About two years ago the soprano Elin Manahan Thomas came to me having just worked on another project elsewhere with our composer in residence, Toby Young. She, like I was really taken by his music and his ability to work proactively and inspiringly with the musicians he was writing for. Elin convinced me that the epic story of Beowulf was the right starting point for a collaboration.
Month: July 2017
Beowulf Diary, 12 July 2017, AJ & Chloe from Strictly join us for a dance workshop
We’re working hard on our big creative project of the autumn, a new musical adaptation of the fantasy saga Beowulf. So we were thrilled when Strictly Come Dancing’s newest stars AJ Pritchard and Chloe Hewitt agreed to lead a dance workshop for 15 pupils of St Elizabeth’s Primary School in Coventry. AJ and Chloe reached
Tony Hadley at Oz & Armonico
We’ve just returned from our summer festivals tour of Oz & Armonico Drink to Music which included the privilege of being artists-in-residence at Harrogate Festival and a trip to beautiful Buxton. Our final concert before the summer break was at Lichfield Festival where we found we had a surprise visitor: the Spandau Ballet and I’m A Celebrity star, Tony Hadley, was at the Swinfen Hall Hotel event having recently become a patron of the Lichfield Festival. He thoroughly enjoyed the evening of music, wine and anecdotes.
Beowulf Diary, 4 July 2017, Toby Young, composer
The oldest surviving poem in Old English, Beowulf is a fantasy saga which has inspired countless retellings of the myth, including Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Armonico Consort’s composer-in-residence Toby Young, who has previously worked with the likes of Duran Duran and The Rolling Stones, has set this touching epic drama to music.