Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo
By Cecilia McDowall with James Day, The Foundation Scholars Choir, Adult Choir.
Join us for an extraordinary evening hearing the Pimlico Musical Foundation Adult Choir, joined with the Foundation Scholars and Children’s Choir sing Cecilia McDowall’s Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo. We will also be joined by esteemed Syrian musicians. More details to be released soon.
The evening will be full of Syrian themed food and drinks, followed by a concert of approximately 1 hour.
About the piece
Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo tells the extraordinary story of Nujeen Mustafa, a Kurdish teenager with cerebral palsy forced by war to flee her home and embark on an arduous journey to Europe with her sister. In this five-movement cantata Nujeen’s story – recounted in her biography ‘The Girl from Aleppo’ (co-authored by Christina Lamb) – is retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland and richly scored by Cecilia McDowall. A wealth of musical effects are employed to capture the narrative, including chorales, rhythmic spoken sections, body percussion, and a solo violin part infused with Middle Eastern flavours. The prevailing mood of Nujeen’s story is embodied by the final line of a chorale that bookends this unique concert work: ‘singing the song of life itself.’
Reviews:
‘Cecilia McDowall has won a reputation as a leading composer of choral music and her extensive catalogue contains many distinguished examples. The emotional heft of this story has clearly inspired her to produce one of her most striking scores for the medium.’
Tempo
‘McDowall has long had a special gift for choral writing, and here she resourcefully combines upper voices with an SATB chorus . . . in settings of Kevin Crossley-Holland’s text narrating the journey of two sisters (one pushing the other in a wheelchair) across the miles from Syria to asylum in Germany . . . The music bursts with compassion.’
The Birmingham Post
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An evening of Syrian food and drinks followed by a concert of Cecilia McDowall’s Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo and performances from The London Syrian Ensemble.
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Tuesday 5th July 2022 at 6:15-8:00pm
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St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico
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Adults £10
Concessions/Children £7
If you feel you cannot afford the cost of the tickets, please email hello@pimlicomusicalfoundation.org.uk