RETROPHONICA

RETROPHONICA is an orchestral collective bringing old and new music featuring electronic instruments to exotic London venues, with repertoire curated by thereminist Charlie Draper and composer Alex Palmer. Combining live performance with narrations, projections, cocktails and rare instrumentation, RETROPHONICA offers a sonic time-capsule guaranteed to delight, astound, and edify in equal measure. To book RETROPHONICA for your event, please get in contact.

Début Concert: 13th October 2019

On Sunday 13 October 2019, the evocative subterranean setting of Brunel's Thames Tunnel hosted an immersive evening of music for theremin and full orchestra. This début concert from RETROPHONICA celebrated the centenary of the world's earliest successful electronic instrument and the remarkable story of its eponymous inventor, Leon Theremin.

Audiences at the two sell-out performances were treated to an immersive audio-visual experience, complemented by cocktails, lightshow, and narration, featuring original and adapted music for theremin by Dmitri Shostakovich, Bohuslav Martinů, Miklós Rózsa, Les Baxter, Claude Debussy and John Williams, performed by RETROPHONICA with thereminist Charlie Draper, new arrangements and works by Alex Palmer, and bespoke narration from author Ken Hollings. 

Concert 2: SECRETS OF THE ANCIENTS

In this follow-up to its sell-out DÉBUT CONCERT, London musical collective RETROPHONICA presents "SECRETS OF THE ANCIENTS", a multimedia odyssey featuring choir, orchestra, twin pianos, organ, theremin and ondes Martenot, which explores how composers past and present have responded to mysteries of the distant past. Prepare for an unforgettable evening in the iconic setting of St John's Waterloo—the Festival of Britain Church—complemented by cocktails, lightshow, and narration, with original and adapted music by Holst, Mozart, Debussy, Yma Sumac, Goldsmith, Grieg and more.