The Girl from Aleppo

As part of an international choir exchange with the Stockholm University Choir, the Anglistenchor will be traveling to Stockholm from May 29 to June 2, 2024. They invite you to two special choir concerts: on May 29 at 6 PM at the Marktkirche Poppenbüttel and on May 31 at 7 PM at the Stefanskyrkan in Stockholm.

In the current program, alongside works by Whitacre, Nystedt, Berger, and Elgar, audiences will also have the chance to hear Cecilia McDowall’s cycle “Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo,” premiered in 2018 for choir, soloists, violin (Amelie Gubbe), and piano (Yannick Schwencke), which has rarely been featured in concert programs in Germany so far. This five-movement cantata tells the extraordinary story of the Kurdish teenager Nujeen Mustafa, who was born with cerebral palsy and had to flee to Europe with her sister from the war. To depict her arduous journey in a wheelchair, the composer employs numerous musical effects: chorales, rhythmically spoken sections, body percussion, and a solo violin voice with a Middle Eastern flair. The work addresses the greatest humanitarian challenge of our time: migration movements caused by war and destruction.

The music thrilled the audience already in March this year! Admission is free, donations are requested

Cecilia McDowall has established herself as a leading composer of choral music, and her extensive catalog contains many outstanding examples. The emotional impact of this story has clearly inspired her to create one of her most impressive scores for this ensemble.

Tempo

McDowall has long been renowned for her outstanding choral music, and here she ingeniously combines upper voices with an SATB choir… in setting to music Kevin Crossley-Holland’s text, which describes the long journey of two sisters (one pushing the other in a wheelchair) from Syria to asylum in Germany. The music expresses intense compassion.

The Birmingham Post