NML Music Sessions return showcasing rising talent

Rising star musicians from across the city region have recorded special sets in the stunning surroundings of Liverpool’s museums and galleries.

National Museums Liverpool’s Music Sessions will showcase some of the best and brightest talent in an exclusive online series of performances on NML’s YouTube channel.

This is the second season of sessions, and the featured artists this spring are Astles, Blue Saint, Mickey Callisto, Martha Goddard, Niki Kand and Ni Maxine.

They recorded live performances in the space and time gallery at World Museum, the Victorian splendour of Sudley House’s conservatory and the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

This season launches on March 1 with an atmospheric performance by neo-jazz singer-songwriter Ni Maxine at Sudley House, including a special performance of her song Strange Love which has been played across Jazz FM, BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

She says: ”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.”

Above: Martha Goddard at Lady Lever Art Gallery. Top: Blue Saint at Sudley House. Photos by Kieran Irvine.

The sessions continue on March 15 with Martha Goddard, and Astles on March 29, both with sets from the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Niki Kand – recorded in World Museum – on April 12, Blue Saint (from Sudley House) on April 26, and finally, on May 10 – Eurovision week – a set from Mickey Callisto, recorded at World Museum.

NML’s digital content lead David Lally said: “We’re so excited to have the opportunity to work with a range of local artists in the new season of Museum Sessions, at what is such an exciting moment in Liverpool’s musical story. 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, which represented the very bst 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.”

Sessions are available on the NML YouTube channel HERE