Image: Mickey Callisto performs at World Museum (Kieran Irvine courtesy of National Museums Liverpool)
The National Museums Liverpool project returns, putting the spotlight on local acts and bolstering the presence of the city’s museums online
National Museums Liverpool (NML) is to once again open up its museums as a stage for local musicians.
Musical artists from across the Liverpool City Region will take part in the second ‘Museum Sessions’ project, resulting in an online series of exclusive performances from the likes of the Space and Time Gallery of World Museum to the surroundings of the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
The performances will be made available via National Museums Liverpool YouTube channel in the coming months.
Singer songwriter Ni Maxine recorded a performance from the Victorian conservatory of Sudley House, which will be available online next month.
Maxine said: ”It was an empowering experience for me as a Black woman to perform at Sudley House, which was built by a merchant with links to the transatlantic slave trade. My song is about my experience of love and relationships before reaching the point where I realised that I had to love and accept myself in order to experience freedom.”
Other artists taking part include Martha Goddard, who performed a set from the Lady Lever Art Gallery, while Astles and Niki Kand performed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery and World Museum respectively.
Further performances from Sudley House and World Museum, by Blue Saint and Mickey Callisto will be aired in April and May.
Goddard said: “I loved having the opportunity to perform my art in a space that has such feeling – transforming the Lady Lever rotunda into a performance space and enjoying the natural reverb was slightly surreal, with my audience being a collection of gleaming statues and busts. I’m very excited to share the special version of my song Fighter that we filmed.”
From the aquarium in World Museum last year, singer Låpsley performs Our Love in a Garden.
David Lally, Digital Content Lead at National Museums Liverpool, said: “There is no better time to highlight the incredible musicians who call the city home today as we prepare to welcome an international audience for Eurovision 2023.
“We’re pleased to be building on the success of season one of Museum Sessions, which represented the very best of contemporary music across the region and helped to shift the ways in which the public can interact with us, giving our audiences new perspective on what we do.”