CLIVE WHITBURN
"One thing that is special about our concert "With Memories" for me is that it has been a real education researching and finding out about dementia and the charity Memory Lane Eastbourne. I am so moved and impressed at the extraordinary work that they do, providing support and social activities for people with dementia and their carers. It's such important and inspiring work. I really hope we sell out and make a decent profit for them. (All profit from the concert goes to the charity). On a personal level there are a few pieces of my own music which I'm really excited about. One is "Messages From The Sea" which I wrote and recorded in 2016 but this will be its first live performance. This is a set of our real messages which were found in bottles washed up on the shore, or in one case found inside a whale(!) at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These stories are absolutely fascinating. It will be performed by Lucy Stewart (soprano), Simon Madge (baritone), Alex Rider (harp) and Alexander Eadon (piano). I have a short and quite amusing piece for string quartet called "Steppin Out" which asks the players to do some beat boxing type sounds as well as play their instruments. I also have a piece called "The Here and Now" for choir, harp and string quartet which is my response to what I have learned about dementia. I hope that as well as being poignant, this piece will lift the spirits. I can't wait to find out if others agree. I am delighted that we have such fantastic professional musicians in this concert. Alex Rider is one of the top up and coming young harpists in the Country. He is very much in demand and we are so lucky to have him joining us. Anyone who came to our "Without Borders" concert back in February, will remember how amazing Modulus String Quartet are. It's is absolutely brilliant to have them back again for this concert. We are also, once again, joined by Brighton's New Network Singers who are so expressive and completely wonderful to work with. As you'd expect, my composer colleagues Melody Woodham and Tim Laverack, whose beautiful music was highlight of our last concert, have some new pieces in "with Memories" too. I just know they will be a delight. There are also some composers joining us for the first time. Alex will be performing some absolutely beautiful harp music by the renowned composer Paul Lewis, who lives in Pevensey. Paul is famous particularly for the music he has written for television and is a foremost composer of music for the harp. We also have music from composer, producer and song writer Sam Carand, from North London. Sam is known for his melodic/ambient electronic music, which he often combines with experimental video. I'm really looking forward to hearing what he brings to this concert. We have an extra treat to look forward to; a new piece performed and written by the very talented Sharon Elizabeth. Sharon describes herself as soprano, cabaret singer, singer/harpist and community musician. That promises to be very special. And finally, we will be joined for the evening by visual artist Fenya Sharkey. Fenya has done a lot of work supporting people with dementia to create art. Some of this work will be on display the concert and Fenya will be on stage herself throughout the performance, creating some new work."
Clive Whitburn