John Tilbury plays Scriabin and White, Café Oto

In the heart of Dalston, bar and music venue Café Oto has swiftly become a Mecca for fans of unusual and exciting classical concerts. This show concludes the remarkable pianist John Tilbury’s winter concert series, and looks like it’s going to be the pick of the bunch. 

From 8pm punters will be able to ensconce themselves in one of Café Oto’s spectacularly strange-looking chairs, with a pint of locally-brewed lager, and witness Tilbury take on piano sonatas by Aleksandr Scriabin and avante-garde English composer John White. 

A veteran of the English avant-garde, Tilbury rose to prominence working alongside Cornelius Cardew in the 1960s, before joining the free improvisation group AMM twenty years later. In his illustrious career he’s come to be considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman and John Cage. We’re champing at the bit to see Tilbury lend his touch to the sublime piano sonatas of Aleksandr Scriabin, who was himself a fervent avant-gardist in his day. The programme is yet to be announced, but we have our fingers crossed for Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 6, which, according to reports from the time, the composer found so harrowing to play that he was only capable of performing a few bars before breaking out in fits of shudders. 

Scriabin’s sonatas are paired with those of John White, who is also a specialist in the genre, having written an astonishing 172 piano sonatas to date. To draw out the numerous influences in White’s music for piano would be impossible - they are simply too numerous and too disparate to count. In each of White’s beautiful little sonatas, however, this multiplicity of stylistic threads is woven together in such a way that the overall voice is distinctly the composer’s own.

This promises to be a fascinating concert in a wonderful venue, so whether you are an experimental music afficionado, a curious customer, or just looking for a great night out, do head down to Café Oto to check it out.