James McVinnie: Fantasias
Continuing his residency, James McVinnie offers a programme that celebrates music of flair and fantasy on the Royal Festival Hall’s historic organ.
Celebrated for his embrace of eclectic musical styles from the Renaissance to the present day, organist James McVinnie continues his year as a Southbank Centre Resident Artist in this, the first of two recitals.
Built around musical fantasias and showing myriad facets of the Royal Festival Hall’s historic organ, it begins by exploring three very different British composers.
McVinnie opens with the richly expressive Fantasia and Toccata in D minor by Charles Villiers Stanford.
Next, William Byrd’s longest Fantasia takes us back to the Renaissance, often termed the ‘golden age’ of English music, with boundless imagination and keyboard virtuosity.
Riff-Raff, by the contemporary composer Giles Swayne, was inspired by an exploration of music in Senegal, rhythmic, fantastical and joyous.
The concert finishes with the magnificence of Franz Liszt unleashed in a giant musical extravaganza: his Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’.
Performers
James McVinnie organ
Repertoire
Stanford: Fantasia and Toccata in D minor, Op.57
Byrd: Fantasia in G, MB Vol.28 No.62
Giles Swayne: Riff-raff, Op.34
Interval
Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue on `Ad nos, ad salutarem undam', S.259
Need to know
Find out more about the music with our free programme.
View the programme
‘McVinnie’s performances were – musically, technically and in his careful colorations – immaculate’
Los Angeles Times
For your visit
This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre
The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.
Plan your visit
The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.