Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo

Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-19-352258-9
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 64 Seiten, Format (B × H): 219 mm x 284 mm, Gewicht: 196 g

Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo tells the extraordinary story of Nujeen Mustafa, a Syrian teenager forced by war to flee her home and make a long and arduous journey to Europe with her sister, further complicated by cerebral palsy having confined her to a wheelchair. It sets a specially-written text by Kevin Crossley-Holland and is in three sections: 'Orphans of the World', centred on Nujeen's family life in Aleppo; 'My Journey', an account of a
refugee's perilous route across borders and waters; and 'Everyday Wonders', where the teenager reflects on the 'everyday' joys of her new life. In response to the vivid text, McDowall has employed a wealth of musical effects, including rhythmic spoken sections, unpitched vocalizations depicting aircraft and
gunfire, and a solo violin part is infused with Middle Eastern flavours. The prevailing mood of Nujeen's story is embodied by the final line of a chorale that opens and closes this unique concert work: 'singing the song of life itself'.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McDowall, Cecilia

Weitere Mitwirkende

McDowall, Cecilia

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Vokalmusik, Chormusik

Über Autor(innen)

Educated at Edinburgh and London Universities, Cecilia McDowall has been described by the International Record Review as having a 'communicative gift that is very rare in modern music. An award-winning composer, McDowall is often inspired by extra-musical influences, and her choral writing combines rhythmic vitality with expressive lyricism. Her music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by leading choirs, among them Phoenix Chorale and the Choir of New
College, Oxford, and is regularly programmed at prestigious festivals in Britain and abroad.