A Child of Our Time

Saturday 24 June 7.30pm

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Eleanor Alberga Tower

Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel

Tippett A Child of Our Time

Martyn Brabbins conductor

Nardus Williams soprano

Kathryn Rudge mezzo-soprano

Elgan Llŷr Thomas tenor

Roderick Williams baritone

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir

Individual lives tell the stories for this programme. Jamaican-born British composer Eleanor Alberga is inspired by the memory of a dear friend, a “tower of strength”, with music that brings a character to life. Meanwhile, Vaughan Williams tells the tale of a vagabond on his travels who demands “give to me the life I love”. Tippett’s oratorio relates the tragedy of an individual’s desperate act, and over 80 years after its premiere, still resonates with its themes of oppression and disenfranchisement. His use of African-American spirituals to evoke, as he put it, those “cast out from the centre of our society onto the fringes” is as pertinent now as it was then.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra