Jacob Collier will be collaborating with the Britten Sinfonia for two concerts in January 2025
In the heart of winter, on January 22 and 23, 2025, Bristol’s Beacon Hall and London’s Barbican Hall will resonate with an unprecedented musical collaboration. Jacob Collier, the Grammy-winning musician celebrated for his genre-defying artistry, is set to perform with a UK orchestra for the first time, joining forces with the 50-piece Britten Sinfonia.
Sharing the stage is Chris Thile, a virtuoso mandolinist whose prowess spans bluegrass to classical, and whose collaborations range from Yo-Yo Ma to Brad Mehldau.
Adding a familial touch, the ensemble will be conducted by Suzie Collier, Jacob’s mother and an esteemed violinist, conductor, and professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
The evening’s repertoire promises a symphonic journey through Collier and Thile’s eclectic compositions, interwoven with orchestral works by Anna Meredith and Arturo Márquez. Highlights include Meredith’s electro-classical piece ‘Nautilus’ and Márquez’s ‘Danzón No. 2,’ alongside solo Bach from Thile and Piazzolla’s ‘Spring’ from ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.’
Collier’s signature audience choir experience, which has entranced crowds from Glastonbury to the BBC Proms, will also feature, inviting attendees to become active participants in the musical tapestry.
What makes these audience choirs so remarkable is Collier’s ability to coax beauty out of collective participation. It doesn’t matter whether someone is a trained vocalist or a self-described bad singer; under his direction, the sheer weight of the crowd’s voices transforms into something cohesive, pure, and transcendent. There’s also an alchemy at work here—Collier is not just creating music; he’s fostering a sense of connection. For those few minutes, the divisions of the crowd—by geography, age, or ability—disappear. They are no longer individuals but one voice, one collective sound.
This approach has been a staple of Collier’s live shows, from intimate venues to massive festival crowds and hallowed stages like the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Most recently he executed his audience choir at the O2 to a surprise appearance from Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay – a longtime friend and collaborator – where the crowd united to harmonise to ‘Fix You.’
Videos of these moments have gone viral, not only because of their sonic beauty but because they capture something rare in modern live performance: an experience that is completely unrepeatable. The audience becomes part of the art itself, co-creators in a musical tapestry that will only ever exist for that one, singular moment in time.
In a Jacob Collier concert, the audience doesn’t merely witness a performance—they become the performance — and in that fleeting moment of harmony, they are reminded of music’s ability to unite, uplift, and transcend. It is an art form that speaks not just to the ears, but to the very core of what it means to be human.
These concerts in Bristol and London not only mark a milestone in Collier’s career but also embody a convergence of family, friendship, and multi-genre music, promising an evening that transcends traditional concert experiences.
Tickets for this singular event are available through Bristol Beacon’s and Barbican’s official websites.
