THE REFUGEE ORCHESTRA PROJECT
A one-off concert in aid of Refugee Action
LSO St Luke’s, Sunday 1st September 2019
Following huge success in the US, The Refugee Orchestra Project is coming to the UK. The concert will showcase musicians who have themselves, or whose families, fled their home countries to escape violence and persecution. They will play a one-off concert at LSO St Luke’s on 1st September 2019, with all proceeds going to the charity Refugee Action.
Through music, the project loudly proclaims the contributions that refugees from across the globe have played – and continue to play – in our country’s culture and society.
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear The Refugee Orchestra Project perform works written by well-known composers who were refugees themselves.
Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen MBE will perform her Concerto Grosso with the orchestra. The orchestra will also play Freedom by Afghani composer Milad Yousufi, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances and a medley by renowned composer, lyricist and American cultural icon Irving Berlin.
Additionally, the orchestra will perform the Wuthering Heights ballet overture by the Tony and Grammy award-winning composer of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, Claude-Michel Schönberg, himself the son of Hungarian-Jewish refugees.
Russian-American conductor, and current Musical Director of Chicago Opera Theatre, Lidiya Yankovskaya will lead the concert. Ms Yankovskaya’s experience as a refugee led her to found The Refugee Orchestra Project, which is committed to championing the talent of refugee artists both past and present.
Composer Claude-Michel Schönberg commented: ‘Too often we see refugees as invaders, taking our jobs, intent on reaping the social benefits of our generous country and, finally, as people to fear. Yet among the refugees are intellectuals, teachers, doctors, engineers, artistes, painters, authors, musicians. Attending a concert of The Refugee Orchestra Project reminds us all that we have far more in common than our differences.’
WEBSITE: refugeeorchestraproject.org
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/refugeeorchproj
TWITTER: @RefugeeOrchProj
INSTAGRAM: @refugeeorchestraproject
HASHTAG: #RefugeeOrchestra
THE REFUGEE ORCHESTRA PROJECT
Venue: LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old Street, London, EC1V 9NG
Date: Sunday 1st September
Time: 7.30pm
Age guidance: Suitable for all ages
Prices: £15.00 / £20.00 / £25.00