harmony beyond music

A series of seven chamber recitals exploring themes of equality and diversity, performed by internationally recognised musicians brought together by Reiko Fujisawa, and introduced by Peter Quantrill.

Music has never been written, performed or appreciated in a bubble. It engages with the time and place of its composition and performance. Social and political themes are expressed through the music of the day. Racial and social justice, political and gender oppression, the struggle for freedom and recognition of the individual: music illuminates these themes as a mirror of its time.

Harmony Beyond Music features composers such as Joseph de Boulogne and Louise Farrenc, whose work is only now emerging from obscurity caused by their social status and the privileges of the white, male or wealthy. The series also includes masterpieces by the great names of the classical canon, which take on new significance in an unfamiliar context.

Music by J.S. Bach and Anton Webern is paired to show how harmonic language has mirrored political progress towards democracy and equality. Pablo Casals maintained self-imposed exile from his native Spain in protest against dictatorship, whilst the piano quintets of Shostakovich and Grazyna Bacewicz are shouts of joy in the teeth of oppression. Their music expresses the experiences, fears and hopes of generations past and present with a timeless power.

Perhaps the most celebrated freedom fighter in classical music was Beethoven. He makes several appearances in the series, as a friend to the black violinist George Bridgetower, as an inspiration to others, and simply as himself, a fiercely independent individual who resisted conformity with the norms and protocols of Vienna in the early 19th century.

Harmony Beyond Music takes themes of conflict, exclusion and prejudice into the concert hall, bringing us face to face with shadows from the past and giving us hope for the future.