North Sea Radio Orchestra + Kate Arnold

A classical evening pairing the North Sea Radio Orchestra, led by composer and guitarist Craig Fortnam, with the hammered dulcimer and electronics of Kate Arnold, presented by Baba Yaga's Hut at St John on Bethnal Green.

Craig Fortnam formed the North Sea Radio Orchestra in 2002 and began by rehearsing and performing in old churches in the City of London. The ensemble's sound combines strings, wind, percussion, organs, guitars and voices, and it has since played in settings ranging from churches and libraries to festivals and opera houses. It has released six albums, the most recent being Special Powers. The Wire compared its haunted melancholy with the work of Britten and Vaughan Williams, while MOJO called Fortnam a compositional powerhouse.

Kate Arnold trained as a violinist and singer and now builds performances around the hammered dulcimer and strings, adding live-looping and real-time electronic effects. A two-part electro-medieval album came out in 2020 and 2021, and BBC Radio 3 described the piece Tagnachtlampe as absolutely extraordinary.

The evening takes place at St John on Bethnal Green, a venue at Cambridge Heath Road that mainly hosts concerts, with live music at the centre of its programme.