The Quiet Night Inn

Come down to CdA this Friday for The Quiet Night Inn. Enjoy meeting like minded folk in our bohemian arts space, bring some music, play some games and be merry. Doors open 8pm, £5 on the door and BYO drinks and we’ll provided the delicious food!

Quiet Night Inn TONIGHT!

The CdA doors are opening tonight for A Quiet Night Inn our weekly Friday event. £5 on the door and bring your own drinks. We’ll also be serving a simple pasta dish, see you there!

Easter Chicken Workshop this Good Friday

This Good Friday come and get busy in the creative atmosphere of Café des Artistes and make your very own Easter chicken in the unique style of Jenny Beale’s papier mâché technique, now taught by her daughter, local artist and prop maker at Glyndebourne, Rose Beale.

Places cost £30 and include a simple lunch and all artists materials.

This Good Friday 10:30am-4pm

Places are limited so book now to avoid disappointment.

To secure a place or for more information, call Rose on 01273 486 377 or contact us at CdA  and we will pass on any messages to Rose.

Suitable for adults and older children.

cafedesartisteslewes@gmail.com

 

‘The Quiet Night Inn’ Launch Party April 4th

On 4th April we will be hosting the first of our new fortnightly event “A Quiet Night Inn” which aims to be your inside out kind of evening.  We will be providing informal suppers, an open bar and we will also be offering “BYO” with a small corkage fee.

Relax in our cosy space, meet new friends and connect with old chums, play board games, sample good wine, choose records and even get up and recite a bit of poetry if the mood takes you as we aim to have a little showcase for your creativity during the course of the evening.

All are welcome to join in this alternative to a night out in Lewes.

April 4th 7pm til late

Our special introductory launch offer includes free entry and all glasses of wine, shorts and cans are priced at £3 only!

Corkage costs: bottle of wine £4 , can of beer £1, spirits £10 per bottle

A Quiet Night Inn will continue on the first and third Friday of every month (fortnightly)

BILLIE HOLIDAY NIGHT THIS SATURDAY 31st MARCH

Next Saturday 31st March Café des Artistes Lewes welcomes you for a very special one off performance by the fabulous Helen McDonald jazz trio as they play the songs of the late great first lady of jazz Billie Holiday.

Helen will be accompanied by Vladimir Miller on piano and Adrian Northover alto and soprano saxes.

 Helen’s stunning voice and brilliant song writing skills have led to collaborations with some wonderful musicians in the world of Jazz, African music, dance music and beyond. Roy Ayres, Jean Toussaint, Dave Murray, and Nana Tsiboe.

Helen is also known for her interpretation of Billie Holiday songs which she has performed in the play ‘The Life of Billie Holiday’ to critical acclaim in theatres throughout the UK.

This performance will include many of the songs that made Billie famous including ‘Summertime’ and the controversial ‘Strange Fruit’ together with other evocative songs from her repertoire.

Using these tunes, storytelling and visuals, the musical life and times Billie lived in will be recreated.

Doors open 7pm

Concert begins 7:30

Bar open til late
Light bites available at the bar

Tickets £10 only available online now at wegottickets or pop into the Union Music Store in Lewes

Tickets are subject to a small booking fee.

Burlesque-ploitation – THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday at Café des Artistes, Burlesque-ploitation explores all that is good about the neo-Burlesque scene.  It offers a celebration of the reappearance of a genre originally grounded in parody and social commentary.

Film-maker Fiona Geilinger will be projecting “Wallpaper” which she recently showed at the BFI London Film ‘International Animation Panorama Programme 2’ in October this year.

Fiona makes pattern-based and print-inspired short videos using the moving body and in this film, using elements of clothing, pattern and architecture.   She uses effects to separate the performers from their backgrounds then animates the human movement trajectories. These are scaled up for moving fabric-like repeat patterns and scaled down to reveal individual human endeavours. Passionate about drawing her body became a vehicle for that inscription process; the body as a moving mark maker.

In “Wallpaper” a woman hides and reveals herself using elements of clothing, pattern and architecture, through which a transformation occurs. The body, dress and architecture become one. A narrative interplay unfolds between her body and these elements, until she chooses to abandon her identity by absorption into the fabric of her surroundings. By the power of her imagination the woman abstracts herself to the point of becoming a part of a pattern, a surreal visual spectacle.

Following on from Fiona’s film, pole dancer, historian, traveller and VJ Julia Hart will be performing a burlesque pole dance in what she likes to call live animation ‘Burlesque isn’t very clean, it’s a bit sleazy. It’s encouraging naughty thoughts and the part of us that is sort of sleazy’. A theatrical film which celebrates the female, in its historic and contemporary form, will be projected onto her body, reminding us of the consequences of its whimsy. Aerial dancer Ethan Kith will close the show with another breathtakingly athletic performance, this time on silks.

The show will be followed with Balkan music by 9 piece band Jackson & the Kingkickers in the bar.

Jackson: soulful, soaring vocals and fluid folk funk guitar
Jim Best: Rock n roll accordion
Massive vocals
Ash: Thunder bass
Emma: fiddle, Irish Balkan stomp
Sean: Technical tub-thumping
Sam Bone: Latino, jazz
Anna Sax: Jump up, horns
Adam Horn (with a little mariachi & soul)
All mashed up

Mince pies will be on offer and the mulled wine will be flowing, come and see us! Tickets on sale now from wegottickets or on the door £6. Doors open 7:30.

Featuring, in running order: Fiona Geilinger; Julia Hart; Ethan Kith ; Jackson & the Kingkickers

Virtuoso Vibrations

 

Last Saturday CdA was treated to a truly special night when two internationally acclaimed virtuoso musicians performed in our intimate concert venue. More used to playing the Wigmore Hall and selling out five thousand seat arenas around the world, Harriet Mackenzie and Morgan Szymanski played for an audience of just under 60 in our newly built cyclorama.  Simply lit by a single Par Can light, the two musicians cut dramatic silhouettes against the pristine white backdrop and their notes rolled magnificently off the curved walls, filling the auditorium with a naturally amplified sound.

Harriet’s unique approach which finds her classical technique accented with the passionate vibrations of gypsy, tango and Arabic music and Morgan’s technical mastery and musicianship mesmerised the audience as they played through a range of works from Bach, Pagannini, Ponce, Barrios and Bartok.  Morgan peppered the concert with witty and informative descriptions of the pieces and their composers which gave a personal and friendly tone to the evening.

In the interval the 3 piece Djangonaughts, 2 guitars and clarinet, entertained us with their sparky  jazz manouche whilst the audience sat in the candle-lit cabaret club inspired setting around small round tables enjoying bottles of Spanish red and our Spanish inspired “tablas” with Jamon Serrano personally sourced on a special mission from Las Alpujarras, award winning queso Mantec Gallego from Brighton based The Spanish Food Company , garbanzos con espinacas (chickpeas with spinach), fresh tomato pulp, Sarasa olives, Marcona almonds, tortilla with waxy potatoes and home-baked bread with garden herbs and rock salt.

Nicely warmed and filled with good food and wine the audience ascended the stairs to enjoy the second half which ended in a standing ovation and an encore.  After a few drinks for the road from the bar, some people made their way home, exhilarated and touched by such magical performances. Those who stayed behind at the bar were provided with more great sounds by our Dj Dan who played away to the early hours.

We filmed the concert, and hope to put some footage online soon.  We are inviting Morgan and Harriet back in the New Year with even more exciting concerts to come, watch this space for further details.

It was an amazing night and thank you to all those who came and welcome to the those who signed up to our blog on Saturday.

 

 

SPECIAL LIVE CLASSICAL CONCERT AT CdA

Café des Artistes are proud to welcome award winning Mexican guitarist Morgan Szymanski and virtuoso violinist Harriet Mackenzie for one night only in a concert of works by Paganini, Bartok, DeFalla, Piazzolla and Bach.

Morgan and Harriet are two young musicians  both making waves in their respective fields, with a trail of awards and achievements behind them. The Strad described their performance as ‘Searing intensity… A performance full of panache… Captivating’ and this is a wonderful opportunity to see two dazzling musicians perform in our intimate concert venue. There won’t be another chance until mid 2012 to see this special musical union so book now to avoid disappointment!

The Café will be serving Spanish inspired “tablas” during the interval and for this special occasion we will be opening the jamon serrano brought back from Las Alpujarras in Spain.  A taste experience not to be missed! The bar will be open from 6:30 til late and after the concert there will be more music provided for you to enjoy the night away.

Paul Austin Kelly wrote a really lovely piece in the Viva Lewes handbook page 43. Emma Carlow has been a great help designing our poster so thank you to them for their gratefully received and much appreciated input.

If you book tickets in advance* you will be supplied 1 FREE DRINK on arrival!  There are lots of ways to do this, if you like to go online visit wegottickets.com or you can buy tickets both online and from the ticket shop of The Dome in Brighton AND you can even purchase from the Union Music Store 1 Landsdown Place in Lewes,  simply exchange your booking reference or ticket for a token on the door. If you prefer to risk trying your luck on the night you might have to pay a little extra for a ticket and face the possibility of not getting a seat and no free drink 😦

We are really looking forward to seeing you, it’s going to be a really memorable night xxx
Saturday 29th October
Doors open 6:30pm
Concert begins 7:30pm
Interval 40mins
Concert ends approx 9:45pm
Manuel M. Ponce Estrellita (arr. Szymanski)
Bela Bartók Romanian Folk Dances (1915)
Agustín Barrios Mangoré Una limosna por el amor de Dios
Manuel de Falla Five Spanish Folk Songs | Spanish Dance
Niccolo Paganini Sonata Concertata in A major
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘Andante’ from Sonata in A minor, BWV1003
Astor Piazzolla Histoire du Tango

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

* a small booking fee will be added to the cost of the ticket