A Hackney musician, who has performed alongside Dame Judi Dench and Queen’s Brian May, is due to play his first live event since the pandemic.

Gary Albert describes himself as a "music alchemist" who "transports and transforms” listeners. His upcoming London concert, Luminosity, is inspired by his lockdown experience.

He said: “As a musician and an artist, lockdown was incredibly difficult - as it was for everybody.

“But when your passion, your work and your whole life which revolves around being in front of audiences and performing for people is ripped away from you... it was deeply depressing.

“I think coming out of that funk and trying to get your energy and motivation to do anything was really hard, and I found myself really lethargic, unmotivated and uninspired. I don’t want to say depressed, but I had feelings of depression.

“Then, I came across this book called The Universe is a Green Dragon by a cosmologist called Brian Swimme. He tells the story of the universe and the cosmos from a really inspirational, poetic place.

“As I was reading these pages I could feel the depression lift like a lightness come about my body. I started to realise how magnificent and wonderful life is.”

Ham & High: Gary Albert has found a way to overcome his blues and is now back performingGary Albert has found a way to overcome his blues and is now back performing (Image: Sarah Louise Johnson)

Enlightened, Gary wrote his show as a celebration of “the wonder of the universe and the creativity of the cosmos”.

As well as helping him through the pandemic, the artist is grateful for music’s transformative role in his childhood.

He said: “I grew up in really rough council estates in the 80s. I come from a very poor working class family and I feel very blessed to have discovered a passion and gift for music very young. Music lifted me out of what could have been a very dark, different path.”

Gary hopes that his show enables the audience to “feel a sense of awe and inspiration about who they are and where they come from” and helps them to “activate a deep sense of love for themselves, for others, the planet and the universe”.

A live performance of Luminosity takes place at 7.30pm on October 28 at St Cyprian's Church, Glentworth Street. Tickets can be purchased at garyalbertmusic.com/booking.