International Collaborations

Aga Khan Music Awards

Having worked in partnership with the Aga Khan Music Initiative and Ismaili Centre London to produce a celebration of the Aga Khan's Jubilee in 2018 at London's Royal Albert Hall, Serious were once again invited to work in partnership with the Muslim cultural organisation to produce the inaugural Aga Khan Music Awards in March 2019; this being a three-day event at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.

The new event brought to Portugal a constellation of the world's leading musical talents from the Muslim world for an event of global importance in the arts.

Established by His Highness the Aga Khan to recognise exceptional creativity, promise, and enterprise in music in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence, the three-day event featured concerts, musical presentations, a symposium, exhibition, and the awarding of prizes. At an Awards Ceremony on the evening of Sunday 31 March, award-winners received their prizes from His Highness the Aga Khan and Prince Amyn Aga Khan.

The Awards event was produced by the Aga Khan Music Initiative in collaboration with the City of Lisbon under the patronage of the President and Ministry of Culture of Portugal, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Desafio Global, Leading and Serious UK, and will be hosted by BBC presenter Lopa Kothari.

BT  River of Music

This once-in-lifetime two-day free festival of live music from all Olympic and Paralympic nations, welcoming the world to London the weekend before the Olympic Opening Ceremony, was conceived and created by Serious,who were responsible for the development and delivery of the entire event. 

1,530 artists from all 204 Olympic nations performed across six massive stages at iconic outdoor sites on the Thames, displaying a kaleidoscope of the word's best contemporary and international music. The stages, situated at landmarks along the River Thames, ran as follows: Asia at Battersea Park, Europe at Somerset House and Trafalgar Square, Americas at Tower of London, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands) at Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and Africa at London Pleasure Gardens.

Live audiences totalled 125,160 with a further eight million reached through television and radio broadcasts worldwide.  2,458 staff worked on the event.

‘From the standard of the food to the friendly security, flawless organisation and gorgeous sites, this was the best music festival I have ever been to in the capital. If this was a dress rehearsal for the sporting festival to come it couldn’t have been more perfect, framing London at its best.’  (★★★★☆ Daily Telegraph)