Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe was founded by Arthur Jeffes in 2009, bringing together a talented and disparate group of musicians initially to perform his father Simon Jeffes’ legacy of world-renowned Penguin Cafe Orchestra music, ten years after his untimely death in 1997.

Arthur, a talented composer in his own right, quickly began to create new and unique genre-defying music, blending classical instruments like violins and cellos with unexpected elements like ukuleles and melodicas, the spellbinding philosophy of the Penguin Cafe always in his mind.

Four new albums of original music followed: A Matter of Life… in 2008, The Red Book in 2014 and The Imperfect Sea released on Erased Tapes in 2017. The same year Arthur paid tribute to his late father by performing PCO’s seminal record Union Cafe live to a sold out Union Chapel, coinciding with the album’s re-issue on Erased Tapes.

2018 saw the Penguins perform in Paris, Berlin and London with a special show to support Greenpeace at the new venue EartH in Hackney, and 2019 brought the release of the band’s fifth album ‘Handfuls of Night’, in September on their label Erased Tapes. 2019 also saw Penguin Cafe tour extensively in the UK culminating in their sold out show at the Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Returning to live music in 2022 with a headline show at London’s Barbican Hall, the Penguins were back after the pandemic. ‘Rain Before Seven…’ the newest and much applauded Penguin Cafe album quickly followed in late 2023 coupled with extensive UK touring through November and December, including returning to London’s Union Chapel. They also released their first ever recording of Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s classic ‘Perpetuum Mobile’ with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed it live with members of the BBC Philharmonic to a sold out Peel Hall in Manchester as part of the FatOut Festival in September 2023.