Symphony Hall Birmingham, where Songs of Autumn and Songs of the Skies were premiered
PREMIERES:
Songs of Autumn
13th October 2003
1200 children from Birmingham schools
Instrumentalists from the
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Conductor Jeffrey Skidmore
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Songs of the Skies
3rd
October 2005
1200 children from Birmingham schools
Instrumentalists from the
Central England Ensemble led by Anna Downes
Conductor Andrew Downes
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Songs for the Planet
28th March 2020
Multimedia performance cancelled due to Coronavirus
Meridian Singers, Over Community Choir, St Helen's Primary School Choir, Thordown School choir, Bluntisham
Local Instrumentalists
Conductors Paula Downes and Aggie Peach
Bluntisham Baptist Church, Cambridgeshire
More information and sheet music
Have you performed in this work or come to watch? Please share below!
An account by Andrew's wife and publisher, Cynthia Downes, posted on June 10th, 2021
SONGS OF AUTUMN
More info and sheet music
Front cover of the score with illustration by Cynthia Downes
In 2003 Andrew was approached by Nia Derry Head of Educational projects
at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, to compose songs for a special singing day
for 1000 plus children from schools around Birmingham to take place in
October. Andrew was over the moon to have such a commission fall into
his lap. The choirs were to be accompanied by players from the CBSO and
be conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore. The whole project tied in perfectly
with Andrew's World Music philosophy and the multicultural character of
Birmingham. Andrew chose to set poems from Trinidad, China, India and
Ireland as well as ones closer to home.
The songs:-
1. Autumn: setting of poem by Florence Hoatson (the arrival of Autumn)
2.
Carnival: setting of traditional poem from Trinidad (tropical weather,
monsoon, hurricanes, general excitement, World Beat and Sea Festivals)
3. The Mid Autumn Moon: setting of poem (adapted) by Li Qiao (China: Moon Festival)
4.
The Cottager and her Infant: setting of poem by Dorothy Wordsworth
(Celtic Europe: ‘Samhain’ - Hallowe’en, damp and misty, darkness coming)
5. Feast of Lights: setting of poem by Gouri V. Kalambi (India: ‘Navratri - festival time - ‘Diwali’)
6. Autumn Song: setting of poem by Margaret Rose (the end of Autumn)
Andrew
made a backing track of synthesized sounds with Paula singing the vocal
lines, which we sent around the schools so that the children could
learn their parts.
The songs were first performed on 13th
October 2003 by 1200 children from Birmingham schools, with
instrumentalists from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore.
Symphony Hall brochure
Email from Nia Derry, Head of Educational projects
at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, following the premiere
Subsequent performers of the work include children from Lichfield
schools, conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore, at the Lichfield Festival in
July 2004:
Lichfield Festival programme 2004
Choristers and instrumentalists from South Hampstead High School for
Girls (London), conducted by Paula Downes, in November 2003 performed 4 songs and
November 2004 3 songs:
Programme for South Hampstead High School for girls choral concert, 2003
Birmingham schoolchildren with the Central
England Ensemble, conducted by David Gaukroger, sang the whole work in Symphony Hall,
Birmingham, in November 2004.
The Meridian Singers in 2019, directed
by Paula Downes, gave the following performances:
in June 2019 in St.John the
Baptist Church, Holywell, Cambridgeshire (Song 2: Carnival); in July
2019 in Bluntisham Baptist Church, Cambridgeshire (Song 2: Carnival) and
a performance of the whole work in October 2019 in Somersham Baptist
Church. At the Somersham performance of the whole work, Paula directed
from the violin and was accompanied by Joshua Cusworth (trumpet), David
Cammish (bass guitar) and Olga Elbourn (keyboard).
The first USA performance was given by children in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directed by Paula.
In
June 2016, Paula created six animations based on Songs of Autumn. She
then went on to create lesson plans for primary school teachers based on
these songs.
During Andrew Downes' 70th birthday year, on 14th November 2020, the Feast of Lights animation was shared online for Diwali.
Instrumental
arrangements, by me, of the songs, have been performed on numerous
occasions by instrumentalists in Worcestershire. Song no.4, The Cottager
and her Infant, in its instrumental arrangement, was performed by the
Hagley Community Orchestra, conducted by me, at the Christening of our
grandson, Oscar Andrew Leonard Price, in St Saviour's Church, Hagley, on
March 18th, 2007.
SONGS OF THE SKIES
More info and sheet music
Songs of the Skies: Celebrating British Airways in Europe.
For children and/or community choir with Chamber Orchestra or backing track.
Poetry by schoolchildren coached by Julie Boden.
Commissioned by Symphony Hall, Birmingham, with
financial assistance from British Airways, for first performance on 3rd
October 2005, by over a thousand children from Birmingham schools, with
Central England Ensemble (Leader Anna Downes), conducted by the
composer.
Following
the success of his Songs of Autumn, Andrew received another commission
from Symphony Hall, Birmingham, this time in collaboration with British
Airways in Birmingham, who employed Symphony Hall Poet in Residence,
Julie Boden, to coach Birmingham school children to write the words.
Singers
from Birmingham schools were to be accompanied by Central England
Ensemble, led by our daughter Anna and conducted by Andrew.
Again
Andrew made a backing track of synthesized sounds and Paula sang the words on the
CD, so that the children had a model to rehearse with.
I led the
violas in the concert. During the rehearsal the performers, at Andrew's
instigation, all sang Happy Birthday to me. I certainly had a Birthday
to remember that year! As with Songs of Autumn, the Songs of the Skies
went amazingly well.
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Symphony Hall Programme
Notes by Andrew Downes for his speech before the concert
Paula Downes directed subsequent performances of Songs 1, 2
and 4 at Linnaen Community School, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA, in
April 2006, and all 6 songs at Haileybury College, Hertford Heath, UK, in March
2010.
In May 2016, Paula
created six animations based on Songs of the Skies, which she launched
on YouTube. She then went on to create lesson plans
for primary school teachers based on these songs.
In June and October 2019, she directed The Meridian Singers in a
performance of Song 4 at the Patronal Festival in St John the Baptist
Church, Holywell, Cambridgeshire, followed by a performance of the whole
work in Bluntisham Baptist Church, Cambridge. For this performance, Paula created a multimedia performance with her videos on a big screen behind the choir and accompanying live instrumentalists also played: Paul &
Isabelle Galluzzo (violins), Amy Galluzzo (viola), Claire Stevenson
(cello), Rhys Wilson (guitar), David Camish (bass guitar), Bradley
Galluzzo (drum kit) and Olga Elbourn (keyboard).
Meridian Singers Concert Programme
In 2018/19 she
created adaptations of these songs & animations for Dr Hugh Hunt's
campaign to warn people of global warming and advocate drastic reduction
of travel by air and by car, and also to convey the messages that we
should reduce our plastic & food waste. She called these adaptations "Songs for the Planet".
She has also created a series of lesson resources on Climate
Change for all ages based on these songs and animations here.
6 songs:-
1. Lift your Eyes up to the Skies (Climate Change version: "We need to stop flying")
2. We are Flying Out to Elmdon (Climate Change version: "Avoiding the car")
3.
Ghazal of Italy: Milan and Rome (Climate Change Version: "Zero Waste
Shopping") See "The Sacred Influences on the Music of Andrew Downes" regarding this song
4. In Barcelona (Climate Change version: "Reducing Plastic Waste")
5. Où est Lyon? (Climate Change version: "Reducing Food Waste")
6. Questioning the Clouds (Climate Change Version: "We all need to talk")
A backing track with synthesised sounds and vocal parts added by Paula Downes,
soprano, was made available for use by schools.
SONGS FOR THE
PLANET
Songs about Climate Change
More info and sheet music
From the original Songs of the Skies,
first shared online in 2018/19, Paula created adaptations of these songs and
animations for Dr Hugh Hunt's campaign to warn people of global warming
and advocate drastic reduction of travel by air and by car, and also to
convey the messages that we should reduce our plastic and food waste and
that we should talk about it. View Climate Change videos here. She has
also created a series of lesson resources on Climate Change for all ages
based on these songs and animations here.
6 songs:-
1. "We need to
stop flying"
2. "Avoiding the car"
3. "Zero Waste Shopping"
4. "Reducing
Plastic Waste"
5. "Reducing Food Waste"
6. "We all need to talk"
On March 28th, 2020, Paula was going to conduct a live multimedia performance of Songs for the Planet with Meridian Singers in Bluntisham Baptist Church, Cambridgeshire, with the choirs of St Helen's Primary and Thorndown School and Over Community Choir, directed by Aggie Peach. Paula's films were going to be shown on a screen while the singers sang along to the backing track and live instrumentalists. This sadly had to be cancelled due to Coronavirus.
Poster for Meridian Singers' Concert
On
3rd July 2020 Paula shared "We need to stop flying" online during the
Coronavirus pandemic and Andrew’s 70th birthday year.
On October 24th
2020, as part of Andrew’s 70th birthday year, she posted online a new multitrack recording
of all of the Songs for the Planet, with synthesised sounds by Martin
Carman, a member of the Meridian Singers, and string playing and singing
by Paula.
C2
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