This month BBC Radio’s Jo Wiley will curate a second series of Little Noise Sessions, a series of intimate concerts taking place from November 20th to the 28th. It’ll be held at the same place as last year
The Union Chapel in Islington north London – Union Chapel is a beautiful Victorian church that still functions as one as well as being a concert venue; You can sit in the pews and marvel at Father Willis antique organ while listening to the great acoustics of this gothic building. Proceeds from ticket sales of Little Noise Sessions go to benefit MENCAP – the UK’s learning disability charity; the line up is really fantastic and includes Snow Patrol, Kate Nash, Keane, Rilo Kiley, and The Enemy – plus special yet- to –be- announced guests. Last year Chris Martin from Coldplay was a surprise guest and covered The Killers song ‘When we Were Young’ – so if you go this year let me know who pops up announced, what they played and was it any good!
I went to the Italia Wave festival in Florence this summer and one of the acts there was The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio - they were recently in the US to promote the documentary about how they came to exist which I went to see at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood – it was a great night and a testament to the vision and passion of Mario Tronco; he’s a member of the Italian group Avion Travel, and after 9/11 he set out to establish an orchestra of musicians from all around the world – specifically ones that had come to live in and around the Piazza Vittorio area of Rome.
What at first seemed a crazy and impossible dream, finally came together and their first performance was last year at the prestigious Romaeuropa festival.
Romaeuropa embraces diverse cultures and artistic expressions such as avant garde theatre, dance , music and film. This year The Orchestra de Piazza Vittorio will appear again at the Melting Pot party on December 15th .
Other artists at the festival include -
Cobblestone Jazz,Tan Dun and choreographers Akram Khan and Emanuel Gat debut new dance work.
Check the website for full details and Buon Divertimento!
The Gimme Shelter tradition goes out with a bang on December 11th at the Roxy, presented by KCRW. All proceeds from the last Gimme Shelter event go to The Spectrum Programme, a new school for autistic children at the New Roads campus in Santa Monica.
If you haven’t been to The Roxy yet, you should take this opportunity to check out an LA landmark. Its been the epitome of rock and roll since the seventies with acts such as Nirvana, Guns N Roses and David Bowie gracing its stage .
Pete Yorn has put together a great evening of musical entertainment for this worthy cause, including
Jesca Hoop, Phantom Planet and Mathew Sweet with Susanna Hoffs.
That’s it for this week. For more information about these and other world wide music events, check out our my new blog spot Gemmadempsey.vox.com – feel free to post comments or photos and let me know about festivals in your part of the world.
Or sent us an email to Global@kcrw.com
The Global Gig Guide is produced for KCRW.com by JC Swiatek and the theme music is composed by The Plush Interiors.