There’s music for every taste at The Howard Assembly Rooms with the announcement of their new season.
The most successful female singer-songwriter in the Arabic-speaking world, Algerian singer Souad Massi opens the season on 11 September with her only UK performance outside London. She will perform her latest album El-Mutakallimûn, featuring stunning settings of Arabic poems dating from the sixth century to the present.
The latest album by jazz iconoclasts The Bad Plus features inventive takes on songs by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Johnny Cash, Kraftwerk, and a heartfelt tribute to their fellow Minnesotan Prince. The trio, comprising pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, will combine genre-busting covers from throughout their career with their own uncompromising material when they visit the Howard Assembly Room on 12 November.
The 28-piece Tubular Brass will perform a cover version on a colossal scale in the shape of Mike Oldfield’s best-selling prog classic Tubular Bells on 24 September.
The Corresponding series underscores the venue’s global outlook with some inspired pairings. On 23 September Nicholas Wolpe gives his insight on the political crisis that South Africa finds itself in, five decades after his father, anti-apartheid activist Harold Wolpe, was arrested with Nelson Mandela and other ANC members at Liliesleaf Farm in Johannesburg. Formed in the city a year after the Liliesleaf Raid, legendary vocal ensemble The Mahotella Queens bring the stirring sound of the townships to Leeds on 26 October, blending R&B, gospel and traditional styles.
Classic Irish folk rubs shoulders with its Dublin punk descendent with appearances from Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill (29 September) and Lynched (15 October).
A festive pairing draws the series to a close with a rare UK appearance from Corsican male voice choir A Filetta, performing a seasonal programme of traditional song drawing on religious polyphonic song, hymnals, folk songs and occasional dance numbers (14 December) and Renaissance choral music from the Tallis Scholars on 18 December.
Cat’s Eyes, the duo formed by Faris Badwan of The Horrors and Italian-Canadian opera singer and instrumentalist Rachel Zeffira, bring their expansive cinematic pop to Leeds on 2 November.
Two of the UK’s foremost contemporary music ensembles, The Hebrides Ensemble and Psappha join forces on 11 November for Transfigured Night, a unique collaborative programme to celebrate their 25th birthdays.
Compass Live Art Festival comes to the Howard Assembly Room on 19 November for another celebration: the 20th anniversary of Lone Twin, one of the UK’s most distinctive and acclaimed performance companies.
Tickets for all events at the Howard Assembly Room are available from the Box Office on 0844 848 2727