British composer Robert Hugill presents an evening of his music, Out of the Shadows.
The featured works by Robert Hugill, including two significant recent works, showcase his exceptional sensitivity to text and melody, which shines through his clear and lyrical musical language.
As part of 96 Festival at Omnibus Theatre, a celebration of queerness and theatre, Out of the Shadows will be performed at 7pm on Sunday, 16 June 2024.
The programme is repeated at 10 pm on Friday, 5 July 2024 at St John’s Church, Tartu, Estonia as part of Glasperlenspiel Festival in Tartu, Estonia, during Tartu’s year as one of the European Capitals of Culture. The festival is a leading musical event in the Estonian Summer and was founded in 1995 by Estonian composer and music producer, Peeter Vähi.
The performers are tenor Ben Vonberg-Clark (precentor at the church of St John the Divine, Kennington and conductor of the London Youth Boys’ Choir), baritone Jonathan Eyers (Young Artist at the National Opera Studio), and pianist Nigel Foster (founder and artistic director of the London Song Festival).
The programme features two of Robert Hugill’s cantatas.
Out of the Shadows, inspired by a re-reading of Graham Robb’s book ‘Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century’, uses historic texts to explore homosexual men’s gradual emergence in the 19th century.
Et expecto explores ideas of life after death via Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, ballads about the body-snatchers Burke & Hare, the Wikipedia entry on Cryonics and Walt Whitman’s poetry.
Alongside these there are love songs and settings of Michaelangelo’s sonnets plus a depiction of an AIDS candlelit memorial.
Out of the Shadows features Ben Vonberg-Clark (tenor), Jonathan Eyers (baritone) and Nigel Foster (piano) from 7 pm on 16 June 2024 at Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside, London SW4 0QW
