Orchestra of the Swan continue to explore ideas and blur boundaries, as they present an exciting new programme of rich, dazzling, and often thrillingly eclectic music.
The new season – Stories, Journeys and Dreams – celebrates The Swan’s commitment to storytelling and highlights women in music, featuring dynamic conductor, Rebecca Miller and performances that include music by Kate Bush, Florence Welch, PJ Harvey and FKA Twigs, sung by English singer/songwriter SuRie in a new show, devoted to the life of George Eliot. Starring Harriet Walter, GEORGE Eliot in Words and Music with Orchestra of the Swan will be performed at St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry (the city that formed George Eliot), and Wilton’s Music Hall in London, with a script by local writer Deirdre Shields and the script has been commissioned by St Mary’s Guildhall Coventry with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
Recognising the wonderful and diverse range of venues in the area, this season’s concerts take place in spaces including; the fabulous Warwick Hall (Stories and Dreams, Elements, Interstellar (featuring the Swan’s 2024/2025 season Associate Artist, Anton Lesser), Stratford PlayHouse (The Long Road, Safety Last! and Wildwood continuing the popular and experimental Night Owl series); the atmospheric setting of St Mary’s Warwick for the multisensory Entranced; and, as a special Christmas treat, Anton Lesser’s A Christmas Carol in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre.
“We recognise that storytelling is central to what we do, whether it’s in the concert hall or in the community, so this season we are exploring this as a theme. The journeys we take through life are shaped by those stories, and dreams give our lives the indispensable quality of enchantment”
New work and collaborations continue, with a new commission: Air, by David
Gordon and jazz saxophonist, Tim Whitehead, alongside De Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance, Jean-Féry Revel’s Chaos and Debussy’s La Mer, presenting these classical elements in musical form for Elements at Warwick Hall. March 2025 sees a sequel to their Earthcycle project – an ongoing investigation into the consequences of climate change and a celebration of our extraordinary environment, with Wildwood, examining the life-sustaining qualities of trees through a 1,000 years of songs from rural Britain.
Continuing collaborations with local theatre producers, Hambletts, takes the orchestra out of the county, demonstrating the Midlands-based talent to a wider audience, with performances of Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words & Music, A Beautiful Thread – Thomas Hardy in Words & Music, and GEORGE Eliot in Words & Music, in both regional and London theatres.
With an ambitious programme that embraces their local community and beyond, Orchestra of the Swan continues to reach out and explore what it means to be an orchestra today.
To see the full New Season for 2024/2025 head here.
