The songs that make ordinary moments feel transcendent: Erik Sigurd’s Sonnet live in Stoke Newington

“There was a time when you could sit in silence without reaching for your phone, when you looked forward to long car rides for the space to think, when you would listen to an album from start to finish. We find the songs that make ordinary moments feel transcendent.“

This comes from the manifesto of Silent Songs, an independent record label, publisher and curator. And whilst their name might seem something of a tautology, in fact they focus on contemporary classical and ambient music, and in creating carefully curated live experiences around their artists.

One of these is the British-Swedish composer Erik Sigurd, whose piano music is described at ‘soft and cinematic’. Sigurd has his debut album, Sonnet out on 12 November and to celebrate that, Silent Songs has gathered Sigurd and friends together for a concert at the Old church, Soke Newington on 13 November 2026.

In the first half, Sigurd will play his own solo piano music alongside music by key pianistic influences. In the second half he will be joined by string quartet – Eleonora Consta, Roman Lytwyniw, Luba Tunnicliffe, Zachary Owen, saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi, double bass Sam Becker and harpist Oliver Wass, for Sonnet, Sigurd’s 14 movement chamber work.

In fact Erik Sigurd is the pseudonym that jazz and classical composer/pianist Leif Kaner-Lidström uses for recording meditative, often improvised solo works. You can also catch Kaner-Lidström performing with his own quintet, the Levitation Orchestra and the Jess Gillam band.

Further details from dice.