Tavener: Flood of Beauty

Barbican Hall, London
Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2
United Kingdom
020 7638 8891
http://www.barbican.org.uk/eticketing

Britten Sinfonia
Martyn Brabbins conductor
Allison Bell soprano
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Natalie Clein cello
Sheema Mukherjee sitar
Kuljit Bhamra tabla
Britten Sinfonia Voices
New London Chamber Choir
Eamonn Dougan Britten Sinfonia Voices Director

The Britten Sinfonia premieres Sir John Tavener’s last major concert work, Flood of Beauty (Saundarya Lahari).

Based on a Sanskrit poem by the 9th-century philosopher and poet Sankara, the piece is an attempt to show the rapture and bliss of the Divine Being through Hinduism – following Tavener's many revered musical journeys through Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Flood of Beauty was devised by the late composer, who would have turned 70 this year, to be performed with the instruments of a normal symphony orchestra, but all spaced around the auditorium – with Indian classical instruments tabla and sitar completing the ensemble.

'The audience, so that they are, as it were, "surrounded" by bliss and beauty' Sir John Tavener

John Tavener : Flood of Beauty