Flowers of the Seasons – Newcastle University
5th May 2024
4pm Sunday 5th May 2024
(Touch tour for visually impaired at 3.30pm)
Flowers of the Seasons – Politics, Power & Poverty
Recital Room, Armstrong Building, Newcastle University, Queen Victoria Road, NE1 7RU
Tickets: Free (Booking Essential – Donations Welcome)
Or Call 07710 292681
Electric Voice Theatre with BBC New Generation Thinker and NUAcT Fellow: Arts and Humanities, Dr Oskar Jensen, present an historic afternoon of BSL interpreted singing, poetry and storytelling celebrating the life and music of Eliza Flower (1803–1846).
Featuring performances of new works by The Flower Composers Frances M Lynch, Lilly Vadaneaux, Amanda Johnson and Newcastle’s own Flower Composer, Anna Appleby, with guest appearances by Newcastle Flower Singers (a student group specially formed for the occasion) and the voices of Young Singers from Newcastle schools.
Flowers of the Seasons
Politics, Power & Poverty
Presented by Electric Voice Theatre:
Frances M Lynch – Artistic Director, Soprano, Composer
Laurence Panter – Pianist, Tenor
Oskar Jensen – Story-teller, Singer
Lauren Lister – BSL interpreter
Herbie Clarke – Production Manager
Our team will introduce you to Flower’s fascinating life, her politics and her music, with some delightful songs for the seasons, dramatic hymns, powerful protest songs, and settings of contemporary writers like Sir Walter Scott and her frequent collaborators, radical feminist Harriet Martineau, and her sister, the poet, Sarah Flower Adams who is best known for penning the hymn “Nearer My God To Thee”.
More on our Eliza Flower project – including podcasts, recordings and films here
Composer Eliza Flower was born on the 19th April 1803 and grew up in Harlow in Essex where she is buried beside her sister. They both worked and sang together at South Place Unitarian Chapel, in Finsbury in London. Their contributions to cultural and political life were so important that when the chapel closed down, their portraits and archive were moved to Conway Hall in London.
Eliza was a prolific composer of vocal music for church services – including arrangements of tunes by Mozart, Bach, Handel and Beethoven – concerts, political events and soirees. Despite being one of the first composers published by the new publishing house of Novello and lauded by many in her day including Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Browning, Flower’s music is now unknown, quite possibly because she fell out of favour when she took up an unusual living arrangement with a clergyman!
“For me, I never had another feeling other than entire admiration for your music-entire admiration-I put it apart from all other English music I know, and fully believe in it as the music we all waited for.” A letter from Robert Browning to Eliza Flower
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