Joseph Tawdros

Middle Eastern music of heart-wrenching beauty and hypnotic energy meets the western imagination of sensuality and drama along the ancient Silk Road.  

Hassan is an unlikely hero - an unattractive Baghdad sweet merchant who is comically rebuffed by his would-be love. But the mood changes when he is accidentally taken into the court of the city’s all-powerful ruler, whose shocking brutality and corruption sickens him. Written 100 years ago, Delius’s richly evocative incidental music to James Elroy Flecker’s play is very rarely performed – experience it here in a compelling adaptation for narrator and orchestra, performed by Zeb Soanes.

In the first half, Egyptian-Australian virtuoso oud player Joseph Tawadros sets the scene, performing his own intricate and mesmerising compositions, including the world premiere performances of his new concerto, Three Stages of Hindsight, commissioned by Britten Sinfonia. 

PROGRAMME

Joseph Tawadros Constellation

Three Stages of Hindsight (world premiere)

Constantinople

Frederick Delius Hassan (complete incidental music)

PERFORMERS

Britten Sinfonia

Jamie Phillips conductor

Joseph Tawadros oud

Zeb Soanes storyteller

Britten Sinfonia Voices

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