Federico Albanese

Between before and now; between reality and imagination; between memory and remembering.

Part of Independent Venue Week 2023.

Federico Albanese’s stunning new album 'Before And Now Seems Infinite' captures and inhabits these moments and passages of time. Each exquisitely rendered fusion of modern-classical and electronic hues with traces of jazz and avant-garde pop, is inspired by a specific memory and the suggestion that, in the words of French novelist Marcel Proust, “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.”

“There are multiple ways in which we perceive a memory,” says composer and multi-instrumentalist Albanese, who grew up in Milan and now calls Berlin home. “We might remember things from different angles and give them different meanings. I find it interesting to explore the instant where we decide how we are going to remember something. And music is the vehicle I use to find these moments, to hold them in time.”

Piano is Albanese’s main instrument but he also handles electronics, synthesisers, electric guitar, bass, field recordings, flute, clarinet, melodica and tape processing. The album’s co-engineer Simon Goff also features on violin (plus co-production, Moog and electronic processing on ‘March’) with Arthur Hornig on cello plus two special guest singers: Marika Hackman and Ghostpoet (Obaro Ejimiwe), British artists who, like Albanese, defy easy categorisation.

This is Federico's second visit to The Queen's Hall after performing his album, 'By The Deep Sea' here in November 2018. You can read the five-star review of the evening by clicking here.

Support is from Italian Berlin-based musician and sound designer Julian Zyklus, a member of the alternative Italian band, A Toys Orchestra.

Presented by The Queen's Hall and 432 Presents.