About this Event
Jack Campbell is a talented young violinist and composer who, accompanied by special guest Cheslav Singh on piano, will explore four centuries of mathematics in music from Bach and Beethoven, to Jack’s own compositions, inspired by the mathematics of World War II code breaking.
Jack has a fascination for the mathematics of music, and for the code-breaking undertaken during the Second World War at Bletchley Park. This has led to him creating two works based on the mathematics and computational logic used in both the Bombe (associated with Alan Turing and the Enigma encryption machines) and the less well-known, but arguably more strategically important Colossus computer. Introduced to TFF by Harry Fensom’s family, 22-year-old composer and musician Jack M.Campbell has written and extensively performed a piece inspired by Alan Turing’s Bombe. With a bursary from TFF, he worked on a score responding to Colossus, the computer built by Tommy Flowers to greatly expedite the reading of Lorenz traffic. The code was cracked by mathematician Bill Tutte, who, after the war, went on to teach at two universities in Canada, Jack’s home country.
The performance journeys from classic works by Bach, to modern abstraction – featuring Beethoven, Bach, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and modern music including Jack’s own compositions. Join us for an evening exploring the nuances of how harmony, melody, and rhythm are constructed alongside various sonic colours of the past, present, and future!
Jack Campbell
Concert violinist, composer, art producer
Jack Campbell is a Canadian composer, concert violinist, arts producer and recording artist. Called a “Prodigiously Gifted Young Violinist” (Pwyll ap Siôn; The Strad) and a “Young Master of the Arts” (London Daily News), Campbell has performed in: Canada (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Gulf Islands); England/Wales (London, Milton Keynes, Bradford, Wrexham, Ely, Swansea, Carlisle, Hereford, Durham, Chester, York, Brighton); France (Bordeaux, Paris); Germany (Berlin, Donaueschingen); Netherlands (Amsterdam); Poland (Poznan); Switzerland (Basel, Bern); Ukraine (Kiev); and the United States of America (New York City at the United Nations Summit of the Future).
Cheslav Singh
Pianist, curator, audiovisual artist, composer
Having performed at renowned venues (Rome, London, New York, Naples, Paris, Toronto), on radio (RAI 3, 2020) and television (TVP 3, 2020) in many different contexts, my repertoire ranges from Beethoven to free jazz. Recognised as being able to ‘construct solid geometric sonorities, very well planned…’, my playing is said to be ‘…engaging and meditative…’ (Massimiliano Cerito, June 2022). My work is characterised as ‘every performance is a genuine adventure into the unknown.’ (Jo Hutton, The Wire, 2023)
This performance has been made possible thanks to support from the Tommy Flowers Foundation and Heritage Fund UK.
Accessibility
Our studio is located on the first floor and has only stepped access, which we regret means there is no access for wheelchair users or those who cannot climb stairs.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The London Sketch Club, 7 Dilke Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 12.00
