United Strings of Europe: Send Back the Echo
Event details
Please note the earlier start time of 7pm for this concert.
United Strings of Europe
Julian Azkoul director
Vilma Jackson actor
Programme to include:
Jessie Montgomery Strum
Jasmin Kent Rodgman send back the echo (with text by Beethoven)
Evelyn Glennie A Little Prayer, arr. I-Han Fu
Beethoven String Quartet in F minor, op. 95 (‘Serioso’), arr. Julian Azkoul
send back the echo is not an homage to the myth or legend of Beethoven. It is a journey inspired by a deaf musician that drives the overarching theme of this programme, combining music by Beethoven with thrilling contemporary works.
Beethoven’s personal letters and memoirs reveal a human story of intense passion, fear and joy as he reconciled solitude and deafness with a deep love of nature and music. These confessions, interpreted and performed in British Sign Language by Deaf actor Vilma Jackson, are accompanied by music from composer Jasmin Rodgman.
Commissioned and performed by the multi-cultural ensemble United Strings of Europe, send back the echo invites a moment of reflection on the alienation faced by the d/Deaf community and people of colour within music, culture and the arts. As Rodgman says, ‘the many ways in which we can listen have never been more important’.
The wide-ranging programme opens with Strum, a work for string quartet and string orchestra by acclaimed American composer and 2025 Classical Woman of the Year, Jessie Montgomery, which has received over 100 performances to date. Jasmin Kent Rodgman’s haunting work send back the echo was written for United Strings of Europe’s film of the same name. Exploring issues around disability and social alienation, it premiered on BBC Arts and was selected for the London Short Film Festival in 2022.
Arranged for string orchestra by I-Han Fu, the serenely beautiful chorale A Little Prayer by Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie, which she wrote when she was only 13 years old, features text by the composer that is adapted, artistically re-written and performed by Vilma Jackson. In an arrangement by their artistic director, Julian Azkoul, the programme closes with Beethoven’s intense and dramatic ‘Serioso’ quartet, which he composed during a period of personal despair following a failed love affair, coupled with financial insecurity and worsening deafness.
If you would like to discuss any access requirements with us, please contact the Box Office. Information about our companion card scheme, group bookings and free tickets for under-16s can be found on our website.