Creative Minds in Song
This creative project encourages interaction between groups of people who normally would not meet and increases awareness of mental illness and the power of classical music.
Creative Minds in Song is a ground-breaking social project pioneered by Song in the City that explores the deep link between mental illness and creativity. Bringing together writers from MIND in Tower Hamlets and Newham with postgraduate students from the Guildhall School, the project inspires the co-creation of brand-new songs over a series of workshops, written by those with lived experience of mental illness in collaboration with Guildhall School composers, pianists and singers. Through poetry and music, the project gives the experience of those who have suffered from mental illness a creative life. The project has seen several world premiere performances of songs including at Milton Court, Barbican, London that tell the story of the project and its participants through words and music.
“This project has given me great hope for the future of de-stigmatising mental illness and given me a fresh new angle on creativity, collaboration, accessibility, and programme curation. I feel inspired to write music and curate concerts with a similarly rich, open-ended and highly emotive approach; and to create more work that leaves audiences with a feeling of hope and transformation” (composer)
"After all the years of fighting and survival, my life is opening up again through the wonderful Creative Minds in Song project and my wonderful composer. I would never have had these opportunities without mental health". Writer from MIND.
Orpheus’ Ball
The collaboration with esteemed fashion designer Patrick McDowell and the prestigious Guildhall School was a highlight of London Fashion Week on 17 February 2024. The show took place in Milton Court Concert Hall, featuring an original score that blended classical music, arranged and devised by Gavin Roberts, Artistic Director of Song in the City. Working together with the Guildhall School, the project utilised the many facets of the School, incorporating staff and students across lighting and sound design, set, costume, production, and performance. Nurturing creative education has been a founding principle of both Patrick McDowell brand since its inception, and of Song in the City.
“Song in the City shares our values and vision so was an obvious partner for this collaboration”. Working alongside Gavin Roberts, we created a score that complemented the collection and collaborated in a true way to create a piece of work that unified fashion and music, celebrating both mediums” - Patrick McDowell, Fashion Designer
Healthy lunchbreaks
A healthy way to spend your lunchbreak, to date we have staged more than 150 FREE lunchtime concerts, bringing talented performers (mostly from the Guildhall School) to the heart of the stressful City. The performances are designed around socially engaging themes allowing us to connect with new audiences that might not otherwise attend a song concert.
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February 2017: HIDDEN LIVES, SECRET LOVES (part of LGBT History Month) (2 concerts: The Story of Noel Mewton Wood; On Wenlock Edge: Housman’s Lads)
March - June 2017: YOUNG ARTISTS IN THE CITY (11 Concerts: Vissi d’arte: I lied for my art; Mirages; Gazing In, Gazing Out; Childhood Fables for Grown Ups; Charles Griffes: The American Impressionist, Flowers in different languages; Tribute to Jane Manning; The Seasons in Song)
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February 2016: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW (part of LGBT History Month) (3 concerts: The Wild Nights of Emily Dickinson; AN AIDS Quilt Songbook; Girls who like gilrs who like boys who like boys)
March 2016: CANTIGAS E SAUDADE (Portuguese and Brazilian Song) (2 Concerts: Longings and Desires; Brasil Brasileiro)
15 March 2016: CANTIGAS E SAUDADE EVENING, St Marylebone Parish Church
May-July 2016: YOUNG ARTISTS IN THE CITY (9 Concerts: Beyond Reality; An Island Landscape; Ancient Retellings; An Sylvia: A Liederspiel; Voice of the Alien; The Boulangers; Sense and Sensuality; The Girl who Gew Up; Canadian Mosaic)
22 July 2016: VOICES OF LONDON, St Marylebone Parish Church (The St Marylebone Festival)
23 August 2016: HAYDN’S CIRCLE, St Lawrence Jewry (St Lawrence Summer Festival)
Novemebr 2016: SHAKESPEARE 400: (2 Concerts: Sigh no more Ladies; If Music be the Food of Love)
November - December 2016: SPANISH SONG AND ZARZUELA FESTIVAL (3 concerts: Dark Swallows Shall Return: Spanish Songs of the 19th Century; Gipsy Songs; Stolen Kisses: A Homage to Alberto Ginastera in his Centenary Year)
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February 2015: SHADES OF PINK (part of LGBT History Month) (4 concerts: Songs from the Closet; Strange Bedfellows, Queer Collaborations; Somehwere over the Rainbow (at UBS Bank Atrium); Glitter and be Gay)
14 February 2015: ‘DANCING WITH YOUR VALENTINE’, Friends’ Life Social Club, Dorking, Surrey
March 2015: THE PARISIAN SALON (3 concerts: Symbols and Surreality; L’île innconnue; Extasy Agnogy and the Serach for the Exquisite)
24 March 2015: CREATIVE MADNESS 2: St Mary’s Lewisham, Lewisham Hospital
25 March 2015: CREATIVE MADNESS 3: BREATHE Concert Series, Guys Hospital Chapel
31 March: THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA (Collaboration wih The World and the City: Musical Soirées)
May 2015: SONGS AFTER DARK (4 concerts: Dreams; Cabaret Girls; Things that go bump in the night; Bedtime Stories)
7 & 8 May 2015: ‘JOHN SINGER SARGEANT IN SONG’, National Portrait Gallery (Collaboration with Portrait Choir)
June 2015: SUMMER HOLIDAY (4 Concerts: An American in Paris; Brits Abroad; The Spirit of Scandinavia, Songs from the Russian Dacha)
17 June 2015: CREATIVE MADNESS 4: The Royal College of Psychiartrists
9 July 2015: VOICES OF LONDON, St Lawrence Jewry (City of London Festival)
14 July 2015: VOICES OF LONDON, St Peters Oundle (Oundle International Festival)
4 August 2015: BEETHOVEN ABROAD, St Lawrence Jewry (St Lawrence Summer Festival)
13 September: NAZRUL-BLAKE-MANUSH: NSH Arts Centre (Collaboration with Bengali Musicans and Artist Alice Sielle)
October 2015: YEATS 150 (2 Concerts: Down by the Salley Gardens; The Cloths of Heaven)
17 Ocotber 2015: SONG IN THE CITY AT PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL (Edith Cavell WW1 Memorial Concert)
November 2015: SPANISH SONG AND ZARZUELA FESTIVAL (4 concerts: Basque Song; Romances; Spanish Nostalgia)
24 November 2015: SONG IN THE CITY with THE GUILDFORD CHAMBER CHOIR, Holy Trinity, Guildford
8 December 2015: CD LAUNCH: Voices of London. Fundraiser with Help Musicians UK. Milton Court Studio Theatre.
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February 2014: LIFE’S SIMPLE PLEASURES (4 Concerts: Food, glorious food; The one I love, Sweet Sleep; Drinking songs)
March 2014: THE SEASONS (Spring is here; In the Summertime; Autumn Leaves)
8 April 2014: DANCING WINTERREISE (Music on the Move Project): Collaboaration with RAMBERT Dance Company
May 2014: SONGS OF TRAVEL (4 concerts: In the gardens of Spain; Viva Italia, Zigeunerlieder; Far from home)
June 2014: STRAUSS 150 (3 concerts: A ladies’ man; Strauss mit Humor; Folksongs and Fantasies)
3 July 2014: SONGS FROM THE ASYLUM (City of London Festival)
10 July 2013: MUSIC IN OFFICES Lunchtime concert
26 September 2014: LETTERS FROM THE FRONT (WW1): Oundle Interbational Festival
4 October 2014: Concert with Berkhamsted Kulturelles Oktoberfest
October 2014: SHAKESPEARE 450 (4 concerts: Shakespeare in Love; Sonnets & Songs; Shakespeare’s Women; Nature & Magic)
31 Ocotber 2014: CREATIVE MADNESS 1: Ortus Centre, The Maudesley Hospital
November 2014: SONGS OF THE GREAT WAR (3 concerts: The Pity of War; War on all fronts; Letters from Home)
27 November 2014: SHAKESPEARE IN SONGS AND SCENES (Queen Mary University)
1 December 2014: CHRISTMAS CONCERT (Collaboration with Herbert Smith Freehills & Music in Offices)
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22 January 2013: Lucy Hall, soprano; Gavin Roberts, piano (Hark, Hark the Lark, Songs to Shakespeare)
SPONSORED BY OXFORD LIEDER FESTIVAL
5 February 2013: Anita Watson, soprano; Lada Valesova, piano (‘The Age of Innocence’)
February 2013: THREE’S A CFROWD (3 concerts: instrumental songs and duets, including oboe, clarinet & viola)
5 March: Aivale Cole, soprano; Catherine Norton, piano (‘Earth & Heaven)
12 March: The Melicus Duo: Marie Vassiliou, soprano; Nico de Villiers, piano (‘My love is like a red, red Rose’)
March 2013: SEA FEVER (3 concerts: The Love Boat; Rich and Strange; Salt Water Ballads)
May-July 2013: WOMEN IN SONG (5 concerts: Mother & Child; Wives & Lovers; From longing to fulfillment; Nadia Boulanger; Royal Women)
June 2013: BRITTEN AND POULENC (3 concerts: Childish Pursuits; Travelling & Abroad;Reflections)
23 April 2013: Dan Norman, tenor & Sholto Kynoch, piano (‘Dreams and Hallucinations’)
30 April 2013: Martin Häßler, baritone & Marek Ruszczynski, piano (‘From Wanderers and Knights’)
28 May 2013: Jenavieve Moore, soprano & Justin Snyder, piano (‘When Smoking was Allowed...’)
4 June 2013: Dawn Padula, mezzo-soprano & Soo-Jeung Joo, piano (‘The House of Life and Love’)
9 July 2013, Ben McAteer, baritone & Gavin Roberts, piano (‘The Land without Music?)
October 2013: SONG OF THE EARTH (3 Concerts: Fish in the Unruffled Lakes; The Aviary; Nature, The Gentlest Mother)
November 2013: Verdi & Wagner 200 (2 Concerts: Spirits of an Age; National Revolutionaries)
21 November 2013: A BRITTEN BIRTHDAY CONCERT. Nicholas Allen, tenor; Gavin Roberts, piano.
5 December 2013: A CHRISTMAS SCHUBERTIADE with new songs by Louis Mander
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January 2012: THE CYCLE OF LIFE (4 concerts: Childhood Innocene, The Folly of Youth, The Prime of Life, The Wisdom of experience)
February 2012: A EUROPEAN STORY-BOOK (3 concerts: A European Folk Anthology, Tales from Schumann, Russian Fairy Tales)
March 2012: INSPIRATIONS OF THE MUSES (3 concerts: ATHENE, Song and the visual arts, TERPSICHORE, Song and Dance, CALLIOPE, Muse of Epic Poetry)
June-July 2012: THE OLYMPICS IN SONG (5 concerts: ASIA, Tales of the Orient; AFRICA, On Safari; AUSTRALASIA, Antipodean Song; THE AMERICAS, North & South; EUROPE A tour of Olympic Cities)
October 2012: HEAVENLY BODIES (3 concerts: Here comes the Sun, Fly me to the Moon, Star of Wonder)
9 October 2012: VOICES OF LONDON (Special Event: Songs of the Big Smoke, Including the WORLD PREMIERE of a comissioned song cycle VOICES OF LONDON)
November 2012: DEBUSSY 2012: (3 concerts: Debussy’s Women, Debussy’s World, Debussy and Beyond)
27 November 2012: Amy J Payne, mezzo-soprano; Louisa Lam, piano (To Sleep, Perchance to Dream’, Songs of sleeping & dreaming)
4 December 2012: Romain Dayez, baritone; Gavin Roberts, piano (‘Au bord de l’eau’, French Water Songs)
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January 2011: LIEBESLIEDER (3 concerts on the theme of ‘Love’ profiling Brahms’ Liebesliederwaltzer)
March 2011: SHAKESPEARE IN SONG (5 concerts of song inspired by William Shakespeare)
June-July 2011: LISZT BI-CENTENARY (4 concerts profling the songs of Franz Liszt in his 200th year)
Songs and Sounds
We love working with living composers. Songs and Sounds connects people with new music by rooting our programmes in themes that relate to the real world. Our informal concerts involve the composers who created the music, so you can put a face to a name, and understand a bit more about what you hear.
Support Us
Our community of audiences, artists, collaborators and partners who believe in what we do are vital to our success, and we value the creativity, perspective and contribution that each and every one brings to our work. Find out more about was you can support us and get involved (click to the support us page)