Vox Holloway a Very Successful Concert for a Very Worthy Cause
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V O X H O L L O W A Y I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H ST LUKE’S CHURCH, WEST HOLLOWAY PRESENTS S O NG S OF EXILEA CONCERT IN AID OF SYRIAN REFUGEES SUNDAY DECEMBER 1ST 2013 7. 3 0 P M S T L U K E’S C H U R C H, WEST HOLLOWAY ST JOHN’S WOOD PRE-PREP WISHES VOX HOLLOWAY A VERY SUCCESSFUL CONCERT FOR A VERY WORTHY CAUSE. COME AND VISIT THIS SUCCESSFUL SMALL & FRIENDLY SCHOOL ON A VIRTUAL TOUR AT WWW.SJWPRE-PREP.ORG.UK Lord’s Roundabout, London NW8 7NE Tel:020 7722 7149 Fax: 20 7586 6093 e-mail: [email protected] www.sjwpre-prep.org.uk Headmistress: Miss Dimitra Louskas M.A P.G.C.E St John’s Wood Pre-Preparatory School Limited. Registered in England No.443290 Registered Office: as above This programme was designed by: Ginny Cooper graphic designer based in north london and a member of vox holloway IDENTITY DESIGN POSTERS AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE WORK, Please contact for more information LOGOS FLyERS T +44 (0) 7789934741 E [email protected] design for print BROCHURES VOX HOLLOWAY SONGS OF EXILE 2 V O X H O L L O W AY in association with St. Luke’s Church, West Holloway presents SONGS OF EXCILE A concert in aid of Hand in Hand for Syria Soloists Clara Sanabras and Reem Kelani The Elysian Quartet Fariborz Kiani Andy Hamill Arash Moradi Fred Thomas Vox Holloway Conductors Justin Butcher and Harvey Brough PROGRAMME First Half Second Half S O N G S O F SPANISH EXILE The world premiere of Adéu, Serra de Montsant Jamie Foyers CRY PALESTINE A new work by Reem Kelani, Absència Scattered Flight Harvey Brough, and Justin Butcher Solo serán Tres Meses Rumba sin Rumbo For Whom the Bell Tolls Havanera del Comiat A NOTE OF THANKS Vox Holloway thanks Dave and Pat Tomlinson and the wardens, PCC, and community of St. Luke’s Church for their generous support; our rehearsal sectional leaders Ruth Melhuish and Matthew Evan Smith; Chris Somes-Charlton of The Miktab Limited; Margaret Obank of the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature; Joanna Harries of The Forge, Jif Thompson for stage management; Ginny Cooper for flyer and programme design; Oscar Cainer for the PA system and sound mixing; Tricia Zipfel; Anna Skalski; Joanna Sholem, our front-of-house and bar volunteers; our anonymous donor; and all of our advertisers and supporters. Cover image from ‘Return of the Soul’ by Jane Frere. Photo by Malcolm Crowthers. VOX HOLLOWAY SONGS OF EXILE 3 VOX HOLLOWAY Director Justin Butcher SOPRANOS Suzy Pearson Mandy Hosking TENORS Annette Riel Jan Logan Mary Atkinson Jörn Janssen Suzanne Rolle Amy MacGibbon Polly Barker Dan Northam-Jones Ilaria Tarasconi Ruth Melhuish Sarah Bennison Mark Reihill Krysia Williams Isobel Mitchell Natalie Canham Phoebe Reith Inga Wolf Naomi Owereh Imogen Cauthery Franky Stephenson Meg Wroe Veronica Pasteur Martha Clarke Philip Woods Maddy Paxman Sheena Cruse Ben Woolford Sarah Schofield Susi Drake ALTOS Jenny Setterington Clarissa Giles Beatrice Addo Joanna Sholem BASSES Natasha Gomperts Lizzy Baird Anna Skalski Tim Bushe Barbara Grender-Jones Marion Chadwick Ruth Skinner Martin McEnery Kathy Grimes Fay Clark Nicolette Spera Matthew Evan Smith Louise Lyon Ginny Cooper Amanda Taylor Roger Stephens Elizabeth McHale Susan Davey Maggie Tomlin Sue McIntosh Mary Egan Jo Tunnard Storm Moncur Perpetual Emovon Geraldine Walder Lucy Northeast Karen Gledhill Chris Wise Elly Ord Polly Heffer Tricia Zipfel Ruth Peacock Janet Henfrey VOX HOLLOWAY SONGS OF EXILE 4 LIVING IN THE AGE OF THE EXILE We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile. Ariel Dorfman The Syrian refugee problem erupted in the spring of and Clara Sanabras’ great-grandfather. Translating as 2011, when the Syrian government used lethal force “Shelter from the scattered flight”, it describes the sentiment in response to anti-government protests. To escape of exile that so many Spanish citizens endured during and the violence, more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees after the Civil War of 1936. Some never returned to their have since fled to neighbouring countries and beyond. homeland and those who did felt estranged for the rest of But far more Syrians have become internal exiles: by their lives. August 2012, the United Nations estimated that about 4 Reem Kelani was born in Manchester to Palestinian parents million Syrians were ‘internally displaced’ (forced to flee and raised in Kuwait, where she was exposed to the music of their homes but still living in Syria) because of the civil the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, East Africa, the Levant and Egypt war. Refugees in all but name, the millions of women, as well as to Jazz. Reem has made a career recording and children and men displaced within Syria receive little or collating folk songs from women in Nazareth, in the refugee no international aid. camps of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and elsewhere in the As one of the few charities currently able to work inside Palestinian Diaspora. She is one of the foremost researchers Syria, Hand in Hand for Syria has been at the forefront of and performers of Palestinian music. “An extraordinary international humanitarian assistance inside the country, musical map of Palestine emerges from her work, more delivering aid to thousands of people across Syria. The vibrant than any historical document.” (The Guardian). Earlier violent conflict has shattered Syria’s health system when the this year, Vox Holloway commissioned Reem, together with need is greatest, so Hand in Hand for Syria is working to Vox Holloway founder and Artistic Director Justin Butcher rebuild the country’s medical infrastructure by establishing and Composer-in-Residence Harvey Brough, to produce a two children’s hospitals and a large general hospital with new work that would combine traditional Palestinian songs seven specialist clinics. Food scarcity is also a growing with new musical settings of modern poems and literature, threat facing people in Syria. Hand in Hand for Syria has telling the Palestinian story through an observation of its responded by reopening bakeries and distributing food hardships as well as a celebration of its culture and history. to tens of thousands of families. Current projects include The resulting work, Cry Palestine, combines new songs opening a textile workshop to provide employment, with fresh arrangements of songs from Reem’s acclaimed and opening a school to get local children back 2006 debut CD, Sprinting Gazelle: Palestinian Songs from into education. the Motherland and the Diaspora. Tonight, Cry Palestine receives its international debut. To support Hand in Hand for Syria’s work, Vox Holloway is tonight performing songs of exile originating from two Along with lots of great music, we also have other ways to other countries with a history of internal conflict, Spain and broaden your cultural experience this evening: Zaytoun has Palestine, and featuring two talented musicians whose roots a range of artisan Palestinian produce to buy, the Banipal are buried deep within those two countries, Clara Sanabras Trust for Arab Literature has Palestinian literature for sale, and Reem Kelani. St Thomas’s Finsbury Park and the North London Mosque are selling crafts, and The Forge, a Camden music and arts Born in France and raised in Barcelona before finallysettling venue that hosts classical, jazz, folk and world music, is in London, Clara Sanabras tonight presents a selection of offering one lucky winner a pair of tickets to a concert of songs from her forthcoming album, Scattered Flight: Songs your choice. Proceeds from these activities will go to Hand of Spanish Exile, which have been arranged for choir and in Hand for Syria. soloist by renowned British composer (and Clara’s partner) Harvey Brough. Songs of Spanish Exile is an elegy to the We hope you find tonight’s exploration of journeys, experience of exile, told in Catalan, Spanish and English. longing and exile an engaging and enlightening Clara sees it as an homage to her Hispanic roots, featuring way to help some of today’s most vulnerable brand new compositions, as well as traditional material displaced people. referencing not only the Civil War but also the Spanish Diaspora of 1492. At the heart of her performance is Clara’s musical setting of “El Recer del Vol Dispers”, a poem by Joan Llongueras (1880-1964) a celebrated Catalan poet, musician, teacher VOX HOLLOWAY SONGS OF EXILE 5 F I R S T H A L F que sento el teu alè en la meva cara i el sabor de tants besos entremig, ¿com és possible que l’absència encara S O N G S O F S P A N I S H no hagi cedit, vençuda pel desig? E X C I L E No pas com l’escultor que espera glòria ans com l’amant que només pensa amor, he refet en una obra transitòria ADÉU, SERRA DE MONTSANT la teva imatge amb afanyós rigor Trad. / Clara Sanabras damunt el marbre dolç de la memòria Adéu Serra de Montsant i amb el cisell blaníssim de l’enyor. Adéu Serra de la Llena I així tu ets meva en la presó secreta Ulldemolins està al pla d’on mai ningú no trobarà el camí, devant Santa Magdalena i de nit, com qui fa una malifeta, Donzelleta agraciada que ni l’àngel mateix no em pot sentir, A quí vos compararé arriba fins a tu, a la quieta A la flor de la perera i en pensament, allò més pur de mi. O a les roses del roser? A la flor de la perera ABSENCE Vos comparo per blancor So deep, so strange, my friend I a les roses del roses Is the distance between sea and continent Vos comparo pel color.