of rock, jazz and music for film. His intense technical prowess is matched by his exhilarating and emotionally gripping skills as a songwriter.
Presented in partnership with Super Friendz.
Tickets: £14 – £22
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Wednesday 10 May, 7.45pm
Manchester Collective: Rosewood
in partnership with Leeds International Concert Season
Brilliant, RPS Award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe features on electric and acoustic guitars in two new commissions, by British composer Emily Hall and New York composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Moran. Elsewhere the programme ventures from La Folia, the ancient theme that inspired Vivaldi, Bach and many more, to twentieth-century works by John Cage and Julius Eastman.
Tickets: £20.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Thursday 1 June, 7.45pm
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Incredible dexterity and stunning music from one of Africa’s music visionaries. Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa, and is respected as one of Africa’s premier global artists. His band, Ngoni Ba, includes ngoni players (featuring ngonis with differing tonal sizes), percussionists (talking drum, Yabara, Calebasse) and the fantastic singer Amy Sacko. Together they have revolutionised the sound of the ngoni, and radically fired centuries of griot tradition into the future.
Tickets: £24.00
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Saturday 3 June, 7.45pm
Tashi Lhunpo Monks of Tibet (Cover photograph)
Part of the Howard Assembly Room’s Wellbeing Weekend
Tibetan Buddhist monks from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery perform sacred music, dances, and prayers, with traditional costumes and ceremonial masks. From the contemplative, mesmerising chants of Buddhist texts to swirling dances accompanied by ancient musical instruments, including long horns, bells and drums, the monks offer a fascinating glimpse into an ancient culture, with introductory explanations offering additional insight into this endangered world.
Tickets £14 – £22
howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Tickets for all events at the Howard Assembly Room are available to book online at howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Howard Assembly Room
42-46 New Briggate, Leeds LS1 6NU
Box office: 0113 223 3600
The Howard Assembly Room is generously supported by The Keith Howard Foundation.
Photographs provided by Opera North. Cover photograph – Tashi Lhunpo Monks of Tibet
