THE LONDON STRING QUARTET that has built a following for playing pop tunes is bringing its adaptations of the music of Beyoncé, Bowie, Philip Glass and Father John Misty to Hackney.
The Estilo will play the Old Church in Stoke Newington, possibly London’s best surviving Elizabethan church. The concert will include a bit of Henry Purcell and a Mozart quartet. Clap loudly at the end of the show and they might give you Fairytale of New York, although applause will not be enough to attract Shane MacGowan. The quartet’s version did well in the classical download charts.
The main aim of the concert is, however, not to try to big up the three-chord banalities that dominate the musical ether all around the world but to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society. And Estilo cellist Verity Simmons, whose grandmother has the disease, is running the London Marathon for the society.
Before that, and not far away, in Homerton, Hackney’s Sutton House Music Society (SHMS) presents a tribute to Maurice Ravel as one of its series of excellent concerts.
Hamish Scott 050317
* Estilo, St Mary’s Old Church, Stoke Newington Church Street N16 0JR, Tuesday 28 March 2017, 7.30pm, £10-£12. Good disabled access
* Happy Birthday, Maurice Ravel, SHMS, Sutton House, 2 High Street, Homerton E9 6LQ, Sunday 12 March 2017, 3pm, under-26s free, others £10-£12. Good disabled access
* Main pictures © David.Altheer [at] gmail.com, and for sale for reproduction. Ravel pic supplied by promoter
* Backstory: New music, vintage link
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