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Refugee

Britten Sinfonia

Allan Clayton

What does it mean to be a refugee, now and through the ages? Turnage’s new song cycle sets texts by poets including Benjamin Zephaniah and Emily Dickinson, performed by peerless tenor Allan Clayton.

The UK premiere of Refugee is performed alongside works by composers that Turnage counts among his major musical influences, including his teacher and mentor, the late Oliver Knussen. The concert opens with Tippett’s five-movement re-imagining of the traditional English tune, ‘Sellinger’s Round’, rich with quotations from music by Gibbons, Purcell, Arne, Field and Sullivan. Allan Clayton returns for Britten’s final song cycle, the evocative Nocturne for tenor, seven solo instruments and strings.

This concert will finish at approximately 9.20pm, including an interval.

Pre-concert talk

Cocktails, concrete and tonnes of charm

Pop into the Martini Bar for a pre-performance tipple, with Happy Hour from 5-6pm

Discover

architecture detail of the barbican hall

Composer Focus – Episode 2: Benjamin Britten with Roderick Williams

In episode two, host Ed Seckerson is joined by baritone and composer Roderick Williams to discuss Benjamin Britten, a complex and often contradictory character, and one of the 20th century’s greatest opera composers.

photo of roderick williams singing

Barbican Sessions: Roderick Williams and Andrew West

 

Filmed in an empty Milton Court Concert Hall, baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Andrew West perform a beautiful rendition of 'An die Nachtigall' by Johanness Brahms.

Milton Court Concert Hall