Our Mission
Vox Alba’s mission is to repair the world of classical music patronage, connecting audiences, composers and patrons for a living concert culture of our time.
Our Next Concert
Contemporary Music & Sacred Tradition
Discover the forgotten art of classical improvisation, from Bach to the contemporary, in an unrepeatable evening of live piano music.
For most of its history, classical improvisation was a core pillar of the Western classical tradition. From Bach to Liszt, composers were celebrated as much for their capacity to create music spontaneously in front of live audiences as they were for their written works. This tradition was not a party trick or showcase, but the foundation of a lived aural tradition. Its near-total disappearance in the twentieth century, as the score became sovereign and performance became crystallised by recording, represents one of the great unacknowledged losses in musical culture.
For an evening, Music Unwritten sets out to recover that tradition. The concert will unfold as a passage through time. It opens with explorations of early forms — the invention, fugue, and sonata — before giving way to the free and expressive language of the Romantic era. The programme culminates in entirely new music, demonstrating how this living tradition speaks with full force to the present day. Classical forms and techniques will be demonstrated and explained, and the audience will have a chance to participate in the creation of a new composition on the night.
Performers: Gabriel Williams — piano, Marc Plasmeijer — piano
Venue: Heath Street Baptist Church in Hampstead. The venue is intimate and capacity is limited.
Tickets: £10.
Time: Saturday 21st March. Doors open 6:00pm, concert begins 6:30pm. Duration just over 1 hour, refreshments served after.
Previous Events
Contemporary Music & Sacred Tradition
Vox Alba presents a showcase of contemporary composers grappling with the aesthetic crisis of our time. From Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony to Zen Buddhism, young composers seek to reconsecrate their work while embracing the language of postmodernism, with its textural possibilities of electronic manipulation and digital decay. This music aims to speak directly to our time while situating itself historically in a tradition of the sacred.
Featuring works by Gabriel Williams, Sophie Sparkes, Ng Yu Hng
Performed by Cristina Cooper (Cello), Cameron Howe (Viola), Gabriel Williams (Piano, Electronics)
About us
Vox Alba aims to revitalise classical music by challenging the disconnect between contemporary composition and contemporary audiences. Between institutional academic music and commercial pop classical, lies a third path unlocked by patronage. Vox Alba champions composers who seek to heal our postmodern fracture to write and live inside history, embracing the beauty and dignity of our time. Our goal is to foster a balanced musical ecosystem where new works can be both innovative and meaningful, where tradition and progress converge, and where composers, patrons, and audiences can form a community. We envision a classical music culture that is living, evolving, and resonant with contemporary life.
Contact using the form below or email gabrielwilliamsmusic@gmail.com.