Windrush 75 Festival: Unforgotten Voyages

The glorious finale of our week-long festival: soaring voices, hypnotic drums, roaring brass, and fiery jazz soloists. The full might of the 20-strong Grand Union Orchestra, together with Hackney Empire Community Choir and a Pan-African drumming ensemble, telling the backstory of the Windrush Generation.

Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ
Admission: choose what you pay £10/15/20

Windrush 75 Festival: Windrush Day Dance & Barbecue

An early evening party with delicious Caribbean food provided by local residents and volunteers. African and Caribbean music played by Shoreditch & Hoxton Community Orchestra alongside Grand Union All Stars.

Hoxton Trust Community Gardens, 156 Hoxton Street, London N1 6SH
Admission: pay what you can afford, or for what you eat!

Windrush 75 Festival: Workshop in Caribbean repertoire

Come and find out more about Shoreditch & Hoxton Community Orchestra. It doesn’t require a high level of skill, nor the ability to read music, just enthusiasm and an open mind! If you enjoy it, you’ll be welcome to play in the celebrations on Windrush Day, Thursday 22 June.

Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT

Windrush 75 Festival: Voyages in Music, the Caribbean Connection

Following our celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bangladeshi independence, On the Trail of the Bengal Tiger, musicians from Grand Union Re:Generation Band present their own response to the story of the Windrush Generation and the African diaspora.

Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, London N1 6SH
Admission £4/8

Windrush 75 Festival: A masterclass in Caribbean music

This month’s Grand Union Youth Orchestra Sunday morning workshop is an opportunity to explore reggae, ska, calypso, and soca with expert musicians. Try your hand at improvisation and playing by ear.

Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA
Free admission

Windrush 75 Festival: Launch Party

Our Windrush commemoration week gets under way with an unbridled evening of Caribbean, Latin, and African dance rhythms. Featuring Grand Union Orchestra’s much-loved brass and sax soloists in unwrapped mode, plus some surprise special guests! In partnership with Local and Live in Hackney.

Mildmay Club, 33-34 Newington Green, London N16 9PR
Admission £5/10

Performance of If Music Could… (Pay what you can afford)

After inviting local singers and choirs, from every cultural heritage, to come and join us, and contribute to the performance their own experience or personal response, we are putting on an unmissable performance from our own Grand Union artists, plus those who joined us at the open workshops- tell your friends, family and loved ones- If Music Could will raise your spirits with stories of hope and resistance.

200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA

Full rehearsal for the evening performance

200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA

Full choir rehearsal for May 20th performance

200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA

For the last of this year’s season of programmes, we welcome back Akash Sultan, an unusually emotional singer. Sultan was a key member of the Grand Union Orchestra from 2000, and played a leading role in all our main shows up to Undreamd Shores (2015) when he returned to his native Sylhet to devote himself to charitable work.

In this concert - directed as usual by Grand Union’s internationally-celebrated tabla maestro Yousuf Ali Khan, and supported by musicians from the Grand Union Orchestra – he will sing some songs from the Grand Union repertoire, composed by Tony Haynes, as well as traditional Bengali songs. Here is a taster, with Louise Elliott on flute – Rimjhimim.

Admission free, donations welcome!

Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E1 6LA

https://richmix.org.uk/

The last of this season’s GUYO masterclasses will be led by Yousuf Ali Khan, the Grand Union Orchestra’s master tabla-player and director of our Bangladeshi related projects. Yousuf will take members through the elements of South Asian classical and traditional music and Bengali song.

Players of all instruments are welcome, from any and every musical culture; it is not necessary to be able to read musical notation; improvisation and playing by ear is encouraged; there are no auditions.

Sessions are free and open to all young musicians aged 12-26.

Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E1 6LA

https://richmix.org.uk/

This project is inspired by one of Tony Haynes’s best loved and most moving choral songs for the Grand Union Orchestra, If Music Could…

We are inviting local singers and choirs, from every cultural heritage, to come and join us, and contribute to the performance their own experience or personal response. More than that, if they wish, we are asking them to bring songs from their own cultures (regardless of language or religion) that reflect these themes, or even write songs of their own!

200 Cambridge Heath Rd, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PA

The Shoreditch and Hoxton Community Orchestra is back at Hoxton Street Community Garden with a workshop and rehearsal from 10.30am until 12pm and then playing in Hoxton Market for around an hour.

All instruments are welcome- come along and join in for free!

Hoxton Trust Community Gardens, 156 Hoxton St, N1 6SH

The Grand Union Re:Generation Band is a collective of musicians who came up through our Youth Orchestra, and honed their skills through Grand Union Orchestra projects. Now on the threshold of a professional career, and gradually taking up roles in the professional GUO workshops and performances, they run sessions every fourth Friday in the month in the café space at Poplar Union.

Sessions are informal, often taking the shape of a jam session and/or introducing guest performers, featuring East London’s finest young musicians steeped in world music traditions.

Admission free

Poplar Union, 2 Cotall St, London E14 6TL

https://poplarunion.com/

The third of this season’s GUYO masterclasses will be led by Ricardo Axé, a charismatic drummer and dancer from Northeast Brazil. He was brought up in the candomblé tradition, which grew out of Yoruba culture, transported from West Africa with the Slave Trade.

Players of all instruments are welcome, from any and every musical culture; it is not necessary to be able to read musical notation; improvisation and playing by ear is encouraged; there are no auditions. Sessions are free and open to all young musicians aged 12-26.

The Shoreditch and Hoxton Community Orchestra is back at Hoxton Street Community Garden with a workshop and rehearsal until 12pm and then playing in Hoxton Market for around an hour.

All instruments are welcome- come along and join in for free!

The Grand Union Re:Generation Band is a collective of musicians who came up through our Youth Orchestra, and honed their skills through Grand Union Orchestra projects. Now on the threshold of a professional career, and gradually taking up roles in the professional GUO workshops and performances, they run sessions every fourth Friday in the month in the café space at Poplar Union.

Sessions are informal, often taking the shape of a jam session and/or introducing guest performers, featuring East London’s finest young musicians steeped in world music traditions.

The second in this year’s series of programmes directed by Grand Union’s internationally-celebrated tabla maestro Yousuf Ali Khan features the popular local singer Sanjay Dey, supported by musicians from the Grand Union Orchestra – Louise Elliott (flute, tenor saxophone), Carlos Fuentes (Latin percussion) and Josh Brandler (bass guitar).

Admission free, donations welcome!

In the second of this season’s GUYO masterclasses, we shall explore Turkish music, particularly Anatolian songs and the Alevi tradition, with young baglama (saz) players and their mentors.

Players of all instruments are welcome, from any and every musical culture; it is not necessary to be able to read musical notation; improvisation and playing by ear is encouraged; there are no auditions. Sessions are free and open to all young musicians aged 12-26.

The Grand Union Re:Generation Band is a collective of musicians who met, grew and trained through the Grand Union Orchestra – The UKs original world music organisation.

Their residency continues every 4th Friday at 7pm for Poplar Union’s Friday Session series in the cafe space, featuring East London’s finest young musicians steeped in world music traditions.

Welcoming back some of the UK's foremost Bengali singers, alongside Grand Union Orchestra's multi-cultural musicians led by Tabla maestro Yousuf Ali Khan celebrating the culture of Bangladesh and its diaspora.

The first event of the season will feature the wonderful voice of local singer LaBoni Barua. Laboni’s last appearance at Rich Mix drew a full house, so make sure to be there early and help bring the new season to a great send off.

London’s pioneering world music and jazz ensemble for young musicians is back!

Bring your instrument from any and every culture and let the Grand Unions musicians guide your journey around the world!

This week the workshop will be exploring carnival and mardi gras, street parades and celebrations.

Free and open to all young musicians aged 12-26, no auditions

Celebrate your local community orchestra showcasing global music flourishing in our neighbourhood!

The Grand Union Orchestra brings its 40th anniversary year to a joyous close with a celebratory performance at Shoreditch Town Hall. An evening featuring all the Grand Union’s much-loved star performers - extraordinary singers and musicians from every major global musical tradition take the stage alongside promising new artists from the next generation.

The last in the series of five weekly workshops: a formal rehearsal for the public performance on Sunday December 4th.

This session, led by project director Claude Deppa, revises all the material covered during the workshops, selecting and rehearsing pieces for the Gala concert.

Last chance to join the Orchestra for the autumn! Open to musicians over the age of 16 with reasonable experience. See Community Orchestra page for more details, and how to sign up.

Fourth in a series of five weekly workshops leading to public performance on Sunday December 4 th.

This session centres on the music of the Caribbean – calypso and soca from Trinidad, reggae and ska from Jamaica – preparing infectious dance numbers for the concert in December.

Open to all over 16 – just bring along an instrument and join in! See Community Orchestra page for more details, and how to sign up.

Third in a series of five weekly workshops leading to public performance on Sunday December 4 th .

This session includes some of the Turkish music from the Grand Union repertoire and a look at East European and Middle Eastern unusual rhythms, developing material for the Gala seasonal concert.

Open to all over 16 – just bring along an instrument and join in! See Community Orchestra page for more details, and how to sign up.

Second in a series of five weekly workshops leading to public performance on Sunday December 4th .

This session features our gu zheng (Chinese harp) player Zhu Xiao Meng, introducing Chinese classical and traditional music and teaching a couple of pieces for the concert in December.

Open to all over 16 – just bring along an instrument and join in! See Community Orchestra page for more details, and how to sign up.

Grand Union Orchestra family concert for the Wimbledon International music festival.

‘The Isle will be full of Noises’ - as the master musicians from Grand Union Orchestra bring instruments and music from all corners of the globe, don’t miss out on the Grand Union’s performance at Wimbledon International music festival!