About

Please note that there is a football match taking place at the AMEX stadium (Thursday 26 October, kick off 8pm).

You should allow extra time to complete your journey.

Please see below for further guidance on travel to Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts / University of Sussex campus on match days.

Shida Shahabi

"a singular compositional voice... chamber intimacy becomes consumed in clouds of baleful electronic static... introspection and celestial awe are locked in a similarly slow, compelling dance" **** MOJO

Stockholm-based Shida Shahabi is a pianist and composer whose stunning debut album 'Homes' (2018) drew widespread acclaim from the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson. She will be performing from her newly released album 'Living Circle' (2023) on ACCA's beautiful Steinway grand piano.

"Fans of Stars Of The Lid, Sarah Davachi, Max Richter and Labradford will appreciate the album’s slow and expansive sonic realms." Ransom Note

Born in the Swedish capital in 1989 to Iranian parents who had fled the Iran-Iraq war, composer Shida Shahabi's home was filled with both 1970s Persian pop and long-established classical works, but, she insists, “it was the environment – my parents finding joy in listening and singing – that shaped my long-term relationship to music, not the genres or my family’s CD collection.”

In 2018, she released her debut album 'Homes' which was championed by BBC Radio’s Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson, not to mention Mojo magazine, who praised it as “half-submerged music that rewards the attentive ear”. Over the following five years, she recorded a five track EP of her own, 'Shifts', as well as tracks for a split EP, 'The Sea at The End of Her String', with 130701 labelmates Resina and Emilie Levienaise- Farrouch, not to mention a reworking of Beethoven’s ‘Piano Sonata No. 26’ for Deezer’s ‘Beethoven Recomposed’ project.

Shahabi also scored the short films 'Lake on Fire' (2020) and 'Alvaret' (2021), as well as the feature films 'Lovely, Dark and Deep' (2023) and the award-winning 'Falcon Lake' (2022). In addition, she has taken part in carefully-selected live performances at prestigious events like Max Richter and Yulia Mahr’s Reflektor festival at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Film Four’s inaugural Summer Screen season at London’s Somerset House.

In June 2023, Shahabi released her second album 'Living Circle' on FatCat's pioneering 130701 imprint (previously home to Max Richter, Hauschka, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Dustin O'Halloran and Ian William Craig). 'Living Circle' is a carefully calibrated blend of classical and electronic elements. Combining ambient and drone techniques with traditional structures, its emotional resonance floats elusively within profoundly atmospheric, uncluttered compositions rich in textural detail and pervaded by a low-end warmth.

An unusually immersive style, this provides a refuge which invites a reaction as cerebral as it is sentimental. In fact, according to Shahabi, “I don’t see any necessity in making a distinction. We need both to experience art.”

About Eva Lunny

Eva Lunny is a harpist, composer and ambient music producer from Brighton. Inspired by sonic pioneers such as Aphex Twin, Tim Hecker and Brian Eno, as well as renowned harpists Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, Eva creates a mix of ambient soundscapes and neoclassical pieces for her live show, bringing audience members on a journey of sound and reflection.

Eva’s process includes hours of improvisation balanced with considered production and free-flowing experimentation, resulting in complex layers of sounds and distinctive distortion of a both uniquely classical and contemporary instrument.

Released in June 2023 via Bella Union's Private Pressings, Eva's debut LP Sonics & Meditations reflects on feelings of inertia, translating a year of uncertainty into cascading sonic rhythms and ambient contemplation.

STAGE TIMES

• 7pm: Venue doors & Cafe Bar opens
• 7.30pm: Auditorium doors open
• 8pm - 8.30pm: Eva Lunny
• 9pm - 10pm: Shida Shahabi

Please note that these timings are approximate and subject to change.

Due to a football match taking place at the AMEX stadium (Thursday 26 October, kick off 8pm) please allow additional time for your journey. Trains and buses will be crowded and queueing system will be in place at Brighton railway station for trains to Falmer, and at Falmer after the match.

Services will be most busy for 90 minutes prior to kick off. You may have to wait to board a train or a bus due to large queues.

There is also likely to be heavy traffic on the roads, and alternative car parking arrangements are in place on University of Sussex campus.

For those driving, there is alternative car parking available on campus:

Head for the Jubilee Multi-Story (P7), Park Village (P8) or Lewes Court (P9). Use the Knights Gate Road entrance (off the A27) to campus to access these car parks.

Map of car park locations on University of Sussex campus

See the University’s Parking for Visitors, Parking on Football Match Days and Where to Park on Campus pages for further details.

For those cycling, bike racks and Brighton Bike share docking stations are available as usual.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Seating is unreserved (you will not be allocated a specific seat). Please contact boxoffice@attenboroughcentre.com to discuss any specific requirements.

Age guidance: 14+ (under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult)