Friday 18 January
Somerville College Oxford
Saturday 19 January
Kings Place London joined by Play for Progress
Download Displaced Voices leaflet Jan 2019
These concerts are the culmination of OSJ’s three-month community engagement project with the Oxford Spires Academy. Four refugee and migrant students from the Academy have worked with composer Toby Young and OSJ’s associate conductor, Cayenna Ponchione, to create orchestral ‘backing tracks’ to spoken word performances of their own poems. The project builds on the award-winning poetry programme at the school developed by author Kate Clanchy. Three additional poems from Clanchy’s edited volume of the students’ poems: England: Poems from a School (Picador), have been set by professional composers for voice and orchestra.
The Kings Place performance will also feature special guests, violinist/singer-songwriter, Alice Zawadski, and the young musicians of Play for Progress. PFP delivers therapeutic and educational music programmes for young people impacted by conflict, to help them avoid isolation and engage with, learn through, and explore their capabilities in music.
