Alone, Together

The Levedy Ensemble

Like many group the Levedy Ensemble, a voice and harp quintet formed by students and graduates of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, decided to put their experiences during the pandemic to creative use. Unable to work together, rehearse and perform, ensemble thought about other groups and communities for whom isolation is a part of their every day life; such as hospitals, nursing homes and prisons. As a result, they have developed a project that will allow them to express the isolation they had experienced, whilst reaching out to and working with often-isolated communities.

Composer Shaye Poulton Richards has created seven songs based on poems written by female poets, from Sappho to Emily Dickinson, but alongside this cycle she has written five soundscapes. The soundscapes, unlike the songs, are improvisatory, and use material written by Poulton Richards to create artistic responses to the songs in the cycle. These soundscapes act as a tool through which Levedy Ensemble, partnered with charity Sing Inside, will work with isolated communities in prisons across the UK over the coming months.

There is a chance to hear Poulton Richards' new song cycle Alone, Together when the Levedy Ensemble performs it alongside Holst's Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda and two Rubbra songs in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge (7 April 2022, Eventbrite) and St Pancras Old Church, London (9 April 2022, Eventbrite).