Thanks to Clive Drew, a contact from his former role in PR at PPL, I received an invitation to attend a performance by classical pianist Vusala Babyeva at the London Transport Museum today. Bringing classical and jazz music to the Museum is just one part of its new art, culture and design programming and an impressive series of artists have been booked from February to October this year.
Vusala is an award-winning Azerbaijani pianist, currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, under the guidance of renowned pianist Alexandra Dariescu. She is the recipient of the prestigious Sophie Satin Rachmaninov Award, which supports her studies at Guildhall. Prior to this, Vusala completed her Master of Performance at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with distinguished pianist Dinara Klinton in 2024. Her academic journey began at the Baku Music Academy, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Distinction.
She played a 45 minute set of well-known pieces with grace and verve with Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ proving a particular highlight.
Bringing classical and jazz music to the Museum is just one part of its new art, culture and design programming. The Museum is also set to resume London transport’s tradition of commissioning talented artists to create posters promoting public transport as a way to discover things to see and do in the capital.
The main photo illustrates both the performance space and a 1910 tram in the background. I took this picture as my grandfather was a north London tram driver in the years up to World War I and an inspector during the 1920s.
