Awake, my soul!

Awake, my soul! from St Mary’s Runwell was livestreamed and can be watched at https://www.facebook.com/WickfordandRunwellCofE/videos/141883318872982.

Awake, my soul! is a unique event combining performances of new sacred music with discussion. Performed by acclaimed violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova, this interactive event features new psalm-inspired works written by an international collection of Jewish and Christian composers. It was curated and produced by Deus Ex Musica with Delvyn Case presenting.

PROGRAMME

• Introduction Delvyn Case
• *My heart within me is desolate (Psalm 143:4) Judith Lang Zaimont
• Why do you bury your face in the pillow? (Psalm 44) Ng Yu Hng
• *Psalm 133 Delvyn Case
• *Ura (Psalm 57) Michel Klein

The performance of each piece was followed by an informal discussion moderated by Delvyn Case.

*These three works appear on SEARCH ME, O GOD, a unique recording that brings together over a dozen world-class composers and performers to explore the psalms through contemporary music. This interfaith and ecumenical project is a collaboration among artists representing Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Available on all streaming platforms, or listen for free at www.deus-ex-musica.com/search-me-o-god.

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Deus ex Musica - Awake, my soul! 

Start of the One Beautiful World Arts Festival

 

There is a feast of The Arts beginning this Friday in Wickford and Runwell with the One Beautiful World' Arts Festival, which has churches in Wickford and Runwell as its venues. Art, collections, dance, music, photography, poetry. Art trails, concerts, exhibitions, performance, readings, talks.

The One Beautiful World Arts Festival includes the following: Art Trail - 20 May; Concerts - Six Hands Together (12 May), Emma-Marie Kabanova (14 May), Yardarm Folk Orchestra (19 May), Festival Music Event (21 May), Simon Law (26 May); Dance - Steven Turner (13 May); Exhibitions - Tim Harrold (12-26 May), George Morl collection (12-14 May), Jackie Burns (16-26 May), Compass Photography (19-20 May), Wickford Christian Centre (25 & 26 May); and a Poetry Reading (20 May).

The Festival begins with the following events:

Friday 12 May, 2.00 – 4.00 pm, St Andrew’s Church - Six Hands Together
An afternoon tea with entertainment from Six Hands Together at St Andrew’s Church and Centre. A retiring collection will be taken.

Friday 12 May 7.00 pm, St Andrew’s Church - Talk: New Town, New Collection
Join British artist and curator George Morl for a talk about their collection as displayed in the exhibition New Town, New Collection. Reflecting on experiences as an artist and through their role as Programme Assistant at Firstsite in Colchester, Morl shares their joy of acquiring art, and motivations for building a collection to share for others. New Town, New Collection features works by contemporary artists such as Grayson Perry, Michael Landy, Elsa James, Madge Gill, Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan, Uma Breakdown, as well as work by Morl.

Saturday 13 May, 4.00 pm, Miracle House: One Beautiful World performance by Steven Turner (Next Step Creative)
The premiere of a new dance, exploring the creation of the world and the science that holds it together. Steven Turner has trained in a variety of dance styles, including contemporary, street, mime and moving with props. He founded Next Step Creative to promote collaboration between dance and other creative arts. Choreographing and teaching for Dance 21 (a dance company for children/young adults with Down’s syndrome), he has taught in Rotterdam and performed in UK and Europe.

Sunday 14 May, 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm, St Mary’s Runwell (Runwell Road, Runwell, Essex SS11 7HS)
A unique event combining performances of new sacred music with discussion. Performed by acclaimed violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova, this interactive event features new psalm-inspired works written by an international collection of Jewish and Christian composers. Curated and produced by Deus Ex Musica.

One Beautiful World is an Arts Festival exploring aspects of our one beautiful world from the creativity of human beings to the beauty of the natural world, while remembering the challenges that human activity poses to the planet. The Festival is a mix of art, dance, music, photography, poetry and spoken word. Churches are providing venues for the Festival events and the Festival has received funding from Essex County Council’s Locality Fund. For more information about the Festival see https://onebeautifulworldfestival.blogspot.com/.

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Emma-Maria Kabonova - Divine Light.

Awake, my soul!

Sunday 14 May, 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm, St Mary’s Runwell (Runwell Road, Runwell, Essex SS11 7HS)
A unique event combining performances of new sacred music with discussion.

Performed by acclaimed violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova, this interactive event features new psalm-inspired works written by an international collection of Jewish and Christian composers.

Curated and produced by Deus Ex Musica.

No ticket required. A retiring collection will be taken.

One Beautiful World is an Arts Festival exploring aspects of our one beautiful world from the creativity of human beings to the beauty of the natural world, while remembering the challenges that human activity poses to the planet. The Festival is a mix of art, dance, music, photography, poetry and spoken word. Churches are providing venues for the Festival events and the Festival has received funding from Essex County Council’s Locality Fund. For more information about the Festival see https://onebeautifulworldfestival.blogspot.com/.

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Emma-Marie Kabanova - Prelude, Hornpipe and Fantasy Pasacaglia.

The Psalms Project

A unique event combining performances of new sacred music with interfaith discussion. Performed by acclaimed violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova, this interactive event features new psalm-inspired works written by an international collection of Jewish and Christian composers. Curated and produced by Deus Ex Musica.

Through a combination of live performances and informal discussions, this event invites listeners to consider the ways these new compositions respond to the Biblical texts that inspired them. What insight into these ancient poems do these works provide for us today? How do they help us experience the psalms in new ways? Can they teach us anything about the spiritual dimension of Scripture? What do they tell us about contemporary sacred music’s ability to contribute to dialogues about faith in our secular society?

Moderated by musician, scholar, and teacher Delvyn Case, this event is open to anyone. No religious background or musical experience is necessary. Attendees may participate in the discussion or simply enjoy the music and the conversation.

Friday 2 September 2022, 19:00 – 21:00 BST, St Andrew's Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN. No tickets required. A retiring collection will be taken. Let us know you're coming by registering at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-psalms-project-tickets-387928995067.

Emma-Marie Kabanova - Violinist

Danish/British violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova completed a Master’s degree at Goldsmith’s College, University of London where she specialized in performance of music by late Soviet composers. She completed further studies in violin performance at the Novosibirsk Conservatory and studied privately with a principal violinist of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in Moscow, Russia.

Formerly based in Moscow, Emma-Marie was a guest Principal with the Moscow Baroque Soloists, performed with Opera Omnia early opera company and was the artistic director of Globus Music baroque ensemble where she created collaborative projects with singers and dancers from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Helikon Opera and the Stanislavsky Theatre. Recent concerts include appearances with the Oxford Alternative Orchestra UK, The National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, and at festivals in the UK, Hungary and Turkey.

Emma-Marie teaches violin and has worked as a classroom music teacher. Between 2007 and 2014 she set up musical education projects working with terminally ill children in Siberia and young offenders in an institution in Moscow. In 2017 was given a ‘Points of Light’ award by the UK Prime Minister for this work. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Emma-Marie found it impossible to stay in Russia and returned to the UK where she has been working as a freelance violinist.

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Emma-Marie Kabanova - Kiss On Wood.

The shaping of space and time by music, instruments and architecture

Rehearsal-Photo Malene Skaerved

Peter Sheppard-Skaerved reflects on the first event of ‘Preludes & Vollenteries’, which took place last night at St Stephen Walbrook:

"An inspiring start to this exploration of 17th Century music, architecture and instruments. There’s so much to discover, but what strikes me most of all, the morning after the event, is the shaping of space and time, that the music, the instruments and the building, in combination demands; and, perhaps most of all, how that develops, deepens, when the space is a listening space-when we (performer and audience) listen to each other, listening to each other, listening to the space. Even in the very centre of London, there’s no limit to how quiet this listening can take the music. For me, a revelation."

‘Preludes & Vollenteries’ is a series of salons inspired by the architecture of the Square Mile, the astonishing churches built and restored in the years after the Great Fire of 1666. Yesterday’s concert brought together music by musicians whose careers flowered in London and works by composer/violinists published in the ‘Square Mile’ at the end of the 17th Century.

Listen to last night's concert by clicking here. The next concert will be 6pm on the 29th September at St Margaret Lothbury.

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Peter Sheppard-Skaerved - Voil Qe'm Digaz Cals Mais Vos Plaz.

PRELUDES & VOLLENTERIES 1

PRELUDES & VOLLENTERIES 1

Thursday 14 September, 6.00pm

St Stephen Walbrook (39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN).

Peter Sheppard Skærved begins his exploration of the 17th Century violin, inspired by the astonishing churches of the Square Mile. This series of salons will explores the dialogue between the great architecture of Wren, Hawksmoor and Hooke, and the work of the violin makers and composers whose instruments and music flooded in the London in the years after the Restoration.

St Stephen Walbrook is one of the most unashamedly Italianate of Wren’s astonishing City churches. It is the perfect space to hear one of the great early 17th Century Cremonese violins, by Girolamo Amati, in a salon programme focussing on the Northern Italian violin style of the 1600s.

Works for solo violin including.

Heinrich Biber – Passacaglia (Mystery Sonata XVI) ‘Guardian Angel, companion of Mankind’ and others by Tomasso Vitali, Giuseppe Torelli, Nicola Matteis, Biagio Marini. Played on a violin by Girolamo Amati (1628)

Plus world premiere: Peter Sheppard Skærved – ‘voil qe’m digaz cals mais vos plaz’ (Lombarda of Toulouse).

Tickets (limited number) available on Eventbrite and on the door, or reservations from ptrshpprdskrvd@aol.com .

Next concert in the Series: Preludes & Vollenteries 2: St Margaret Lothbury, 29th September 2017 6pm.

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Peter Sheppard Skærved - B-Minor Fantasie.