The Night Sky: ‘A Heavenly Treat’

In November 2023, Southbank Sinfonia’s #ConcertLab transformed the concert hall into a planetarium in The Night Sky. The Reviews Hub’s Jane Darcy awarded the show five stars in her review:

‘Night Sky is simply glorious. Created by Southbank Sinfonia’s #ConcertLab, under the creative directorship of Matt Belcher, it offers a unique experience to concertgoers. We’re given large cushions and invited to sit or lie down on the floor around the orchestra. Above us, the central square of vaulting becomes the night sky itself: onto it are projected imaginatively curated images of stars and constellations from NASA’s International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope. At one extraordinary moment, the gilded ceiling boss at the centre is transformed into the sun. . . .

The audience remains rapt throughout: there’s none of the usual throat-clearing and programme-turning of a conventional concert. All lie or sit in companionable silence gazing up at the stars. We don’t hear conductor Olivia Clarke arrive and as one piece blends into the next, there is no time – or need – for applause. But when we are brought back to earth, the applause is fervent.’