A fascinating assemblage of voices from across the world: the London Sinfonietta performs vital music for our time.

“These are the voices of the offended or humiliated … of defeated people finding other value, other notes, other voices for themselves.” So wrote Hans Werner Henze on his song collection Voices, commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and premiered in 1973. This extraordinary work fully embodies its commitment to diversity and to Henze’s political aspirations, with its songs of protest and resistance across four languages and in a dazzling variety of musical styles – from cabaret to rigorous contemporary to light opera to improv. The ensemble – comprising some 70 different instruments –  further amplifies the global nature of Voices, with its Trinidad steel drums, marimba and log drum alongside western woodwind instruments. Sixteen of the original 23 songs will be performed in this concert.

Britten Pears Arts further emphasises its foundational commitment to contemporary music with three new co-commissions (with London Sinfonietta).

London Sinfonietta
Carina Vinke mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Hulett tenor
Christian Karlsen conductor