Moonlight symphony
This Christmas, Bath Abbey will be playing host to a beautiful, cathartic evening of music and movement...
THIS Christmas, Bath Abbey is delighted to present a unique experience - the acclaimed Paraorchestra will be performing the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs in the round, under a magical giant moon created by sculptor Luke Jerram, taking place on Wednesday, December 8 at 7:30pm.
Composed by Henryk Górecki, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs will feature soprano Victoria Oruwari and conductor Charles Hazlewood. The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is a cathartic and haunting piece of music; an astonishing meditation on loss and transcendence. Paraorchestra is the world’s only large scale virtuoso ensemble of professional disabled and nondisabled musicians.
An acclaimed soprano, Nigerian-born and Londonbased Victoria Oruwari has sung at international venues including the Royal Opera House, and the Guildhall London. Her versatile repertoire covers art songs, operatic arias, musical theatre, traditional folksongs and jazz. Her theatre credits include Peachum in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera, and she has also appeared on The One Show and The Last Leg.
The founder of Paraorchestra, conductor Charles Hazlewood leads this harmonic ‘spiritual minimalist’ composition in the splendour of Bath Abbey, which has dramatically opened up following work on the floor, which was in danger of collapse. Charles is an award-winning conductor who has worked with the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Danish Radio Symphony, and the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. He has also worked with a diverse range of artists indlucing Wyclef Jean, Squarepusher and Professor Green. Charles also has three TED talks to his name, and has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
The Bristol-based Paraorchestra are known for creating large-scale, dynamic musical experiences, blending artforms and technology to create innovative new ways of experiencing orchestral music. The orchestra are as at home playing Philip Glass’ Heroes Symphony at one of the Glastonbury main stages or playing Beethoven’s 5th for Sky Arts as they are playing pop tunes through the streets of Bristol or filming a secret gig with Brett Anderson. The ensemble features professional disabled and non-disabled musicians who play a mix of analogue, digital and assistive instruments. Their goal is to radically change who connects with orchestral music, by shifting the perception of disability by removing outdated barriers which too often prevent a showcase of excellence in disabled musicians.
Each of the three movements of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs features a Polish lament, including a message inscribed on the wall of a Gestapo prison cell from a teenage girl to her mother, and a mother’s folk song about her son lost in the Silesian civil war. Sung in Polish, it’s an evocative work that brings both tears and joy, taking audiences on an uplifting journey through grief and solace.
The audience will be able to enjoy a unique, fully immersive experience. The orchestra will be in the centre of the nave, beneath Luke Jerram’s magnificent Museum of the Moon, which will be floating above them. The audience will be free to move around the abbey, observing and listening to the music from different perspectives. Measuring seven metres in diameter and featuring detailed Nasa imagery on its surface, Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon piece has toured all over the world.
Charles Hazlewood said: “After nearly two pretty dreadful and anxiety-ridden years, Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs meets us in the current zeitgeist. You could say ‘let’s have some music to cheer us up, some happy music’, but it’s often more cathartic to experience music that mirrors our mood, not something that tries to change it.
“Górecki’s symphony embodies the most intense form of loss; it’s authentic and visceral, but it also echoes somewhere we may have been in the past couple of years - or perhaps still are - and it’s my hope that it is in this achingly beautiful piece that we may find some solace and comfort.
“And what better place to share this work than Bath Abbey? Deep within this astonishing and magical space, the orchestra will be placed right in the centre of the nave, in a circle, facing inwards. Like all our projects, making orchestral music accessible and presenting it in new and unexpected ways is fundamental. So, the audience will not be seated, and will be licensed – and encouraged - to roam this vast space at will. We want to give audiences deeper agency than they get watching an orchestra on a stage.
“You might approach the back of Victoria Oruwari, the soprano, and all you can see is her torso expanding as she breathes and sings, but then looking across the circle you’ll lock eyes with a cellist and experience a whole new level of intimacy. This audience on the move, with a perpetual sense of movement, I hope will be like a pilgrimage; a walking in witness to the suffering and grief of the world these past many months. And, of course, offering totally different sonic experience depending on where in the space you go.”
For the performance there will be no designated seating, although some will be available and marked out for social distancing. Audience members are encouraged to manage their own safe attendance requirements, but are asked to wear a face mask unless exempt. Keeping a safe distance between themselves and other audience members, musicians and staff is also requested.
Symphony of Sorrowful Songs takes place on Wednesday, December 8 at 7:30pm. Tickets cost £25 (excluding fees), which discounts for students and people under 26m and can be purchased from bathfestivals. org.uk/the-bath-festival/event/ sorrowful-songs, or by calling the Bath Box Office on 01225 4683362.