15/11/2024 Paraorchestra: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Translation

My son, chosen and loved,
Let your mother share your wounds
And since, my dear son,
I have always kept you in my heart,
And loyally served you,
Speak to your mother,
make her happy,
Though, my cherished hope,
you are now leaving me.

Original

Synku mily i wybrany,
Rozdziel z matka swoje rany;
A wszakom cie, synku mily, w swem sercu nosila,
A takiez tobie wiernie sluzyla.
Przemow k matce, bych sie ucieszyla,
Bo juz jidziesz ode mnie, moja nadzieja mila.

Translation

No, Mother, do not weep,
Most chaste Queen of Heaven
Help me always.
Hail Mary.

Original

Mamo, nie placz, nie.
Niebios Przeczysta Królowo,
Ty zawsze wspieraj mnie.
Zdrowas Mario.

The last line before translation, “Zdrowas Mario” (Ave Maria), is the opening of the Polish prayer to the Holy Mother. 

Translation

Where has he gone,
My dearest son?
Killed by the harsh enemy, perhaps,
In the rebellion.

You bad people,
In the name of the Holy God,
Tell me why you killed
My dear son.

Will I have his protection,
Even if I weep
My old eyes away,

Or if my bitter tears
Were to make another River Oder,
They would not bring back
My son to life.

He lies in the grave
I know not where
Though I ask people
Everywhere

Perhaps the poor boy
Lies in a rough trench
Instead of lying, as he might,
In a warm bed.

Sing for him,
Little song-birds of God,
For his mother
Cannot find him.

And God’s little flowers,
May you bloom all around
So that my son
May sleep happily.

Original

Kajze mi sie podziol
moj synocek mily?
Pewnie go w powstaniu
zle wrogi zabily.
Wy niedobrzy ludzie,
dlo Boga swietego
cemuscie zabili
synocka mojego?
Zodnej jo podpory
juz nie byda miala,
chocbych moje stare
ocy wyplakala.

Chocby z mych lez gorkich
drugo Odra byla,
jesce by synocka
mi nie ozywila.

Lezy on tam w grobie,
a jo nie wiem kandy,
choc sie opytuja
miedzy ludzmi wsandy.

Moze nieborocek
lezy kay w dolecku,
a moglby se lygac
na swoim przypiecku.

Ej, cwierkejcie mu tam,
wy ptosecki boze,
kiedy mamulicka
znalezc go nie moze.
A ty, boze kwiecie,
kwitnijze w okolo,
niech sie synockowi
choc lezy wesolo.

Paraorchestra brings extraordinary live music experiences to audiences in concert halls and public spaces around the world, blending artforms and technology with meticulous musicianship.

Under the Artistic Direction of award-winning conductor Charles Hazlewood, the pioneering ensemble seeks to disrupt and reinvent the orchestra, bringing together professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, and artists across artforms and genres, appealing to the widest audience, whilst radically shifting outdated perceptions of both orchestral music and disability.

Whether marching a 50-piece karaoke pop ensemble through suburban streets, headlining one of the stages at Glastonbury Festival with Philip Glass’ Heroes symphony, or reworking pioneering electronic music in a nightclub; Paraorchestra are sharing powerful and relevant orchestral music with new audiences. Partnerships with broadcasters Sky Arts and Real World Records have also taken their work directly into the homes of millions across the globe.

Almost 40 Paraorchestra musicians identify as disabled, D/deaf, or neurodivergent. They are the only orchestra in the world pro-actively increasing their representation of professional disabled players, removing the barriers that prevent disabled players from performing at the highest level.

Paraorchestra have launched an extensive Artist Development programme, created in recognition of a lack of professional support and development opportunities for musicians identifying as disabled. Huge expansion of their existing programme of work – including paid residencies and workshops – provides meaningful opportunities for world-class music making, creating new opportunities and benefitting musicians that identify as disabled wanting to advance their careers in music.

https://paraorchestra.com

Charles Hazlewood is the Artistic Director of Paraorchestra, the world’s first large-scale professional ensemble of virtuoso disabled and non-disabled musicians.

He won first prize in the European Broadcasting Union Conducting Competition while still in his twenties, and has conducted many of the world’s great orchestras including Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Swedish and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestras, Philharmonia and The Orchestra of St Luke’s, New York.

Since founding Paraorchestra over a decade ago Charles has blazed a trail for the classical sector, leading Paraorchestra through performances around the globe, releasing two studio albums and creating ambitious, genre-busting live works that upend orchestral orthodoxies. In 2024 he conducted and co-directed The Virtuous Circle for Paraorchestra’s BBC Proms debut.

Charles has authored, presented, and conducted the music in multiple landmark films for BBC TV and Sky Arts and has won three Sony Radio Academy Awards for his shows on BBC Radio 2 and 3. He has conducted over 200 world premieres and founded Dimpho Di Kopane – an award-winning opera company out of township South Africa, which toured the world and whose film U Carmen e-Khayelitsha won the Berlin Film Festival ‘Golden Bear’ for Best Film.

Charles has three TED talks to his name, was a recent Castaway on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs and in 2021 became Sky Arts Ambassador for Music. In 2023, he was further honoured by leading charity Making Music, with the Sir Charles Groves prize for ‘his outstanding contribution to the musical life of the United Kingdom’.

www.charleshazlewood.com

Acclaimed Soprano Victoria Oruwari is a London-based Nigerian-born singer whose versatile repertoire covers art songs, operatic arias, and musical theatre. She acquired her Bachelor of Music degree and postgraduate in Voice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance graduating with distinction.

Performance highlights include: Playing the role of ‘Xaven’ in Serenoid as part of the Tête à Tête Festival. Soloist for Vache Baroque’s Visionaries concerts 2024. Features in the African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. Performing Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs with Paraorchestra in Bath Abbey. Playing ‘Mother’ in The Royal Opera House and Candoco Dance Company’s production of Shaun Tann’s The Lost Thing. Featuring on BBC Radio 3’s lunch time concert with the BBC Singers. Singing on Hannah Peel’s album The Unfolding with Paraorchestra and performing it at The Barbican. Singing at the lighting of the Paralympic Torch at Stoke Mandeville.

Victoria has also featured in Charles Hazelwood’s documentaries Beethoven and Me and 21st Century Orchestra on the Sky Arts channel.

Polish composer Henryk Górecki was born on 6 December 1933, with his compositional career beginning at Warsaw Autumn, an international festival of contemporary music which became the most important platform for contemporary music in Eastern Europe. He studied at the State Higher School of Music (PWSM) in Katowice with Bołeslaw Szabelsk, and his avant garde compositions began to flourish in the years after the cultural repression of Stalin in Europe.

Notable characteristics of Górecki’s music are his use of the Polish school of “sonorism”, which is experimentation with textures and timbres, along with “maternal paradigm”, which is the maternal theme that permeates Górecki’s music due to the traumatic loss of his mother at the age of two, having a profound impact on his life and work.

Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is dedicated to Górecki’s wife, and it took 16 years for the symphony to come to prominence in 1992, thanks to the recording by Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta conducted by David Zinman, where the album reached the top ten of the classical and pop charts beating Michael Jackson and Madonna.

When listening to this symphony, the audience may notice the use of drones. A drone is a single, low-pitched note which is held unchanging for a long period of time while a melody is played over the top. You can hear this at the beginning of the second movement.

Another feature the audience can listen out for is the use of “canons”, where the same melody is played by many performers at different times to create harmony.

Orchestra Managers
Tom Wraith
Barnaby Adams

Production Manager
Dean Sudron

Personal Assistant to Victoria Oruwari
Beth McKinnon

Sound Engineer
Patrick Philips

Lighting Designer
Joel Stanners

Assistant Music Director
Siobhan Clough

Associate Music Director
Lloyd Coleman

Producer
Ailie Debonnaire

Senior Producer (Artist Development)
Helen Edwards
Laura Mora Knight

Marketing Assistant
Lauren Edwards

Head of Communications
Laura Evans

Assistant Producer
Caitlin Fairweather

Chief Executive
Jonathan Harper

Artistic Director
Charles Hazlewood

Marketing & Digital Communications Manager
Ben Horton

Senior Producer (Projects)
Luke Macpherson

Marketing Manager
Roberta Pia

Project Coordinator
Tiara Pillant

General Manager
Hattie De Santis
Esther Poole

Fundraising Consultant
Lauren Scholey

Programme Director (Deputy CEO)
Hannah Williams Walton

With Thanks To:
Our Chair Giles Gibbons and all of the Paraorchestra Trustees.

As a registered charity (no. 1163725) Paraorchestra is grateful for the support of our core funders: Arts Council England, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Mark Leonard Trust, The Linbury Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation, and Bristol City Council.