Haruki Murakami’s Jazz at Peter Cat

A jazz concert at Barbican Hall in London, built around the music that runs through Haruki Murakami's novels. Murakami does not perform in person, but has given the show his blessing.

This specially curated show draws on the jazz that runs through Haruki Murakami's writing, where music sets scenes, shapes characters and opens new imaginative routes. Murakami is not appearing in the show in person, but he has given it his blessing. The evening is presented as a listening club, with reinterpreted classics that helped form his literary world.

Murakami's interest in jazz is reflected in his novels and in his record collection, which is said to exceed 10,000 records. From 1974 to 1981 he ran a jazz club in Tokyo called Peter Cat, named after his pet. The programme features the Junko Onishi Trio, Tamaya Honda, the Kosuke Mine Quintet and Clover to God, who move through different eras of American jazz and also present original compositions.

The show includes spoken word elements, a stage design and newly commissioned visuals. It takes place at Barbican Hall, a concert venue on Silk Street in the City of London.