News

Our monthly round-up of some of the successes for Trinity Laban alumni.

Soprano Héloïse Werner was a guest on BBC R3’s This Classical Life podcast, sharing her listening recommendations and discussing her work with host Jess Gillam. Werner is a founding member of contemporary music ensemble The Hermes Experiment which recently won the Royal Over-Seas League Competition (ROSL) for Mixed Ensembles. The group was awarded £10,000 and performed at the ROSL Gold Medal Final at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Alumnus Jeff Wayne’s 1978 album The War of the Worlds, which has sold over 16 million copies to date, has inspired a new interactive show, The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience. Described in The Metro as ‘part haunted house, part escape room and part interactive performance’, it occupies an underground labyrinth near The Bank of England and features virtual reality headsets, binaural audio and new music composed by Jeff Wayne.

Composition alumnus Soumik Datta hosted Rhythms of India, a three-part television series aired on BBC4 in which he travelled around India, exploring its diverse cultural history through music.

Singer Terry Barber, who graduated from Trinity Laban’s Historically Informed Performance Masters course, released a new album, Mercury – Reimagined, in honour of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s origins. Barber commented,

“Freddie was born in Zanzibar and attended boarding school in Panchgani, India. In this concept recording, it is my intention not only to deliver his art with flamboyance and bravado … but also to include African and Indian elements like oud, sitar and other non-western instruments to enhance the musical landscape.”

Starting in July, Barber will tour the USA with his show MERCURY, a full-on narrative rock-and-roll tribute show.

Two of our Musical Theatre alumni, Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy and Matthew Elliot-Campbell, were announced as new ensemble cast members for the UK and Ireland tour of The Lion King: The Musical.

Dance alumnus Martina Conti’s exhibition, Exercises for a Polluted Mind, is being shown at various venues in Italy and San Marino. The exhibition comprises photo, audio and video material of a series of choreographic exercises and somatic techniques performed by Councillors from varying political backgrounds outside the San Marino Public Palace Council Hall before parliamentary sessions. Conti commented –

“By inviting the political class to be personally and physically involved in an artistic project, I hope to make listening to and working on the body into a political act.”

Exercises for a Polluted Mind is being shown at the Museo MAGA in Gallarate, Italy, the 58^th Venice Biennale’s Republic of San Marino pavilion and at the National Gallery of San Marino.

Alumnus Thomas Page’s company, Thomas Page Dances,  performed as part of the Offbeat Festival 2019 in Oxford, presenting ‘an intimate duet exploring what it was to be gay in the 1980s in response to Bren Gosling’s play, Moment of Grace.’

Fairytales, a Latin and ballroom-inspired show at Sadler’s Wells, featured works choreographed by alumnus Ivana Ostrowski. She brought together disabled and non-disabled artists to tell stories through dynamic, captivating dance.

Transitions Dance Company alumni Paola Drera and Meilir Osian have both been selected to take part in Laboratori with National Dance Company Wales, working with independent dance artists in Wales to test new choreographic ideas. The programme is mentored, among others, by fellow alumnus Lea Anderson.

Elliott Morris, a 2019 recipient of the Jake Yolanda Award grant and alumnus of Trinity Laban’s certificated The Practice of Music-Making course, released his second album, The Way is Clear, on the Dominoes Club Records label. The album, blending folk, pop and rock and featuring Morris’ ‘strong, honest vocals’ and ‘expert percussive acoustic guitar playing’, was launched at an event at Cecil Sharp House in London.

Jazz saxophone alumnus Nubya Garcia was named ‘the next big thing in jazz’ by Red Bull who featured her in a video for their See. Hear. Now series. She gave an exclusive performance with fellow alumni Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Joe Armon-Jones (keyboard), Daniel Casimir (bass) and Femi Koleoso (drums). Meanwhile, another saxophone alumnus, Leo Richardson, played with his quartet at Rochester International Jazz Festival, NY. His group is poised to release its second album.

Afrobeat group Kokoroko played on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury Festival 2019 and were featured on the BBC2 television coverage. The band features alumni Sheila Maurice-Grey, Cassie Kinoshi and Oscar Jerome.

Violinist Harriet Mackenzie gave a performance at the Festival of Chichester with Celoniatus Ensemble, a group she formed during her fellowship at Trinity Laban. She performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and an evocative work by Canadian composer Emily Doolittle, inspired by birds. And in Manchester, piano alumnus Iyad Sughayer performed Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto as soloist with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

DON’T MISS

Together, Not the Same
WED 17 JUL 19.30
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Rosebery Avenue,
London EC1R 4TN
£12

Sadlers Wells Young Associate and former Transitions Dance Company member Wilhelmina Ojanen presents new work LAND as part of this evening of dance that disrupts the traditional mixed bill format. The work will be performed by dance alumni Theo Arran, Coral Montejano Cantoral, Miia Mäkilä and Gil Ratcliffe with music composed by alumnus Andrew Marriott.

 

Don Perera Guitar Concert
FRI 19 JUL 19.30
York House Centre, London Road, Stony Stratford,
Buckinghamshire MK11 1JQ
£8, £5