City of London Sinfonia – These Memories May Be True
Tue 10 Nov, 7pm£13.50 – £28.00 full price | £11.00 – £25.50 concession
Running time: 75 minutes, no interval
These Memories May Be True is an evening of music where City of London Sinfonia invites us to consider belonging, memories of home, and the places we all carry inside us.
This concert was born from two years of conversations in a community kitchen, between musicians and people who are seeking asylum in the UK, about the memories of people, places and lives they had left behind. Scents and sounds so evocative and distinct that they conjure us through time, space and memory to a particular place.
The musical programme moves across continents, borders and centuries. Reena Esmail writes from the meeting-point of Indian and Western classical traditions. Bushra el-Turk draws on her Lebanese heritage. Lembit Beecher distils an Estonian grandmother into five luminous minutes of string quartet. Piazzolla evokes Buenos Aires in a single, heartbroken melody. Vaughan Williams reaches into the English folk tradition for something ancient and aching. And Copland’s Appalachian Spring distils an entire American spirit; pioneering, optimistic and alive with hope.
It feels fitting that this evening takes place at Wilton’s Music Hall, off Cable Street; a place with its own deep history of community, resistance and refuge.
With a performance interweaving orchestral music with words and stories, this is an evening that asks what binds us to a place — and to each other.
Musicians – City of London Sinfonia
Alexandra Wood – CLS Creative Director and Leader
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City of London Sinfonia (CLS), founded in 1971 by Richard Hickox, has always been driven by curiosity and experimentation, commissioning bold new works and championing choral storytelling. Today, that spirit continues through our five-year strategy ‘Music and…’, which sees orchestral music as a way to reach more people, tell bigger stories, and create deeper impact through world-class performance, cross-art form collaborations, and community partnerships.
Winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Impact Award, CLS brings music to life in concert halls, hospitals, care homes, and refugee centres, creating connection, joy, and wonder both on and off the stage.
Alexandra Wood graduated from Cambridge and was President Emerita Scholar and Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music, studying with Itzhak Rashkovsky.
As a concerto soloist she has performed with City of London Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Philharmonic, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) and has premiered concertos written specially for her by Hugh Wood (2009) and Charlotte Bray (2010). Leader and Creative Director of CLS, and Leader of Aurora Orchestra, she regularly guest leads other ensembles (RPO, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BCMG, London Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players) and has collaborated with chamber groups such as The Schubert Ensemble, Endymion, and Callino Quartet.
Her discography includes Chimera – a disc of contemporary works with pianist Huw Watkins – as well as solo works by Oliver Knussen and Charlotte Bray for NMC.
She plays a violin made by Nicolò Gagliano in 1767, purchased with assistance from the Countess of Munster Trust, Abbado Young Musicians’ Trust, and Loan Fund for Musical Instruments.
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