Lou Reed, Broadcast and Micachu are among the artists who will perform at the 2010 Ether festival, which takes place at London’s Southbank Centre over the period April 16-24.

Over the weekend of April 16-18, the London Sinfonietta and National Youth Orchestra will present Varese 360: an exhaustive series of shows and workshops spread across the Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, celebrating the work of modern classical icon and godfather of electronic music, Edgard Varèse.

On Friday 16 April the frighteningly persistent Stereo MCs team up with The Bays and The Herbaliser in the Royal Festival Hall foyers.

The following night, April 17, in the Royal Festival Hall proper, the London Philharmonic Orchestra are set to perform works by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Philip Glass and Henryk Górecki. It will be the UK premiere of Turnage’s Texan Tenebrae and the European premiere of Glass’s Violin Concerto No.2 (The American Four Seasons). Due to health performances, Gorecki was unable to complete a specially commissioned symphony; therefore the Philharmonic will perform his existing Symphony No.3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), Op. 36.

Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio will perform his 1975 album Metal Machine Music at the RFH on April 19.  Once commonly derided for its pretentiousness and perceived fuck-you unlistenability, MMM is now justly considered an interesting experiment, if not an outright classic. One way or another, this show will undoubtedly be the festival’s hottest ticket.

Proto-rap iconoclast Gil Scott-Heron, who’s enjoying something of a comeback of late, will headline the RFH on Tuesday 20 April, with support from Mercury Prize-winner Speech Debelle (remember her?).

Broadcast are given a well-deserved top billing at the QEH on Wednesday 21 April. They’ll be performing tracks from their recent Focus Group collaboration, and hopefully emphasising and amplifying the visual component that’s made their shows so captivating of late. Support comes from Micachu & The Shapes, playing in collaboration with cellist Oliver Coates.

Perhaps the most surprising inclusion in the Ether line-up this year is affable noiseniks HEALTH, who play the QEH with support from Chrome Hoof on Thursday 22 April.

Who knows what to expect from Chris Cunningham‘s live performance, scheduled to take place at the RFH on Friday 23 April? Cunningham is best known for his virtuoso music video work for the likes of Aphex Twin and Bjork, but has recently been making inroads into the world of actual noise-making, working on solo material and co-producing two tracks on The Horrors’ Primary Colours. Whatever his deal is, it’s probably safe to assume that this show will be visually spectacular, even overwhelming.  Support comes from Geoff Barrow’s BEAK>.

Finally, on Saturday 24 April, pianist Will Dutta will be joined by guests Plaid, Max De Wardener and John Richards for an evening of electronic-classical and ambient experiments.

Tickets for Ether 10 go on sale to Southbank Centre members today, Thursday 28 January, and to the general public on Friday 29 January. More information here.

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