New music inspired by Karl Marx at Kings Place

This October, Kings Place plays host to the London premier of brand new music inspired by the ideas, philosophy and legacy of the socialist revolutionary Karl Marx. The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group were given an open brief: simply to ‘compose a work inspired by the life, work or ideas of Karl Marx’, a significant challenge given that Marx himself had little to say about music. The composers have, nonetheless, managed to capture the essence of his fundamental belief in the agency of social-political forces, as opposed to individuals, in moulding society.

New Zealand composer Celeste Oram presents Pierrot Laborieux [work & The Work], a piece examining the idea of music as commodity, probing whether musicians and composers' efforts can be considered free ‘labour.’ Meanwhile, French composer Frédéric Pattar's Deflation is an imaginative, sonic interpretation of the rise and fall of wealth in a capitalist system. Finally, UK-based composer Robert Reid Allan (in collaboration with Gareth Mattey) has created Terry Helenson’s Revolutionary Dreams. It tells the story of Terry, a former student revolutionary, who finds himself oppressed by metropolitan working life becomes haunted by dreams of a Marxist utopia.

The concert is conducted by Michael Wendeberg and features celebrated soprano Elizabeth Atherton. Two hundred years after Marx's birth, this innovative concert is testament to his enduring influence upon all spheres of modern culture.