DEBUT first debuted back in 2015.
They’re a group of extremely talented classical musicians who decided to band together in order to play accessible, fun concerts in interesting & unusual spaces. Since then, they’ve put on hundreds of shows in places like lighthouses, ancient operating theatres and Victorian merchant ships, becoming magnets for effusively acclamatory reviews along the way. And the Shoreditch Treehouse and the Thames Tunnel Shaft at the Brunel Museum are both very interesting and highly unusual…
…hence the fact that they’re now playing a series of monthly concerts there. The former is a beautiful fairy-lit attic space in the heart of Shoreditch, where you can grab a cushion, BYOB, and nibble on sushi as the musicians play just inches away from you.
The tunnel shaft takes a little more explaining: it’s a cavernous chamber (around half the size of Shakespeare’s Globe) built two centuries ago, and for a brief period it was the most popular tourist attraction on earth. Seriously. People used to call it ‘The eighth wonder of the world’.
Attend a DEBUT concert there, and you’ll start your evening on the roof of the Brunel Museum. This is where The Midnight Apothecary has set up a charming fairylit urban garden, complete with salvaged garden furniture, firepits, and thriving vegetable and herb patches, and where you can start the proceedings off with one or two of their botanical cocktails. If you’re feeling peckish, you can mollify your appetite with some homemade Vietnamese for courtesy of Lò Việt, who’ll be on hand there too.
When the DEBUT performance is about to begin, you can descend into the vast space and grab a seat. You’ll be just a few feet from the performers, who’ll put on one of their energetic, and spine-tinglingly good shows, thanks in no small part to the magnificent acoustics of the cathedral-like space. And thanks in the much larger part to the fact that they’re all brilliantly accomplished musicians, too. When the show’s over, you can chat to the players, and grab another cocktail from the roof garden.
Which sounds almost as nice as the music.
NOTE: DEBUT concerts take place in both locations every month. You can find out more, and get a ticket (£28-35) at their website right here.
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