BACKSTAGE WITH…
Conductor Sarah Latto
You are conducting Echo Vocal Ensemble in a very imaginative and eclectic programme in Lancaster on 2 December. How did you choose the programme?
The starting point for it was our new commissions – they were the result of our composition competition, in which we asked for works that either set or were inspired by a poem by Alice Osborn. We had two joint-winners, Rory Wainwright Johnston and Lillie Harris, and we based the rest of the programme around their pieces. It’s all about the climate emergency, and the evening moves from abundance and joy in nature to quite a dark place at the end, finishing with Lillie’s piece, Already Gone.
You take in a wide range of eras and styles along the way…
Echo’s style is to programme without worrying genre and time period. We always do it thematically rather than trying to find works that are, say, all from the 16th century or all from the 20th century or whatever. And it’s always music that we like.
And there’s a strong message behind this programme, too?
It is connected to the predicament that we are in as a planet – when I describe it out loud, it can sound a little depressing! I sometimes consider whether we should do political music and talk about this stuff rather than just be a group of musicians. However, it is happening whether or not we sing about it, so we might as well do just that.
Isn’t there a danger that you might leave the stage to a depressed silence at the end?
We have performed this programme on three previous occasions, and I am pleased to report that, every time, the audience still clapped at the end!
Echo Vocal Ensemble is a very new outfit, isn’t it?
We formed the group in 2017, having met on the Genesis Sixteen young artists scheme. We enjoyed working with each other so much on the scheme that we decided to carry on and make things happen as a group. We have 16 singers in total, and from that number we draw however many we need for each concert. I myself was the conducting scholar on the scheme, which is why I have carried that on from there.