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THEN & NOW

The immersive culmination of our innovative new music scheme

Southbank Centre's Purcell Room, London

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Inspired by ethnomusicologist and song collector Alan Lomax, Luke Lewis’ The Echoes Return Slow sparks a conversation between distant lost voices and our collective presents. Using special speech transcription software to draw out the natural musical cadences of historic recordings of speech, and map them into melody, this innovative process tells the sometimes sad, sometimes jovial songs and tales of old miners, speaking of national identity, striking for better pay and conditions, unemployment, gender roles, language and culture; all themes as relevant today as they were fifty or a hundred years ago.

Alicia Jane Turner’s Tell me when you get home is a theatrical and sensory piece for solo soprano and ensemble that explores gendered experiences of walking alone at night. The immersive staging, influenced by Turner’s background in sound and lighting design, incorporates elements of patriarchal representations of femininity in mythology and horror to take us on a subversive journey into our fear of the dark.

Each composer will join us on-stage to discuss the musical ideas behind their work, and how they’ve been influenced by issues affecting society today. Luke Lewis will join us for the pre-concert talk at 7pm and Alicia Jane Turner will join us for the post-concert talk.

Two works created on the London Sinfonietta’s Writing the Future composer development scheme. Part of the Southbank Centre's Purcell Sessions.

- suitable for ages 18+
- performance contains three instances of full lighting black out
- contains adult language and content some audiences may find disturbing 
- Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault, violence 

 

Luke Lewis  The Echoes Return Slow (London Sinfonietta commission, world premiere)
Alicia Jane Turner  Tell me when you get home (London Sinfonietta commission, world premiere)

Ella Taylor  soprano
Sian Edwards  conductor
London Sinfonietta

Produced by the London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta's Writing the Future programme is generously supported by Michael and Patricia McLaren-Turner, The Boltini Trust, Jerwood Arts, PRS for Music Foundation, The Stanley Thomas Johnson Music Foundation.
Performance supported by the Southbank Centre
Luke Lewis' work is produced in association with Music Theatre Wales
With the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
The work of the London Sinfonietta is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation.
The London Sinfonietta is a member of ACE's National Portfolio of Organisations and is grateful for the ongoing support it receives
  • Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
It's going to be a very theatrical project, performed by a soprano and small ensemble scattered around the hall, with shifting levels of visibility and large parts performed in the dark - so lighting design is going to be a key part. Alicia Jane Turner
The piece is to be a conversation between distant lost voices of a very particular time and culture. But at the same time, through the compositional choices I make I also want it to be a conversation between the past and our collective present and for this material to shine new light on present-day questions. Luke Lewis

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Read the concert programme

 

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  • £20

    Venue: (view map)

    Purcell Room
    Southbank Centre
    Belvedere Rd
    Lambeth
    London SE1 8XX

    Box Office No:
    02038799555