Spotify Playlists by Arts Organisations
Looking for music to fill your home while you work, cook, stretch, dance, relax, concentrate, read, think? Here are a few playlists I discovered on my travels through the land of Spotify, from a mix of London-based classical music organisations including an orchestra, a podcast, a label, a venue and an opera company. Hear what the team members listen to in the office (ahem), get an intro to the genre and make sure to follow our mixtape so you can discover new tracks each month. This month we’re listening to...
NMC Curates
NMC Recordings, a record label specialising in works by living British composers, introduce you to the best recent releases from the contemporary classical world. New tracks are added twice a month and you can listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
We have a Spotify profile with an expanding list of playlists, including our COVID-19th century music playlist (10 pieces written in the 19th century), music by contemporary black composers and the full playlist for the Humans of Classical Music series. Make sure to give our profile a follow as we have more playlists on the way.
The Barbican’s most popular playlist, with almost 5,000 followers, is the music they’ve been listening to in the office, updated each month. Other playlists include Sound Unbound (their most alternative classical festival, which brings unexpected sounds to unexpected places), Piano Music, Minimalism Inspired and Contemporary Classical.
ENO has a whole collection of playlists, covering a wide range of genres. Hear what individual members of the team are listening to, find tunes to work to, and also get an intro to opera through some of the more famous numbers. New playlists are added regularly so follow for updates.
That Classical Podcast (featured in our podcast recommendations) have a Spotify playlist of almost 300 tracks. Find all the pieces they’ve talked about, along with their signature a cappella intro inspiration plus other goodies thrown in for luck. Your classical journey starts RIGHT NOW.
‘From the sacred to the secular, to the simply sublime’. The Decca Classics label, home to countless classical music stars including Nicola Benedetti, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Cecilia Bartoli, has a Discover Classical Weekly playlist, which does what it says on the tin. It’s updated each week themed to the time of year, such as springtime or Easter.
nonclassical selects
Nonclassical presents new classical, experimental and electronic music. Find out what rewired classical, twisted electronica and straight-up pop the team has been listening to in East London on their nonclassical selects playlist.
Hear the music you heard live or would have liked to hear live on the Southbank Centre’s Spotify channel. Playlists include the Classical Season 2019/20, and playlists from individual concerts and festivals we recommended in our events guide including DEEP MINIMALISM 2.0, the New Music Biennial, Unclassified Live and a mixtape from Ólafur Arnalds who we interviewed when he toured to London.
Southbank Sinfonia has curated the ultimate home-listening playlist to raise your spirits and soothe your soul during these uncertain times, with a track chosen by each member of the team. Meditate, dance, cry, listen in new ways. From future soul to Bruckner to bum-waggling disco, they’ve got your self-isolation sorted and you can read more about why each track was chosen on their website.
Hannah Fiddy is a creative entrepreneur, developing new audiences for classical music. She has created and promoted numerous concerts outside of traditional spaces, including warehouses, pubs, clubs, museums, hospitals, prisons and even in Primark. Hannah is also an interviewer, writer and guest lecturer, and runs the Avon Chamber Choir in Bristol. In a past life she founded London Flashmob, producing quirky events from wedding proposals to cultural pranks for up to 1,000 people.
Follow Hannah on Twitter @Hannah_Fiddy.