Guildhall School announces more events in free summer season

A mixture of live and pre-recorded events from across all School departments will be broadcast for free via the Summer 2021 pages of the website.

Newly announced highlights include:

• The Drama department presents Gorky’s Barbarians, co-directed by Oliver Dimsdale and Victoria Moseley for Filter Theatre, devised with the Company of Guildhall School.

• Created during the 2021 lockdown, Jonathan Dove’s The Little Green Swallow is transformed from physical to the digital stage, with those involved bringing the production to life from their homes. The School premiered Adam Pollock’s English translation in June 2005, the original creative team reunite for this online version
   
• Guildhall Chamber Music Festival returns with highlights from three days of performances from some of the School’s most accomplished chamber groups and student-professor collaborations, featuring renowned performers from the faculty
   
• Three jazz events: guests bassist Gary Crosby and saxophonist Steve Williamson celebrate the Caribbean influence on British jazz with Guildhall Big Band; Guildhall Jazz Orchestra welcomes three-time Latin Grammy nominee Jovino Santos Neto for a concert of Brazilian music; and Guildhall Jazz Choir, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Singers come together for a joint year-end performance.

Drama

LIVE STREAM

Barbarians

Monday 5 July, 2pm & 7:30pm; Tuesday 6 July, 7:30pm; Wednesday 7 July, 7:30pm

by Maxim Gorky 

translated by Kitty Hunter-Blair and Jeremy Brooks

Co-directed by Oliver Dimsdale and Victoria Moseley for Filter Theatre, devised with the Company

Oliver Dimsdale and Victoria Moseley directors
Amy Jane Cook designer
Lucía Sánchez Roldán lighting designer
Ieva Vaiti composer

A small provincial town is shaken from its lethargy by the imminent arrival of a major railway line. Two railway engineers sweep into the lives of the locals with the force of a gale, challenging stale romances, sour marriages, and the power of local government.

Does the railway represent progress or a grave danger to the local community?

This bold new version of Gorky’s 1906 play is created by Filter, renowned for their original devised work and reimagining of classics texts, together with the Company of Guildhall School.

Opera

The Little Green Swallow

Broadcast from 24 June – 8 July

Music by Jonathan Dove

Libretto adapted from Carlo Gozzi
English singing translation by Adam Pollock

Dominic Wheeler conductor
Martin Lloyd-Evans director
Dick Bird designer
Rory Beaton lighting designer
Anna Reid associate designer

Escape into a fantastical world with Jonathan Dove’s spellbinding chamber opera, offering a story of magic, humour, romance, and drama told through vivacious and heartfelt music, in this online production which was created during the 2021 lockdown.

The production has been transformed from the physical to the digital stage, with the creative team and artists from across the School bringing the productions to life from their homes.

Written in 1994 for the Batignano Opera Festival, The Little Green Swallow is adapted from Carlo Gozzi’s 1765 fable of the same name, L’augellino belverde. It takes place 18 years after the end of another of Gozzi’s stories, perhaps more familiar to opera audiences: The Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev.

Guildhall School premiered Adam Pollock’s English translation of The Little Green Swallow in June 2005 with a production conducted by Dominic Wheeler, directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans and designed by Dick Bird. The trio reunite for this new online version of the opera, bringing Dove’s enchanting work back to audiences once more.

Music

Guildhall Chamber Music Festival

Broadcast from Thursday 22 July

Guildhall’s summer Chamber Music Festival returns with highlights from three days of performances from some of the School’s most accomplished chamber groups and student–professor collaborations, featuring renowned performers from the chamber music faculty.

Offering the chance to enjoy much-loved chamber music repertoire, the festival will include a performance by the Consone Quartet – BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Guildhall School’s current Chamber Music Fellows – plus masterclasses with members of the Endellion String Quartet.

DAWs Open: Electronic Music Student Showcase

Broadcast from Wednesday 30 June, 7:30pm

The spotlight shines on artists from Guildhall School’s Electronic Music department in this online showcase.

DAWs Open – a title referencing ‘digital audio workstation, or DAW’ – will serve to shine a spotlight on the body of work emerging from the School’s Electronic Music department, as well as allowing aspiring music producers (and Electronic Music fans) to gain an insight into the creative processes of artists and producers.

The student-led event will see a diverse line up of performances by students from the School’s Electronic Music department, which hosts a wide range of musical styles and disciplines within electronic and produced music – from Popular Music to Sonic Art.

Jazz

LIVE STREAM

The Caribbean Influence on British Jazz

Tuesday 29 June, Symposium 5pm, Performance 8pm

Guildhall Big Band
Scott Stroman director
Gary Crosby double bass
Steve Williamson saxophones

The post-Second World War wave of immigration from the Caribbean to Britain brought with it a creative group of musicians who would make an important impact on British jazz and contribute to a more multicultural Britain. In this concert the Guildhall Big Band, led by Scott Stroman with guests including bassist Gary Crosby and saxophonist Steve Williamson, explore the music of Jamaican-born alto saxophonist Joe Harriott and the legacies of St Vincent-born trumpeter Shake Keane and Barbadian trumpeter Harry Beckett.

The performance will be preceded by a symposium chaired by University of Liverpool professor Catherine Tackley and featuring Williamson and Crosby; journalist, broadcaster and author Kevin Le Gendre; and trumpeter Gabriel Garrick discussing the influence of Caribbean jazz musicians on the British jazz scene past, present and future.

Guildhall Jazz Orchestra with Jovino Santos Neto

Broadcast from Friday 16 July, 7:30pm

The Guildhall Jazz Orchestra is joined by three-time Latin Grammy nominee Jovino Santos Neto for a concert celebrating Brazilian jazz featuring the music of Hermeto Pascoal and Ivan Linz as well as Santos Neto’s own compositions for big band. Directed by Scott Stroman.

Guildhall Jazz Choir, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Singers

Broadcast from Friday 23 July, 7:30pm

Three of Guildhall School’s jazz vocal ensembles come together for a joint year-end performance and celebration. Join the Guildhall Jazz Singers directed by Scott Stroman, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble directed by Clare Wheeler, and the Jazz Choir guest directed by Kevin Fox to mark the end of the academic year at Guildhall School.

Performance and Creative Enterprise

Guildhall School’s pioneering BA (Hons) Performance and Creative Enterprise (PACE) programme was established in 2015 as a joint initiative between Guildhall and the Barbican with the aim of training visionary, socially engaged, multi-disciplinary, autonomous artists.

Of Shadow and Light

Broadcast 16, 17 & 18 June, 6pm (full details announced)

In Of Shadow and Light – a title inspired by a line from June Jordan’s poem Big City Happening – the graduating PACE class of 2021 present three richly diverse evenings of innovative, poetic and politically resonant performance works.

Following their performance, each artist will be in conversation live from Guildhall with Gilly Roche, Head of Interdisciplinary Practice and Programme Leader for PACE.

Please note some of these student-devised performances contain strong language and adult themes and content.

Elisa Tombazis – Zoey’s Birthday

On the day of her 21st birthday party, Zoey realises she’s not quite ready to be a real adult. But an unexpected guest might just change her mind...

This uplifting dramedy aims to serve as a reminder to be courageous, to take things one step at a time, one day at a time, one bite at a time... and just keep moving. 

Esra Jackson – A Piece of the Universe

A solo performance piece, incorporating music, acting and movement, which hones in on the topic of loneliness and its effects.

Wuraola Atanda – Kaleidoscope

An experimental musical experience aiming to expand the inclusivity of meditative music and make the act of meditating less daunting. It presents conversations like, “what is meditation, and what is meditative music?”

Through this experience, viewers will be encouraged to feel forms of meditation whilst listening on headphones, allowing one to move freely or not in the environment one feels most comfortable.

This performance contains strong language and flashing lights.

Jasperi Wirtanen – Remember the End?

A live performance of Jasperi’s hauntological folk EP, exploring society’s weakness for nostalgia and the danger it brings. Featuring an orchestral backing and theatrical performance, this film is the first in a series from Jasperi of multimedia art exploring wider themes of fascism.

Marlow Mitchell – Queer Tales from Inside Your Closet

A film exploring horror subgenres through a queer perspective, reclaiming monstrousness, isolation, and violence.

This performance contains flashing and strobe lighting, mild body horror, depictions of queerphobia and full-frontal nudity (illustrated).

Riwa Saab – What Will I Tell My Children?

This piece of documentary theatre remembers the summer of 2006 in Lebanon from the perspective of people who were around six years of age at the time. Using performance, verbatim audio and shadow puppetry, the piece asks the question “how can we centre ourselves in the narrative to change the way we talk about politics and break the cycle of generational trauma?”

This performance contains descriptions of war, explosions and themes of suicide.

Nikisha Reyes – Shadows of a Strong Woman

A multimedia project involving music, acting, singing bowls and spoken word, touching on themes of identity, representation and emotional wellbeing.

Directed, produced, and written by Nikisha Reyes, this project features a gospel choir and classical music performances by Guildhall’s African Caribbean Society.

This performance explores themes of mental health, including anxiety around identity, cultural appropriation and isolation.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama is provided by the City of London Corporation.

For further press information please contact:

Rebecca Driver Media Relations
Tel: 07425 151 458
Email: ruth@rdmr.co.uk
Web: www.rdmr.co.uk
 

About Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Guildhall School is a vibrant, international community of musicians, actors and production artists in the heart of the City of London. Ranked as the top UK conservatoire in the Guardian music and drama league tables, we deliver world-class professional training in partnership with distinguished artists, companies and ensembles. A global leader in creative and professional practice, we promote innovation, experiment and research, and are also one of the UK’s leading providers of lifelong learning in the performing arts, offering inspiring training for children, young people, adult learners, and creative and business professionals.