Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Psappha Ensemble:
Benedict Holland - violin
Jennifer Langridge - cello
Tim Williams - cimbalom
Stephen Barlow - conductor
Claire Wild - soprano
In 'Unheard Voices', four composers collaborated with poets whose performing voices reveal diverse spoken accents and varieties of spoken English, to write songs that enable the huge diversity of varieties of English to be heard through the classical singing voice.
This performance was recorded live at Hallé St Peter's in Manchester (UK) on 25th March 2021. To view the 4K version we recommend you use Google Chrome or the Firefox browser. The performance took place during the Covid-19 pandemic and was live-streamed without an audience.
Premiered by Psappha as part of 'Unheard Voices', a project supported by the University of Salford, Arts Council England, and Psappha.
Learn more about Psappha: psappha.com
Film Production
Cameras - Soup Collective
Audio & Mastering - Rob Kelledy
Film produced and edited by Tim Williams
--------
Volunteer (Words by Louise Wallwein / Music by David Nunn)
Louise Wallwein wrote the starkly candid poem 'Volunteer' in 2015, while volunteering with Kos Solidarity. In the music, the word-setting brings out Louise’s Mancunian accent as she narrates some of her experiences in Kos. Throughout the piece, the interaction between violin and cello hints at the feeling of a rocking boat – this steady rocking is juxtaposed against the urgent call of a person in crisis. As the soprano navigates the narrative, she switches between the personas of refugee and volunteer. The music here is hazy, cloudy, unfocussed. Five times over the course of the piece, the narrator shares their frustration with the media for clouding over the true extent of the crisis – 'tell me the truth for a change'. Gradually the anger galvanises the music. At the apex of the piece, the refugee and the volunteer join together in the words of 'Manchester United' – momentarily escaping the refugee camp and finding solace in common ground. The music settles into a mantra; obsessive, revolving around itself – 'there is no them and us / there is only us.'
David Nunn
Learn more about Louise Wallwein - louisewallwein.com/about
Learn more about David Nunn - davidnunnmusic.com
Psappha Ensemble:
Benedict Holland - violin
Jennifer Langridge - cello
Tim Williams - cimbalom
Stephen Barlow - conductor
Claire Wild - soprano
In 'Unheard Voices', four composers collaborated with poets whose performing voices reveal diverse spoken accents and varieties of spoken English, to write songs that enable the huge diversity of varieties of English to be heard through the classical singing voice.
This performance was recorded live at Hallé St Peter's in Manchester (UK) on 25th March 2021. To view the 4K version we recommend you use Google Chrome or the Firefox browser. The performance took place during the Covid-19 pandemic and was live-streamed without an audience.
Premiered by Psappha as part of 'Unheard Voices', a project supported by the University of Salford, Arts Council England, and Psappha.
Learn more about Psappha: psappha.com
Film Production
Cameras - Soup Collective
Audio & Mastering - Rob Kelledy
Film produced and edited by Tim Williams
--------
Volunteer (Words by Louise Wallwein / Music by David Nunn)
Louise Wallwein wrote the starkly candid poem 'Volunteer' in 2015, while volunteering with Kos Solidarity. In the music, the word-setting brings out Louise’s Mancunian accent as she narrates some of her experiences in Kos. Throughout the piece, the interaction between violin and cello hints at the feeling of a rocking boat – this steady rocking is juxtaposed against the urgent call of a person in crisis. As the soprano navigates the narrative, she switches between the personas of refugee and volunteer. The music here is hazy, cloudy, unfocussed. Five times over the course of the piece, the narrator shares their frustration with the media for clouding over the true extent of the crisis – 'tell me the truth for a change'. Gradually the anger galvanises the music. At the apex of the piece, the refugee and the volunteer join together in the words of 'Manchester United' – momentarily escaping the refugee camp and finding solace in common ground. The music settles into a mantra; obsessive, revolving around itself – 'there is no them and us / there is only us.'
David Nunn
Learn more about Louise Wallwein - louisewallwein.com/about
Learn more about David Nunn - davidnunnmusic.com
