SOUNDS OF NOW: ANNEA LOCKWOOD – PIANO GARDEN

Xenia Pestova Bennett

Woodseats Community Garden, Sheffield
Saturday 25 April 2026, 11.00am
Free event
Piano Garden, photo by Chris Ware

ANNEA LOCKWOOD Piano Garden 

Annea Lockwood’s iconic ‘Piano Transplants’, begun in the late-1960s, saw the composer drown, bury and – most famously – set fire to otherwise discarded pianos. This special event will see long-time Lockwood collaborator Xenia Pestova Bennett perform ‘Piano Garden’ (1969-70). Half-interred and left in the earth forever, ‘Piano Garden’ opens the instrument to the unpredictable, ongoing ‘preparations’ created by plants, curious animals and weather. 

The piano burial will take place at Woodseats Community Garden, Camping Lane, Sheffield S8 0GB and will include a short performance from Xenia.

No need to book, just turn up on the day.

In partnership with University of Sheffield Concerts

IZZY GIZMO schools’ concert

Ensemble 360 & Lucy Drever

Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
16-20 October 2026, 10.45am / 1.30pm

Booking for schools’ concerts is through the Music in the Round office. Please contact Fis by email at fisayo@musicintheround.co.uk or call 0114 281 4660 for more details.

RISSMANN Izzy Gizmo (60’)  

Music in the Round invites your class to take part in a brilliant music project, culminating in a live concert at the Crucible Theatre this October.

By popular request, Izzy Gizmo is back! Perfect for 3–7 year-olds, this delightful concert for Early Years settings is based on the best-selling children’s book ‘Izzy Gizmo’ by Pip Jones, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. 

The book tells the enchanting story of an intrepid young inventor who puts her talents to work to rescue a crow that can’t fly. This family concert brings Izzy’s mechanical marvels and infectious creative spirit to life. 

Original music by Paul Rissmann features instruments including strings, woodwind, horn and piano, and you might even spot the musicians playing pots, pans, whistles and household items!  

Together with story-telling and visuals from the book, this concert is a great introduction to live music for children. It’s full of wit, invention, songs and actions, and plenty of opportunities to join in. 

Our EY and KS1 practitioners will support you to embed singing and music-making in classroom learning throughout the project, with training, resources, and in-school support newly developed around the Izzy Gizmo book. The project introduces young children to classical music in a fun and educational setting, including a concert featuring strings, woodwind and horn, presented together with story-telling and projected illustrations.

Performed by the wonderfully dynamic and hugely engaging musicians from Ensemble 360, this concert is a great introduction to live music for early years and KS1 children. It’s full of wit, invention, songs and actions, and plenty of opportunities to join in.

Friday 16 October Good availability for both performances
Monday 19 October Good availability for both performances
Tuesday 20 October, 10.45am SOLD OUT
Tuesday 20 October, 1.30pm Limited availability 

NORTHERN LIGHTS: NORWEGIAN FOLK

Engegård Quartet

Firth Hall - University of Sheffield, Sheffield
Sunday 29 November 2026, 2.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

Formed under the midnight sun in the Lofoten Islands, Norway’s leading string quartet brings the rugged soul of the country to the stage. 

From the vast plains of Finnmark to the fjords of Kvæfjord, this programme features the Quartet’s own arrangements of traditional joiks – one of the oldest song traditions in Europe – alongside haunting psalms and spirited bridal marches.

A fresh take on repertoire that is 400 years in the making, this concert explores the roots of much of the weekend’s music in an evocative, moving and joyful finale.

Part of NORTHERN LIGHTS A sweeping weekend of elemental music from the frozen north.
Friday 27 November – Sunday 29 November 2026

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: ENGEGÅRD QUARTET

Engegård Quartet

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 28 November 2026, 7.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

MOZART String Quartet No.15 in D minor K.421 (33’)
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No.11 Op.95, ‘Serioso’ (20’)
GRIEG String Quartet (33’)

Norway’s multi-award-winning Engegård Quartet brings its customary boldness, energy and freshness to Sheffield. It is a quartet with a deep affinity with Mozart and Beethoven and a profound commitment to Norwegian music. 

Fresh from releasing a highly praised complete recorded cycle of Mozart’s string quartets, this concert brings together key strands of their musical life.

Beethoven’s Serioso retains its power to move as it veers violently between brutish power and yearning lyricism before tumbling to its thrilling conclusion. Grieg’s only completed string quartet is joyously inspired by the unique sound of the hardanger fiddle, evoking singing, dancing and quarrels in a distinctly Norwegian musical language.

Part of NORTHERN LIGHTS A sweeping weekend of elemental music from the frozen north.
Friday 27 November – Sunday 29 November 2026 

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: SIBELIUS & GRIEG

Ensemble 360

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 28 November 2026, 2.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

GRIEG Andante con moto (10’)
GRIEG Cello Sonata (28’)
SIBELIUS Andante Festivo (5’)
SIBELIUS String Quartet in D minor, ’Voces intimae’ Op.56 (28’)

Masterpieces and miniatures for strings and piano by two giants of Nordic classicism.

Grieg’s Cello Sonata is a passionate, expressive, dancing work, full of sweeping melodies and stirring tension. Sibelius’s taut String Quartet broods and bristles with soulful intensity and culminates in a fiery finale. 

Part of NORTHERN LIGHTS A sweeping weekend of elemental music from the frozen north.
Friday 27 November – Sunday 29 November 2026 

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: MUSIC FROM ICELAND

Phaedra Ensemble

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Friday 27 November 2026, 7.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

THORVALDSDÓTTIR Spectra (11’)
GUÐNADÓTTIR Point of Departure (8’)
ARNALDS This Place is a Shelter (4’)
SIGURÐSSON Nabraska (11’)
THORVALDSDÓTTIR Reminiscence (7’)
BJÖRK (arr. Tassie) Unravel (4’)
BJÖRK (arr. Tassie) Jóga (5’)
ARNALDS Beth’s Theme (from the soundtrack to Broadchurch) (5’)
BJANASON Stillshot (11’)
JOHANNSSON Passacaglia (6’)

Phaedra Ensemble launches our Northern Lights weekend with a dazzling portrait of contemporary Icelandic music ranging from celebrated glacial works by Anna Thorvaldsdóttir and Oscar-winning Hildur Guðnadóttir, to new arrangements of the ever-inventive Björk and Ólafur Arnalds’ haunting original music for Broadchurch.

Evoking distant plains, shimmering permafrost landscapes, the flickering of flames and the chill of the tundra: this is music from the land of fire and ice.

Part of NORTHERN LIGHTS A sweeping weekend of elemental music from the frozen north.
Friday 27 November – Sunday 29 November 2026

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: A JOURNEY THROUGH NORDIC MUSIC

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Friday 27 November 2026, 5.15pm

Tickets:
£5 (free to ticket-holders for other Northern Lights events, please book ahead)

Book Tickets

Setting the scene for the weekend, join a panel of musicians and experts who will shine a light on some of the composers and music featuring across the three days.

Part of NORTHERN LIGHTS A sweeping weekend of elemental music from the frozen north.
Friday 27 November – Sunday 29 November 2026

REICH: ELECTRIC COUNTERPOINT

Sean Shibe

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 5 December 2026, 7.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

JS BACH Suite No.1 in G BWV 1007 (20’)
ADÈS Forgotten Dances (18’)
MESSIAEN O Sacrum Convivium (4’)
MONK Nightfall (10’)
REICH Electric Counterpoint (15’)

A magnetic performer, prolific recording artist, and a curious and wide-ranging musical explorer, this is a chance to experience one of the most celebrated musicians working today in the intimate setting of the Crucible Playhouse.

Making a triumphant return to Sheffield, Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe presents a virtuosic tour of four centuries of music, including a transcription of Bach’s beloved first cello sonata, Steve Reich’s thrilling masterpiece Electric Counterpoint and a recent commission by the UK’s leading contemporary composer Thomas Adès, alongside two of the standout works from his celebrated album Lost & Found.

 

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WOW! I thought I’d take a dutiful listen and couldn’t get my headphones off. Sean Shibe has made one of the best recordings of Electric Counterpoint ever!  ”

Steve Reich

BEETHOVEN APPASSIONATA

Tim Horton

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 5 December 2026, 2.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

BEETHOVEN
   Piano Sonata No.1 in F minor Op.2
   Piano Sonata No.3 in C Op.2
   Piano Sonata No.2 in A Op.2
   Piano Sonata No.23 in F minor Op.57 ‘Appassionata’

On the threshold of a Beethoven bicentenary year, Ensemble 360’s pianist Tim Horton launches his latest marathon project. With his familiar commitment, rigour and virtuosic playing, he embarks on the monumental feat of a complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle.

This thrilling afternoon launches a journey through Beethoven’s staggering achievements for piano, with works including his celebrated Appassionata sonata.

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Tim Horton is an unsung hero of the UK classical world: a warm, appreciative presence on stage and a bright, assertive sound at the keyboard.

Jon Jacob, Thoroughly Good

CHOPIN NOCTURNES

Pavel Kolesnikov

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 14 November 2026, 7.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  The Telegraph
★ ★ ★ ★ ★  The Times
★ ★ ★ ★ ★  The Guardian
★ ★ ★ ★ ★  BBC Music Magazine

“Chopin by a pianist whose name is rapidly becoming synonymous with searching originality, rhetorical aptness and kinaesthetic authority… Kolesnikov, always eager for the deep dive, here resurfaces with rare pearls of perfect proportion and lustre from the long-picked-over beds of Chopin interpretation” Gramophone on Pavel Kolesnikov

CHOPIN Complete Nocturnes

Described by Bachtrack as “a poet of the piano”, Pavel Kolesnikov is one of the world’s most exciting young pianists. Lauded for his staggering ability to cast new light on familiar repertoire, he makes his Music in the Round debut with a sumptuous tour through the complete Chopin Nocturnes.  

Among the most gorgeous music for piano ever written, these intimate dramas of powerful intensity cover a vast emotional spectrum, from the lyrical and dreamy to unparalleled passion. This epic musical journey, up close, promises to be an unforgettable highlight of the season.

Please note, there will be two intervals due to the length of this concert.

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SOUNDS OF NOW: SAXOPHONE & ELECTRONICS

David Zucchi & Robert Laidlow

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 7 November 2026, 8.00pm

Tickets:
£17
£10 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

TENNEY Saxony (25’)
TASSIE O Suns – O Grass of Graves world premiere (10’)
LAIDLOW Content (30’)
ZUCCHI/LAIDLOW Interfaces Improvisation (15’)

Praised for his “urgently visceral” playing (Tempo), London-based Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi performs a programme of innovative works for saxophone and live electronics. James Tenney’s groundbreaking Saxony (1978) sees a shimmering wall of sound built from tape delay and saxophones of every size, while Benjamin Tassie’s new work, O Suns – O Grass of Graves, explores the fragile sound world of the saxophone’s delicately unstable multiphonics. 

The second half showcases Zucchi’s recent collaborations with composer and creative technologist Robert Laidlow. Content translates the internet’s overwhelming abundance (memes, infinite-scroll feeds, push notifications) in a raucous concert work for saxophone and electronics, while Interfaces Improvisation sees Laidlow perform alongside Zucchi using his tactile new electronic instrument, a ‘stacco’, which uses live AI to melt timbres together and control live-processed sound.

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ELGAR PIANO QUINTET

Brodsky String Quartet & Martin Roscoe

Crucible Playhouse, Sheffield
Saturday 7 November 2026, 2.00pm

Tickets:
£23
£14 UC, PIP & DLA
£5 Students & Under 35s

Book Tickets

PURCELL Fantasia No.5 (4’)
MACMILLAN For Sonny (5’)
MACMILLAN Memento (4’)
BRITTEN String Quartet No.3 (26’)
ELGAR Piano Quintet (37’)

No stranger to Sheffield audiences, pianist Martin Roscoe was a frequent collaborator with the Lindsay String Quartet, founders of Music in the Round. Here he joins forces with another titanic quartet, the prolific Brodskys, who have been performing for over half a century to prizes and plaudits around the world. 

Elgar’s Piano Quintet is an undisputed masterpiece: a tender yet muscular work of epic emotions. The emotional core of the piece begins with a ravishing viola melody, and its final movement magically conjures a stirring chorale before plunging to a thrilling and thundering conclusion.

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In the mighty [Elgar] Piano Quintet the Brodskys generate a consistently stimulating rapport with the admirable Martin Roscoe… ….piercing heartache and awestruck wonder course through the ensuing Adagio centrepiece.   ”

Gramophone