Cumbria Music Hub, Orchestras Live and Manchester Camerata are delighted to be able to share the film premiere of Reflections on Wordsworth, a brand new piece of music written by Cumbrian Young Composers and Laura Bowler, inspired by Wordsworth’s poetry and the landscape he lived in.
Encountering Wordsworth, the inclusive large-scale music, poetry and multi-media partnership project created a new piece of music, Reflections on Wordsworth, which was unable to be performed during the 250th anniversary celebrations of the birth of William Wordsworth in 2020 due to the pandemic. We are delighted that the resulting piece ‘Reflections on Wordsworth’ has finally performed by Manchester Camerata; maybe not as originally planned to a large live audience but nevertheless performed live by members of Manchester Camerata, Laura Bowler, Alice Phelps and Alissa Moore.
A year later than planned everyone gathered in Ambleside Parish Church not only to perform together but to celebrate together. The entire performance was captured on film and is now available for a wider audience to enjoy.
Becky West, Regional Producer – North, Orchestras Live reflects:
‘It’s been a testament to the resilience of our partnerships, everyone’s creativity and determination to ensure that the young people were able to complete the creative process that Encountering Wordsworth has been performed at all. While so many creative projects were cancelled or abandoned, our partners rose to the challenge and with immense flexibility, ensured we have this wonderful film to share that completes the creative process begun in autumn 2019.’
In the days before restrictions and social distancing the young composers and children from primary schools and Sandgate School worked with Composer Laura Bowler, Sound Artist Dan Fox, Manchester Camerata musicians and Orchestras Live’s music leader trainee Alice Phelps to compose music inspired by Wordsworth’s Duddon Sonnets and to take field recordings of the environment around Grasmere, close to Wordsworth’s home Dove Cottage.
Everything was on schedule for a performance in April 2020, when along came lockdown. With the new piece of music almost complete, it was agreed amongst the partners to continue with the project – little knowing that it would be a year before musicians could come back together and the composition ‘Reflections on Wordsworth’ could be performed.
With the performance now a film, the project continues to bring people together as organisations across Cumbria offer their support to bring the film to the widest possible audience.
The film, Encountering Wordsworth: Reflections on Wordsworth, is now a developing a programme of live and virtual showing across the county. Current plans include:
- Now until September – The new piece ‘Reflections on Wordsworth’ is being featured in Wordsworth Grasmere’s exhibition ‘Still glides the Stream’: Wordsworth’s Journey Down the River Duddon, an exhibition celebrating Wordsworth’s The River Duddon, a series of 33 sonnets tracing an imaginary walk through the Duddon valley. https://wordsworth.org.uk/exhibition/
- Wednesday 28 July – ‘Reflections on Wordsworth’ will bring to an end an online event celebrating the partnerships and artists that have contributed to ‘Still glides the Stream’. The free event is open to all, tickets can be booked at https://wordsworth.org.uk/event-directory/
- Wednesday 28 July – ‘Reflections on Wordsworth’ will be launched on the Orchestras Live YouTube channel – https://youtu.be/ok_jxG-N5gA
- News of other screening and broadcasts will be released throughout August.
- September – The full-length Encountering Wordsworth film will be broad cast to schools
via Connect: Resound, a pioneering digital music education project, led by youth music charity NYMAZ, to enable more children and young people to receive music-making and enrichment opportunities using online technologies.
Simon Yeo, Cumbria Music Hub
‘Everyone has been so supportive of the work the group has accomplished, that it is likely to be heard and seen by many more people than would have been able to attend the live performance. I am delighted by how the creative sector across Cumbria have offered their time and resources to ensure that the creative efforts of Cumbria’s young people find an audience and their talents recognised.”
