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Performances will be taking place at various venues in June and July.
A GROUNDBREAKING new suite of classical music in the Cornish language is going to be premiered at venues around Cornwall in June and July.
Arlodhes a Shalott has been created over the past year by Falmouth based composer, Matthew Thomason, with lyrics based on Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Arthurian poem The Lady of Shalott, which has been translated for the project into Cornish by Elizabeth Ellis.
The work takes the form of a song cycle: a collection of eight Romantic era classical songs sung in Cornish by soprano Elizabeth Freeborn, accompanied by Kath Buckler on cello and the composer himself on piano.
Thomason said: “I am a big admirer of the Romantic composers such as Schubert, Schumann, Liszt and Mahler and the song cycle is such a succinct and accessible way to tell a story.”
Arthurian legends are rooted in Cornwall and Thomason feels that Cornish carries an otherworldliness which supports the tone and the themes of the poem, but doesn’t feel that it gets enough justification.
He adds: “Cultural assets and reference points are essential for Kernewek to be consumed, heard, and most importantly felt by people. So with Arlodhes a Shalott I wanted to create a living, breathing and deeply emotional cultural artifact that allows the language to be ‘experienced’ in a way that only music can conjure.”
Inspiration for the work came when the composer saw an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite art at Falmouth Art Gallery. There were three paintings depicting the Lady of Shalott from Tennyson’s poem and these images captured the imagination of Thomason, who felt an overwhelming sense that he had to write music about her story.
Thomason adds: “The themes of isolation, personal freedom, self-expression, gender roles, love, and ultimately, death, are so viscerally relevant today that the poem transcends the near 200 years since it was written.”
Work began on Arlodhes a Shalott at the Endelienta Arts Cornish Language Residency last July, where Thomason spent a week in St Endellion in North Cornwall developing his creative practice in Cornish and learning some of the language.
It was there that he met Cornish translator, Elizabeth Ellis, who shared his passion for the project and worked with him to create the first four verses of the piece, which were performed to a captivated audience in St Endellion Church at the end of the residency.
Over the next ten months, Thomason and Ellis have worked together, with support from Hall for Cornwall, to complete the song cycle, which will transport its audiences on an emotional journey from the Lady of Shalott’s isolation and longing, through falling in love, to the catastrophic and heartbreaking conclusion of her tale.
Arlodhes a Shalott will be performed at the following venues in June with rural touring scheme Carn to Cove. All performance begin at 7.30pm.
For further information and to buy tickets, visit: www.matthewthomasonmusic.co.uk.
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