These Memories May Be True

These Memories May Be True is an evening where City of London Sinfonia invites us to consider belonging, memories of home, and the places we all carry inside us.

This concert was born from conversations in a community kitchen, between musicians and people who are seeking asylum in the UK, about the memories of people, places, and lives they had left behind. Scents and sounds so evocative and distinct that they conjure us through time, space, and memory to a particular place.

The musical programme moves across continents, borders and centuries. Reena Esmail writes from the meeting-point of Indian and Western classical traditions. Bushra el-Turk draws on her Lebanese heritage. Lembit Beecher distils an Estonian grandmother into five luminous minutes of string quartet. Piazzolla evokes Buenos Aires in a single, heartbroken melody. Vaughan Williams reaches into the English folk tradition for something ancient and aching. And Copland distils an entire American spirit; pioneering, optimistic, and alive with spring.

It feels fitting that this evening takes place at Wilton’s Music Hall, off Cable Street; a place with its own deep history of community, resistance and refuge.

With a performance interweaving music with words and stories, this is an evening that asks what binds us to a place — and to each other.