Date/Time
Saturday 27 May 2023
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Categories Music
Book here now: £15 full price • £10 or £7 if you prefer – please pay what you can*
“Epic” Uncut
“A life-enhancing listening experience” Louder Than War
The Blackheart Orchestra is officially the smallest orchestra in the world. Two people playing 13 instruments. They perform in the centre of a circle of instruments that has been described as their ‘musical space station’. Their music combines ethereal vocals with multi-layered combinations of acoustic instruments such as guitar and mandola, rock instruments including electric guitar, bass and percussion, plus piano, organ, electronica, orchestral and symphonic sounds, omnichords and their collection of vintage synthesisers. The music is emotional with Metal Planet saying “Their music reaches areas of your head and heart that you never knew existed.”
They draw on their backgrounds in rock, folk, electronica and classical music to create a truly unique sound frequently compared to early Pink Floyd, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Portishead and Kate Bush. Simultaneously symphonic and psychedelic, classical and totally contemporary.
After 1000 gigs from Southampton to Sydney and 6 acclaimed albums, they’ve performed everywhere from intimate venues to London’s Palladium and Royal Albert Hall sharing stages with everyone from Hawkwind to Eric Clapton.
More recently their 2022 album Hotel Utopia went straight into the UK Rock Chart at #13, being called “Epic” by Uncut magazine, “Simply spellbinding “ by The Progressive Aspect and “One of the best albums of the year” by USA’s Prog Rock Central.
Awards include a nomination for the Progressive Rock Limelight Award, they won Best British Duo, #4 UK Best New Band and Chrissy was voted #5 Best Female Vocalist in PROG Magazine’s Readers’ Poll. They were placed #4 in the USA’s Big Takeover Albums of the Year, were voted twice in the Rock Writers’ Albums of the Year pick and the band’s lockdown online concert series The Big Armchair Concerts was voted #10 in Most Important Rock Events of 2020.
They have been described as “A mesmerising powerhouse” and “An avant-garde musical utopia”. Louder Than War declared their music “A life-enhancing listening event” Steve Hackett of Genesis described it as “Powerful and inspiring”and fan Phil Campbell of Motörhead described it as “******* beautiful”.
* See Access, Tickets & Finding Us for more about why there are three ticket prices, plus other useful info about coming to events at Ashburton Arts Centre.