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Vox Holloway in association with St Luke’s Church, West Holloway, presents Thecla A thoroughly modern heroine of the ancient world An oratorio by HARVEY BROUGH Libretto by JAMES RUNCIE Sunday, 8 July 2012, St Luke’s Church, West Holloway Sponsored by Exan Auto Repair Garage and Gelbergs Solicitors. Vox Holloway in association with St. Luke’s Church, West Holloway presents Thecla A thoroughly modern heroine of the ancient world An oratorio by Harvey Brough Libretto by James Runcie And the premiere of Linguis A song by Harvey Brough Words by Tanis Taylor Harvey Brough Conductor Naomi Roper Assistant Director Clara Sanabras Thecla Mark le Brocq Paul Richard Leigh Thamyris Omar Ebrahim Governor/Alexander/Jailor Jaia Sowden Lacerda Theoclia Justin Butcher Narrator HOLLOWAY PLAYERS led by Emma Smith Emma Smith violin Oliver Wilson viola The Partners and Staff at Gelbergs LLP would like Chris Allan cello Joy Smith harp to wish the Vox Holloway Choir every success with Andy Hamill bass Justin Woodward percussion their performance of Harvey Brough’s Thecla. Andy Massey organ Members of THE WANTAGE SILVER BAND Steve Chapman cornet William Young cornet Judith Chapman horn Matt Sanders trombone Steve Sizeland tuba CHRIST CHURCH NW1 CHOIR ST MARY MAGDALENE PRIMARY CHOIR ST LUKE’S YOUTH CHOIR Rehearsal sectional leaders: Luca Kocsmarszky, Ruth Melhuish, and Matthew Smith Continuo Organ by Henk Klop Orgelbouw, Garderen 2007, supplied and tuned by Keith McGowan Vox Holloway would like to thank Gelbergs Solicitors for their continued support of our work. VOX HOLLOWAY If you would like to advertise with Vox Holloway, please email [email protected] Cover image courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 48-10. Cover image reproduced with permission of the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children (Coram) Photo credit: Jamison Miller. Programme design by Hannah Barton Programme design by Hannah Barton A NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER ON THECLA’S fiRST PERFORMANCE ST MARY MAGDALENE PRIMARY CHOIR ST LUKE’S YOUTH CHOIR Directed by David Tubbs & Jack Allinson Directed by Justin Butcher In 2008, James Runcie and I won a commission to write a new work for St Peter and St Paul Parish Church in Wantage, Oxfordshire, and the Thecla story was mooted as a possible subject for the piece. I was intrigued by this: the story of Thecla presents a vivid Ellie Bakari Douglas Alexander picture of the time, but it has a lot to teach us about the time we live in as well. James and I agreed to use the story for the new piece. I Carolina Fahrenkamp Eve Alexander knew that James had the right combination of knowledge, moral judgement and creativity to take the story of Thecla, as documented Elizabeth Fahrenkamp Eleanor Butcher in the Apocrypha, and combine it with some of Paul’s writings from the Bible. This he has done magnificently, lending the story great Tilly Gartan Jacob Butcher credibility (to my mind it reads as convincingly as anything in the Bible) while shining a new light on some of the writings of Paul that Jorja Harris-Noonan Amy Ekeh are much better known. Lilia Kanu Madeleine Napier Alexa Kennedy Sophie Nashashibi When James sent me the finished libretto, he suggested several existing songs and spirituals as a kind of punctuation to the drama Kirsty-Ann Lewis Kaya Ogunsalu of the piece. I liked this idea but wanted the music to be all of one piece. On looking closer at the spirituals he had chosen, I realised I Lydia Lewis Haf Roberts didn’t know the music of any of them, so I wrote my own using the existing words. Maybe that’s a bit cheeky, but in the end I’m glad I Kieron Mugaju Osian Roberts did; if the piece as a whole works then that’s good. If not, then the fault is all mine own. Antonia Thompson-White Matthew Sheldon Emily Whitbread Vincent Stephenson The story of Thecla is about faith in both good and bad ways. Thecla’s faith gives her the courage to upset the established order and Josephine Ward pursue what she thinks is the right spiritual path in the company of Paul. Most everybody else in the piece puts their faith in the way Phoebe Willars things have always been done: a patriarchal system, which Thecla defies. Their faith leads them to whip themselves up into a frenzy and sentence her to a cruel and shocking death, not once, but twice. My personal faith is not Christian. It’s more in the power of a basic good in humanity and in the power of music to unite people and CHRIST CHURCH NW1 CHOIR their differences. But my early musical education was as a chorister, so I have a deep knowledge of Christian music through the ages. Naomi Roper I also have a deep respect for other people’s religious beliefs and I felt that I understood Thecla’s unswerving belief in Paul’s message. Directed by Ultimately, the story of Thecla is about both the transforming power of love and the destructiveness that comes with refusing to be Andi Abdullahi Abel Ayettey open and consider new ideas -- powerful messages that resonate with us today. Nawfal Ajraam Zana Biblekaj Fatama Akhter Jaimee Bossert THANKS FROM VOX HOLLOWAY Tania Akhter Syed Deshmukh We extend our gratitude to Dave and Pat Tomlinson and the wardens, PCC, and community of St Luke’s Church for their generous Phoebe Armstrong Fabiola Duhani support; to our loyal sponsors, whose ads appear in this programme; to our rehearsal sectional leaders, Ruth Melhuish and Matthew Mahfuza Chowdhury Riad Hussain Smith; to the Vox Holloway Committee for keeping things organised; and to our front-of-house and bar staff volunteers. We are Callum Davies Deji Kehinde especially grateful to the leaders of the three youth choirs who are joining us tonight, Jack Allinson, Justin Butcher, Naomi Roper, and Chloe Hayes Gresa Madjuni David Tubbs; to Liz Stanley of Mary Magdalene School; to Sheena Masson of Camden Music Hub; and to all of the fine singers and Idhil Hirsi Brikena Mucaj musicians who join us onstage tonight -- men, women, and children -- and with whom we are both eager and honoured to perform. Tabia Hussain Aleena Paracha Maheema Karim Nayma Romero Pinto Amber Leach Sara Shafique Iyanna Lewis-Cousins Lauren Smith Hall Deshira Madjuni Fernanda Smith Jones SALVINO Sana Touchi Charley Walter Prodotti tipici & vino Italiano Verona Alili Hand made ravioli & pasta, home JUST CHANGE UK made garlic, wild boar & mild …..delicious tea & spices chilli sausages, fresh pizzas, VOX HOLLOWAY sweet & savoury pastries, Directed by Justin Butcher Linking tribal co-operatives in India Italian canola, arancini and with local communities in the UK - SOPRANOS Storm Moncur ALTOS Ruth Melhuish Daniel Northam Jones direct trade that ensures everyone spinach & mozzarella parcels Polly Barker Ruth Peacock Beatrice Addo Jenny Setterington Mark Thorpe makes a living and no-one makes Sarah Bennison Jane Sugarman Janette Ballard Rosie Sheldon a killing! Open 8.30am til 6.30pm Natalie Canham Ilaria Tarasconi Fay Clark Joanna Sholem BASSES Monday to Saturday Barbara Grender-Jones Monica Vincent Susan Daniels Amanda Taylor Frixos Charalambous Contact: [email protected] / 0207 226 5782 Kathy Grimes Carly Weaver Susan Davey Emma Williams Anthony Dunn Elizabeth King Inga Wolf Marina Del Canto Tim Gill 47 Brecknock Road N7 0BT Emma Leigh Meg Wroe Perpetual Emovon TENORS Nicholas Johnson www.justchangeuk.org Tel 020 7267 5305 Rachel Maby Joanna Yeoh Mandy Hosking James Dance Martin McEnery [email protected] Elizabeth McHale Roza Kalnins Crispin Holland Robert Smith Sue McIntosh Shelley Malcolm Jörn Janssen Matthew Smith Amy McGibbon Richard Leigh HARVEY BROUGH composer MARK LE BROCQ Paul, including Escape From Gaza, co-written with Ahmed Masoud TANIS TAYLOR is a writer of and conductor, is one of the UK’s held a choral scholarship at St. and broadcast in January 2010. He is a regular teacher & short stories, childrens books most accomplished and diverse Catharine’s College, Cambridge, director at Drama Studio London. Justin has been Organist and and grown up journalism to pay musicians. Harvey and the and studied at the Royal Academy Choirmaster of St Luke’s, West Holloway, since 1992. the mortgage (The Guardian, Wallbangers had great success of Music with Kenneth Bowen and Psychologies Magazine, The Times, in the 1980s throughout Europe, later at the National Opera Studio. RICHARD LEIGH Thamyris, was Metro, CNN Traveller). She enjoys recording five albums, one He was a Company principal born in Preston, Lancashire and is working collaboratively; for the with Simon Rattle. He worked with the English National Opera studying for his Bachelors Degree book Teach Your Granny to Text with Jocelyn Pook on the music and has made guest appearances in Philosophy and Theology at she worked with 4,386 children for the films Merchant of Venice and Eyes Wide Shut and with Opera Northern Ireland, Garsington Opera, the Aix- Heythrop College, University of and for Linguis she worked with Harvey and Clara as our his television work includes the BBC2 series In a Land of en-Provence Festival, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, London. From age seven he learnt children tried to throw the percussion section down the stairs. Plenty. Harvey’s composition Requiem in Blue (1999) has Chicago Opera Theater, the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, trumpet and piano and sang as a She knows that children are wiser than adults, but does not let been performed more than 40 times all over Europe. Other Opera Holland Park, and many others. Mark has performed boy treble with Hutton Grammar on to her two-year-old daughter.

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