Southbank Centre stages groundbreaking year-long cross-art form festival of concerts, talks, films and performances inspired by Alex Ross’ The Rest is Noise (19 January–December 2013)

In one of the most ambitious music projects in recent years, Southbank Centre will chart the history of 20^th century classical music in a year-long festival of concerts, talks, films, performances and participation events throughout 2013 inspired by Alex Ross’ seminal book The Rest Is Noise:  Listening to the Twentieth Century.

Winner of a Guardian First Book Award and America’s National Book Critics Circle Award, The Rest Is Noise has been translated into 15 languages and sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide since publication in 2007.

Led by Artistic Director Jude Kelly, Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise Festival, in partnership with BBC Four, will provide audiences with an enriched listening experience by bringing to the fore the cultural and political stories behind the most important musical works of the 20^th century.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra provides the core symphonic repertoire in a bold artistic partnership with Southbank Centre and kicks off the Festival on 19 January 2013 with an all-Richard Strauss programme conducted by Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski featuring baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Karita Mattila who sings the final scene from Salome.

BBC Four will support the Festival by broadcasting a landmark television series about 20^th century classical music alongside other activities to be announced later in the year.