Blossom-inspired musical compositions promise to awaken the senses at Kew Gardens this spring

Brand new immersive experience launches at Kew, celebrating the beauty of spring flowers through bespoke compositions
Set amongst Kew’s world-famous blossom displays
First collaboration of its kind with the Royal College of Music brings newly commissioned soundscapes to Kew
£1 entry for recipients of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits

A new collaboration with the Royal College of Music will see Kew’s iconic spring Gardens transformed, as bespoke compositions emerge from blossom trees in Sounds of Blossom, Saturday 23 March to Sunday 14 April 2024.

The first ever spring festival to be held at Kew Gardens in London will immerse visitors in the spectacular beauty of the season, offering a multisensory experience in one of London’s most iconic living landscapes. A unique collaboration with the Royal College of Music blends music with showy spring blooms, promising to transport visitors as they wander beneath clouds of blossom or alongside carpets of colour at the turn of the season.

Bespoke compositions from the Royal College of Music

Working with students from the Royal College of Music, the festival will feature six bespoke commissions that celebrate Kew’s unique landscape in the spring. Subtly emerging from carefully chosen locations including avenues of cherry blossom and vistas dotted with magnolias, these compositions will offer a sensory experience like no other. From capturing the ephemeral beauty of blossom through the fleeting plucks of the harp, to a growing soundscape which achieves a full sonic 'bloom' every few minutes, each student has created a distinct response to their experience of blossom and spring colour at Kew. See ‘notes to editors’ for more information on each composition.

In addition, each weekend visitors can enjoy live musical performances from the Royal College of Music, who will be showcasing a varied repertoire from classical favourites to jazz melodies.

Horticultural highlights

Kew comes to life each spring, as trees come into flower and an array of bulbs bring welcome bursts of colour across the Gardens. Along Cherry Walk and Asano Avenue, both home to soundscapes created for the festival, visitors can wander beneath clouds of soft-pink cherry blossom and discover a treasure trove of naturalised tulips.

Other locations featured include the Japanese Landscape, which comes into its own at this time of year. A great white cherry (Prunus 'Taihaku') grows next to the Gateway in Kew’s Japanese Landscape, a species thought to be extinct until the 1920s when an English plant collector, Collingwood Ingram, matched a tree growing in Sussex to a Japanese painting of a white cherry.

Additional programming

To complement Sounds of Blossom, Kew’s catering outlets will offer blossom-inspired dishes, and a series of free talks from Kew horticulturists and scientists will cover topics such as pollination, as well as how to conserve blossom-producing trees for generations to come. Visitors can also enjoy a programme of wellbeing events throughout the festival, such as Tai Chi and yoga amongst the cherry blossom.

Paul Denton, Head of Visitor Programmes and Exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew says: “Kew has always been a haven in the springtime, and this new festival is an invitation to immerse yourself in the beauty of the season. Whether you're strolling along Cherry Walk or exploring the Japanese Landscape, areas of Kew Gardens will come alive with the colours and scents of spring, accompanied by bespoke melodies from the Royal College of Music. We hope visitors will join us in this celebration of nature and music, and leave feeling inspired and energised.”

The Royal College of Music’s internationally respected composition faculty works closely with students to explore what it means to be a composer in today’s society, with distinctive courses such as Composition for Screen. The collaboration with Kew is one example of many links with artistic organisations, film schools, studios and industry professionals across the globe.

Tymon Zgorzelski, President of the Royal College of Music Students’ Union and RCM student composer for the festival commented: “I am very excited for my first electronic installation piece to be exhibited at Kew Gardens. It is a unique opportunity and a privilege to be trusted to create something for this renowned visitor attraction and heritage institution.”

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is dedicated to harnessing the power of plants and fungi to end the extinction crisis and secure a future for all life on Earth. With Kew’s world-leading research, global partnerships and beloved gardens – home to the world’s most diverse collections of plants and fungi – Kew is using its trusted voice to shape policy and practice worldwide. As a charity, Kew relies on the critical support of its visitors, not only to sustain the gardens, but to protect global plant and fungal biodiversity for the benefit of our planet and humanity.

ENDS

Sounds of Blossom admission

Entry to Sounds of Blossom: Awaken your senses is included when purchasing a ticket to Kew Gardens.
The best value tickets can be booked in advance via kew.org.
£1 entry for recipients of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits

For more information or images, please contact the Press Office at pr@kew.org / 0208 332 5607

Notes to Editors

Royal College of Music student composers

Daniel Musashi: Japanese composer, Daniel Musashi, draws on the connection he has always felt to cherry blossoms as inspiration for this track. Representing new beginnings and the arrival of spring, their ephemeral beauty is captured through the fleeting plucks of the harp and short resonance parallels. Layered with the piano and flute, Musashi hopes to capture the Sakura’s dynamic gracefulness.

Jasmine Morris: Magnolia Galaxy combines recordings from Kew Gardens with the sound of wind chimes and bells. These samples will be digitally manipulated and appear alongside the violin and viola. Morris is fascinated by the synthesis of natural and artificial sounds and hopes to subvert visitors’ expectations by blurring and manipulating the line between live and recorded sound.

Tymon Zgorzelski: Inflorescence No.5 refers to a cluster of flowers on one plant, and this is the inspiration behind Zgorzelski’s series of pieces. Walking along a path lined with speakers, visitors will be immersed within a continual, growing soundscape which achieves a full sonic 'bloom' every few minutes.

Lucy Holmes: Inspired by the coalescence of individual petals that form a rich blanket of colour, this composition has been designed to mirror the variety of blossom trees found along Asano Avenue. The violin, cello, flute and clarinet have been selected for their pure and sweet timbres, and their eclectic array of sounds that reflect the diversity of nature. The piece aims to create the illusion that music is emerging from the trees themselves, evoking listeners to lose themselves in the beauty that surrounds them.

Delyth Field: Momoyama reflects on the concept of 和 ‘wa’, a fundamental Japanese ideology which translates to ‘harmony’. Acoustic instruments and electronic music coexist in harmony in Momoyama, and Field hopes this will enable visitors to feel the 和(wa) and connect to the natural surroundings of Kew as they break away from the chaos and stress of the urban world.

Louis Enright: The elemental force of wind remains a reminder of our shared human experience and enacts a dialogue between us and our ancestors. Enright’s music will explore a variety of sounds to serve as a contemplative backdrop to passers-by, in a world where instantaneous global communication has become omnipresent.

About Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 45,000 visitors with £1 tickets.

About the Royal College of Music

Founded in 1882, the Royal College of Music (RCM) is a world leading music conservatoire with a prestigious history and contemporary outlook. More than 900 undergraduate and postgraduate students come from over 50 countries and are taught in a dynamic environment, leaving the RCM to become the outstanding performers, conductors, and composers of the future. In 2023 and 2022, the RCM was ranked as the global no 1 institution for performing arts in the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The Royal College of Music has trained some of the most important figures in British and international music including composers and performers such as Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Leopold Stokowski, Sir Hubert Parry, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Neville Marriner, Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Sarah Connolly, Tarik O’Regan, Lord Lloyd Webber, Sir James Galway, Anna Meredith MBE, Louise Alder and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Regular visitors to the RCM include Sir Thomas Allen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alina Ibragimova and Lang Lang. Our recent honorary doctorates include Sir Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Bryn Terfel, Steve Reich and Maxim Vengerov (Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin).