Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Information for programmers

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A singer and conductor share a small stage together, illuminated with a single spotlight.

About Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Cathartic and hauntingly beautiful, Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is an astonishing meditation on loss and transcendence.

Performed by Paraorchestra with acclaimed soprano Victoria Oruwari, Charles Hazlewood conducts this harmonic ‘spiritual minimalist’ composition.

Each of the three movements of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs features a Polish lament, including a message inscribed on the wall of a Gestapo prison cell from a teenage girl to her Mother, and a Mother’s folk song about her son lost in the Silesian civil war. Sung in Polish, it’s an evocative work that brings both tears and joy, taking your audiences on an uplifting journey through grief and solace.

This show is available for touring in both an end-on format and an immersive format in which your audiences are invited to move among the orcjestra as they perform.

More information about Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Number of musicians

17 – 33 musicians

Upcoming dates

30 November 2024 - Dublin - National Concert Hall

Previous dates

December 2021 - Bath - Bath Abbey (as part of Bath Festival)

September 2024 - London - Southbank Centre

Perched at the feet of a violinist, in semi-darkness, surrounded by a forest of legs, I had no idea how many musicians were playing, or the nature of their disabilities or non-disabilities. Only the music mattered. It was salutary and uplifting.

Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian

Image gallery

  • Victoria Oruwari, a woman wearing a white dress with long golden braids and medium ark skin tone, reads braille music as she sings.
  • A wide shot of a performance space lit in soft yellow light. Audience members walk amongst musicians positioned on small risers.
  • Charles Hazlewood, a man in his fifties with grey hair, a moustache, and light skin tone conducts in front of a music stand.
  • A harpist with light skin tone and long brown hair sits at her instrument, one hand resting on the string
  • Victoria Oruwari, a woman with long golden hair in braids and medium dark skin tone wearing a white dress reads braile sheet music with her hands as she sings. Behind her a conductor gestures in the air.
  • A wide shot of a darkened performance space. Musicians dressed in white including a harpist, pianist, and string section stand on small platforms with the audience silhouetted around them.
  • A trio of violinists illuminated in soft yellow light.
  • A female keyboard player with light skin tone plays her instrument, her face obscured by her long hair.

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