Vivier: Love Songs
‘Nobody who hears Claude Vivier is quite the same afterwards.’
Written straight from the heart, Vivier’s songs give voice to his longing for love and reveal the unparalleled brilliance of his musical imagination.
The composer lived a colourful and often bizarre life before he was tragically murdered in Paris in 1983, a year after moving to the city from his native Montréal.
As a musician, Vivier knew few boundaries. He was a disciple of Stockhausen whose own works would make his avant-garde teacher’s sound dated.
They combine languages, traditions and schools, reflect his cosmopolitan travels and make strange, unusual demands of their performers.
Vivier is slowly being recognised in his native Canada and beyond as the maverick genius he was. His works were, according to his biographer Bob Gilmore, a way of ‘confronting loneliness, darkness, terror; of negotiating a relationship with God; of voicing an insatiable longing for acceptance and love.’
Forming part of a special focus on the music of Claude Vivier, the Southbank Centre is pleased to present a selection of the composer’s most sincere and blazingly original songs for voice, piano and percussion.
This is music that sings of love, religion, the universe and the central questions of life.
The performance concludes with the world premiere of Christopher Mayo’s personal homage to Vivier, an artist truly ahead of his time.
Vivier: Love Songs is kindly supported by Cockayne - Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation.
Performers
- Soundstreams
Repertoire
- Vivier: Love Songs for 4 female voices & 3 male voices; Hymnen an die Nacht for soprano & piano
- Interval
- Vivier: Shiraz for piano; 5 Chansons pour percussion
- Christopher Mayo: Oceano Nox (UK premiere)
Need to know
This show is part of a series dedicated to the music of Claude Vivier, presented by Soundstreams and the London Sinfonietta.
Follow the links below to explore the rest of the series:
Long Song of Solitude, Friday 6 May
Dates & times
Approximate run time: 110 mins.
Price
- Standard entryFrom £12*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
Get presale tickets
Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.
Multi-buy discount
Classical Music: Spring/Summer 2022
As part of our classical music multi-buy offer, book multiple Spring/Summer concerts in the same transaction to receive a discount:
- 3 – 4 events: 10% discount
- 5 – 7 events: 15% discount
- 8 – 10 events: 20% discount
- 11 – 14 events: 25% discount
- 15+ events: 30% discount
Discounts apply to selected events from February until June 2022 inclusive. Offer can't be combined with Autumn/Winter multi-buy.
Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.
Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.
If you don't receive your e-ticket
Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch.
More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.
Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.
We're cash-free
Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site.
Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.
Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.
Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.