Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe, an instrumental act with roots in the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, performs at Future Yard in Birkenhead. The project draws on a long-running body of chamber-style music.

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was formed in the early 1970s by Simon Jeffes, who led the group until his death in 1997. Its debut album, Music from the Penguin Cafe, appeared in 1976, followed by the self-titled Penguin Cafe Orchestra in 1981. The music combines classical instrumentation with folk, world and minimalist elements, and the pieces are built on melodic repetition and rhythmic figures. The name Penguin Cafe now carries the same musical tradition, with Arthur Jeffes continuing the project.

Future Yard is a venue in Birkenhead that hosts concerts and shows. The evening suits listeners who enjoy instrumental, chamber-influenced music with folk and world touches, and those who follow the Penguin Cafe Orchestra's catalogue.