Keystones Piano Festival 2026: Corey Mwamba/Robert Mitchell + Lucas Walters/Reece Soko-Fogg

Name: Keystones Piano Festival 2026: Corey Mwamba/Robert Mitchell + Lucas Walters/Reece Soko-Fogg
Start: 2026-05-09T19:30:00+01:00
Location: Samuel Worth Chapel

Schedule

Sat, 09 May, 2026 at 07:30 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

Samuel Worth Chapel | Sheffield, EN

Jazz at The Lescar is partnering once again with the Samuel Worth Chapel to put on two gigs over the weekend of 9th/10th May 2026.

Our first night at the week long Keystones piano festival features a double bill of four wonderful improvisers, and two sets of music that are sure to reverberate long after the concert has finished.
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VENUE: Samuel Worth Chapel
TIMES: Doors 7.30pm, music 8pm
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TICKETS:
Full price day ticket £20
Students + under 25s £10
ALSO! Weekend ticket (limited number, covering this gig and the gig featuring Laura Cole + baleine on Sunday 10th May): £30
Pay on the door, or alternatively get advance tickets by emailing [email protected] or messaging us here.
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Corey Mwamba/Robert Mitchell
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Pianist, composer and poet Robert Mitchell and vibraphonist and broadcaster Dr. Corey Mwamba are two incredible and award winning improvisers with an association going back 30 years. A thrilling duo, this performance, ahead of the release of a brand new album, is certain to be deep, intense, inspiring and beautiful.
Steinway Artist, composer, songwriter and poet Robert Mitchell has dazzled us all in his recent sell-out performances at The Lescar and last year at this festival. He has recorded 14 albums, published 3 poetry collections and participated in over 100 projects as a sideman, as well as performing in more than 40 countries.
Leader of several acclaimed bands including TRUE THINK, Little Black Book, Epiphany3 and the Flame, he is also a piano Professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Mentor/Task Force Member at Black Lives In Music, YMM teacher, Steinway Artist and recently taught/returned to the Paris Conservatoire and Pole Sup.
An award winner at the BBC Jazz Awards, Gilles Peterson’s Best Jazz Album, and a Paul Hamlyn composition award, Robert has performed and collaborated with (amongst many others) Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Soweto Kinch, Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson, Omar, Matana Roberts, Steve Williamson, Jason Rebello, Django Bates, Ashley Henry, Alex Hawkins, Masumi Endo and Jhelisa Anderson.
“Robert Mitchell is one of Britain’s finest and most versatile pianist-composer-improvisors” The Wire Magazine
“Robert Mitchell is one of the UK’s greatest living jazz pianists and in such a list would be placed somewhere near the top”. Marlbank.net (Stephen Graham)
“Mitchell is a restless spirit musically and metaphysically, diverse in his projects, but unified in his vision that music is a power for change.” Jazzwise Magazine
Nominated in the last nine DownBeat annual critics polls for ‘Rising Star on Vibraphone’ Corey Mwamba is one of the most exciting and creative musicians in the UK.
Recognised internationally as an improviser and composer, he works with vibraphone, dulcimer and electronics.
His main group, the acclaimed ‘yana’, which also features Dave Kane and Joshua Blackmore is a passionate testament to the idea of spontaneous music making, and he has also featured alongside and collaborated with a host of improvising musicians in the UK and internationally including Adam Fairhall, Johnny Hunter, Andy Champion, Sylvain Darrifourcq, Valentin Ceccaldi, Mat Maneri, Lucian Ban, Orphy Robinson, Martin Archer and Nick Malcolm. Corey is also an honorary member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra.
“You sort of feel that Mwamba could turn up in any situation and put things right or make something new for you, depending on need or wish.” Brian Morton, Wire Magazine
“Arguably one of the most complete vibes players to emerge since Gary Burton” Duncan Heining, All About Jazz
As a broadcaster, Corey Mwamba has also presented the much-missed Freeness programme on BBC Radio 3, awarded the Parliamentary Jazz awards Group's "Jazz Media" award in 2020.
Lucas Walters / Reece Soko-Fogg
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A BBC Young Jazz Musician semi-finalist Lucas Walters’ recent performance at The Lescar made a big impact, and we’re delighted that he can return to Sheffield so quickly, to perform alongside an exciting saxophonist emerging from the Leeds jazz scene, Reece Soko-Fogg.
Lucas Walters has worked with musicians including Tony Kofi, Benjamin Luhis, Gary Reader, Dominique Simone and Miles Pillinger. A distinctive pianist, with a commitment to pushing musical boundaries, his music really draws you in and he’s definitely a musician making waves, appearing at festivals and venues across the UK, including Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Future Movers, Peggy's Skylight, the Leeds Jazz Festival, Leeds Emerging Artist Festival, Lancaster Jazz Festival, Green Island Festival, Dubrek Studios, and Hyde Park Book Club.
Emerging from the vibrant Leeds jazz scene, alto saxophonist Reece Soko-Fogg leads his own afrojazz/afrofusion band Afrodesia, and is a core member of spiritual jazz/cosmic funk fusion band Amon Ra Collective. He’s influenced by the likes of Charlie Parker, Jackie McLean and Cannonball Adderley, as well as Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove and Kenny Garrett, Bheki Mseleku and Kippie Moeketsi. An exciting new voice, we can’t wait to hear his sound in the chapel alongside the Steinway D grand piano.