Echo Vocal Ensemble visit Edinburgh for the first time in a concert celebrating new and old choral music from Britain.

The performance features little known but stunning music by 17th century composer Robert Ramsey, juxtaposed by pieces by contemporary Scottish and English composers, all presented in Echo’s unique style. Alongside music spanning 400 years, expect improvisation, folksong and an innovative approach to performance from one of the UK’s most exciting new groups.

"The sound experience was incredible - I don't think I've ever heard anything like it”

Programme to include:

When David Heard - Robert Ramsey (1590s – 1644)
Sleep, fleshly birth - Robert Ramsey
When David Heard - Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)
How still and peaceful - Lucy Whitehead
Wilt thou unkind now leave me sleeping - Robert Ramsey
How are the mighty fallen - Robert Ramsey
Anthem to St Andrew - Alexander McNamee

Conductor Sarah Latto

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Dead Cat Bounce — an oratorio about finance and catastrophe | Book tickets here

A collaboration between Gary Zhexi Zhang and Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen and James Oldham) at Eastside Projects Gallery

Dead Cat Bounce explores financial alchemy and the unmaking of reality in the time of catastrophe. Staged within a sculptural installation, the performance takes the form of an oratorio, a mode of baroque performance in which instruments and voice are used to tell a sacred narrative.

The piece unfolds over five vignettes, blurring the lines between capitalism and ritual, finance and nature, belief and manifestation. In China, five hitmen arrive in court to discover that they have each subcontracted another to kill the same real estate developer. In Geneva, thirty virgins are having their teeth checked in order to secure the mounting debts of Louis XVI. In Miami, an insurance broker drafts a contract for apartments already halfway underwater. In Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah is weeping, again.In earthquake-struck Edo, workers pay tribute to the namazu, the catfish deity, as they survey the sunlit ruins of the city.

Musically, the work draws loosely on Jomelli’s Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, interpreted through Waste Paper Opera’s approach bringing together the absurd with the sacred, improvisatory elements and scored material. 

Dwelling in the strange light of speculative times, Dead Cat Bounce is a story of unpayable debts, entangled histories and repeated jokes. 

Over the course of 2024 Dead Cat bounce will tour to Eastside Projects (Birmingham), Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham) and Arts Catalyst (Sheffield), with the collaboration of Radar Loughborough and Birmingham Opera Company. The work was commissioned by Arts Catalyst (Sheffield) and Medialab Matadero (Madrid) in 2022. It was developed at London Performance Studios and Wysing Arts Centre, and premiered at Somerset House.

Dead Cat Bounce is supported by Arts Council England, Marchus Trust, Hinrichsen Foundation, Birmingham Opera Company.

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GABRIELLA LIANDU @ HOCKEY SOCIAL CLUB

Friday 1st March / 8pm / Free Entry

This Friday Amplify Sounds will be bringing Gabriella Liandu to @hockleysocialclub performing alongside Ben Goodman Church on keys.

Come join us for a night of great music, food & drinks in one of Birminghams coolest venues.

Gabriella is a Zambian-Scottish singer and creative, whose voice and stage presence make every show with her a special occasion.

Originally trained in Opera the Mezzo-Soprano has a beautifully distinct clarity to her voice. After studying Opera Gabriella found her passion extended to Jazz, leading to the singer frequently performing original pieces and world class favourites.”

Gabriella Liandu (alto) joins Ex Cathedra as one of the soloists in their upcoming concert performance of Handel’s Messiah

Running time: approx. 2 hours 45 minutes.
There will be a 20-minute interval after Part 1, and a short pause between Parts 2 & 3.

More info and tickets here

Gabriella joins as the soloist for Will Todd’s MASS IN BLUE with Notorious choir and David Austen Grey Quartet

More info and tickets here

A collaborative performance work by Somerset House Studios resident Gary Zhexi Zhang and Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen and James Oldham), telling tales of time, money and the unmaking of reality in the wake of catastrophe. 

Performers:
Gabriella Liandu – Mezzo-soprano 
Meili Li – Countertenor 
Geoff Clapham – Baritone 
Louis D’Heurdieres – Synths, Electronics, guitar 
Sarah Farmer – Violin 
Chihiro Ono – Viola 
Aaron Diaz – Trumpet, Sousaphone 
with Waste Paper Opera chorus

The piece unfolds over five vignettes, blurring the lines between capitalism and ritual, finance and nature, belief and manifestation […] Read more here

The original score merges the Baroque music of Niccolò Jommelli and Johann Sebastian Bach with mimetic improvisation, choral rounds, synthpop and the textures of public speaking. Dead Cat Bounce takes the form of an oratorio, a medium of vocal performance used to deliver a sacred narrative.

Dead Cat Bounce was commissioned by Arts Catalyst, with support from Medialab-Matadero. Its development was supported by Wysing Arts Centre and London Performance Studio .

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Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
Rupert Jeffcoat organ
Lucy Russell violin
Gabriella Liandu mezzo-soprano
with refugee communities & schools in Coventry part of Coventry City of Culture

A multidimensional work written for choir, children’s choir, mezzo-soprano soloist, organ/piano and refugee groups, threaded through with music for solo violin/Hardanger fiddle including transcriptions of Arabic music from composer/explorer David Fanshawe's archive. The 100-minute requiem mass was commissioned by Ex Cathedra for Coventry’s City of Culture.

This powerful, emotional piece brings different communities and artforms together - within the framework of a Requiem - in response to the human tragedy of war and displacement, and celebrates those who offer refuge and hope.

Using the themes of war, displacement, sanctuary and hope, the composer created space within the work for refugee groups to perform their own contributions of poetry, music and songs.

Coventry is one of the leading cities for the resettlement of refugees, and this performance in Coventry Cathedral – next to the bombed ruins of the old building – promises to be a particularly poignant moment during its City of Culture year.

UPDATE: This piece has since won an Ivor Novello Award for the Community and Participation Category, presented in association with ABRSM at the 2022 Ivors Composer Awards. The jury called the work “an artistically ambitious and emotionally compelling work that is firmly rooted in the contributions of the participants” and “evocative music with a purpose and meaningful sense of engagement.”

On Sunday 5th Dec, Gabriella will be the soloist for Liz Dilnot Johnson’s ‘I stand at the door’ cantata. This premiere will feature as part of Ex Cathedra’s Sleeper’s Awake programme

‘Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.’ Words by Greta Thunberg, Kurt Masur and David Hart inspire Liz Dilnot Johnson’s love song to the planet.

Programme to include:

J.S Bach - Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme 
J.S Bach - Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
Liz Dilnot Johnson - I Stand at the Door (Soloist: Gabriella Liandu)

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We are delighted to present two audiovisual commissions inspired by films from our music strand, Setting Pace. The musicians selected are Nova Scotia The Truth and Gabriella Liandu. Join us in celebrating these two young Black female artists, enjoy the world premieres of both pieces, and hear about their creative process.

Gabriella’s new creative piece ‘Sonder’ will be premiering Friday 22nd Oct at Africa In Motion Film Festival

Join Gabriella, alongside the very talented Nova Scotia the Truth on Friday at 7pm for the INNER VISIONS exclusive Africa in Motion Music Commissions Premier, curated by Josh Kilimanjaro, where Nova and Gabriella will talk about their pieces, what inspired the process and screen both films with a Q&A.

Tickets are FREE - sign up is required.

https://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/2021-festival/programme/event/744/

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This summer, Gabriella joins the creative team for the Vache Baroque Festival to work alongside Suzzie Vango in leading the Vache Baroque 2021 Children’s Choir for the opening event of their Summer Festival

Extracts from Milton's Paradise poems punctuated by the music of J. S. Bach

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Conductor Kirill Karabits | Assistant Conductor Anthony Kraus | Director Geertje Boeden

Chorus from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Trinity Laban

In these concert performances of Elektra’s Strauss, with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the titular character will be sung by Catherine Foster. It will be performed in the Lighthouse in Poole on the 18th March, followed by a performance in Birmingham Symphony Hall on the 21st March.

Agamemnon the king is dead: murdered by his own wife. Crazy with hatred and horror, their daughter Elektra stalks the palace, brooding on the day when she will take bloody revenge. Richard Strauss’s Elektra turns Greek myth into a shattering psychological thriller, set to music powerful enough to shake the walls. With a world-class cast, this sequel to their 2015 performance of Strauss’s Salomé should be an electrifying showcase for Kirill Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

See below for more info

Poole, 18th March

Birmingham, 21st March

https://www.thsh.co.uk/event/bc-2019-20-bournemouth-symphony-orchestra

update: Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, these performances have been cancelled.

A showcase of classical music derived from Latin America wed to modern and classic Jazz infused song, with an overarching Bossa Nova vibe. An evening where two worlds meet, together side by side.

Gabriella Liandu is a singer in her final year on the Vocal & Operatic course at RBC. For her 4th year Major Project she showcases 'Juntos a la Par'; a jazz-classical crossover featuring a number of spicy Latin Jazz tunes by Antônio Carlos Jobim and a selection of Spanish Song from Manuel De Falla's 'Siete Canciones Españolas'.

In this unique Students Presents night, Gabriella is joined by musicians from the Percussion, Guitar and Jazz departments for what promises to be an exciting evening of Brazilian and Spanish flare.

*THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT*