Tomorrow, 29 September, Barbara Windsor and Matt Lucas will star in a new classical piece, ‘London Requiem’ by composer Benjamin Till.
‘London Requiem’ has been created as an homage to the great and the good from London’s past, and is inspired by the inscriptions found on gravestones across the city’s cemeteries. It’s appropriate then that the setting for ‘London Requiem’ is going to be Abney Park Cemetery, one of the ‘magnificent seven’ created in the Victorian era to deal with the overcrowding of churchyards in central London.
Regarding the creative process he went through to devise the work, Till said:
“I was struck by the simplicity of so many gravestones and how they are dominated by clichés. Then I thought about the difficulty of expressing all the love and emotion those inscriptions try to summarise. The epitaphs are the ultimate tweet – just a few words to sum up the feeling of an entire life”
Alongside the stars, ‘London Requiem’ will feature a full orchestra and the Rebel Chorus, and is being presented by Rich Mix in association with The Space, the Arts Council/BBC collaboration. Since launching in May, The Space have put on a whole series of live-streamed events , and you will be able to watch the piece in its entirety online tomorrow night, as it happens. Just navigate to their website from 7pm – you can also pick up smartphone apps to stream the performance if you’re on the move.
If you want to get more up close and personal with the stars you can attend the event in person – seats are £25 and standing is £15. Tickets for the event can be found here. A fitting start to the Halloween month…
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