Tickets are now on sale for a new work by internationally acclaimed composer Michael Nyman. His Symphony No.11 Hillsborough Memorial is presented by Liverpool Biennial, in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Liverpool Cathedral.
Michael Nyman’s Symphony No.11 Hillsborough Memorial will be performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with Liverpool-born mezzo soprano Kathryn Rudge and Liverpool Philharmonic Youth and Training Choirs, conducted by Josep Vicent,
The work represents the culmination of Michael Nyman’s thinking around the tragedies connected with Liverpool Football Club. 25 years after the Hillsborough disaster, he says that he hopes it will make a small but significant contribution to the healing process still necessary for the families of the lost fans.
Sais Jayne Garrity of The Liverpool Philharmonic, ‘Families of the 96, and other city and civic representatives will be invited to hear the world premiere performance of Symphony No.11‘Hillsborough Memorial’ in Liverpool Cathedral earlier in the day on Saturday 5 July.’
Symphony No. 11 also restores the work known as Memorial to its original 1985 context (having subsequently become well-known in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover). In this new version for voice and orchestra, Kathryn Rudge will sing the names of the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives, accompanied by music Nyman was recording on the afternoon of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Dean of Liverpool, the Very Revd. Dr. Pete Wilcox, said “One of my first encounters with Liverpool Cathedral was on the day of the Hillsborough Panel Report a few days before I took up my role in September 2012. I was proud that our cathedral was able to provide a place of comfort and support on that difficult day and I believe that our building will be an equally fitting venue for Michael’s symphony. My hope is that the magnificent acoustic and a sense of God’s presence will enable this world renowned composer’s piece to offer us all space to reflect and find a further measure of healing, as the 96, the survivors and their families are remembered. It is poignant that the performance will have the fresh inquests as a backdrop.”
In addition to the live performance of Symphony No.11’Hillsborough Memorial a recording of the symphony will be played in Liverpool Cathedral at 15:06 on the following days:
Wednesday 9 July, Wednesday 23 July, Wednesday 6 August, Monday 25 August, Wednesday 3 September, Wednesday 17 September.
As a separate project for the Liverpool Biennial 2014, Michael Nyman will create a new film installation entitled Aztecs in Liverpool. This is a two-screen video installation featuring still and moving images, including footage collected by Nyman over the past 20 years in his newly-adopted home, Mexico. The title refers to, and the work derives from, the presence in the World Museum in Liverpool of one of the finest Aztec codices, the Codex Fejervary-Mayer. This will be displayed in The Walker Art Gallery.
Performance & Ticket details:
Saturday 5 July 2014
19.30
Tickets: £10 (Book online at www.liverpoolphil.com or call Liverpool Philharmonic Box Office on 0151 709 3789)
