KCR Winter 2025 2026 Mag V3 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 9
The Best CD player on Earth
Revealed to the world last year, the Varèse Music System by British
digital audio pioneer dCS pushes the envelope of digital sound. Now it’s
joined by a matching CD/SACD transport, delivering the absolute apex
of audio from Compact Disc. The Varèse Music System was conceived
by dCS as a complete re-examination of the company’s world-leading
audio technologies, to break new ground in digital sound. The addition
of the Varèse Transport enables the fortunate few who invest in this
new sonic pinnacle to enjoy its unique qualities with CDs and SACDs,
alongside other forms of digital audio storage and conveyance. Many
passionate music fans have amassed cherished CD collections. The
Varèse Transport, in combination with the other components that form
the Varèse Music System, delivers the 昀椀nest sound ever achieved with
Compact Disc some 43 years after the format was introduced – a ‘CD
player’ of unprecedented quality that may never be surpassed, with a
combined price tag of a quarter of a million pounds. (The Varèse Transport itself costs £35,000.)
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/dcs-varese-digital-playback-system/
The Great Christmas Feast
The Lost Estate are at it again. This winter, behind a door in West
Kensington, audiences are invited to step through a Dickensian portal
and travel through time, right into Christmas Eve, 1843, to take their
seats as the very 昀椀rst parlour guests gathered to hear Charles Dickens’
latest (and arguably, greatest) work, A Christmas Carol. Now open for
bookings, The Great Christmas Feast will run till 4 January 2026, in a
festive extravaganza combining live performance, music and a lavishVictorian hospitality, all combined to create what is perhaps London’s most
transportive festive experience. Since it began eight years ago, the show
has sold out every season-a secret underground Christmas tradition
that has quietly become one of London’s great cult hits. Conjured up by
celebrated creators of immersive experiential storytelling, The Lost Estate–specialists in holistic works of art that fuse music, theatre, design
and hospitality.
https://thelostestate.com/
Pillar Hall in Olympia
Restaurateur Des Gunewardena, founder of D3 Collective and co-founder/former CEO of D&D London will unveil a new vibrant restaurant,
speakeasy and event space inside the magni昀椀cent Grade II* listed heritage, Pillar Hall, Olympia for Spring 2026. Pillar Hall has undergone
a signi昀椀cant redesign by Robert Angell Design International to create
Idalia - a 300-cover all-day dining destination, Pepperbird - a 70-cover
basement speakeasy in昀氀uenced by ’70s jazz and Olympia’s rock heritage
and Upstairs at Pillar Hall - a double-height, 500+ capacity event space
that becomes a restaurant and bar with live music at weekends. Culinary
direction will be led by an all-female team: Executive Chef Samantha
Williams (ex-The Park; former Group Executive Chef for Angela Hartnett) and Executive Pastry Chef Lorena Tommasi (The Park, Annabel’s,
Josephine by Claude Bosi). Their menus will present a modern interpretation of British cuisine, with standout pastry and dessert dishes across
Idalia and Pillar Hall events.
www.olympia.london
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KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW
