REST is a new four-movement work for chamber orchestra commissioned from composer Emily Levy for City of London Sinfonia’s 2026-27 season.
The commission seeks to explore and present versions of the UK’s response to migrants and refugees over the past 80 years. Taking the Kindertransport as a starting point, these four movements will delve into complexity; the kindnesses, the cruelties, the welcomes, and the aggressions enacted by individuals and our society on refugees and migrants since the middle of the last century.
Attached to the commission are community projects with partners working to support refugees and migrants. These projects will create safe space for individuals to share their stories (whichever and whatever part of it they choose) and to co-create moments of music which reflect that lived experience.
REST is both a celebration of the extraordinary courage of individuals in the face of unimaginable consequences and an exploration of our country in a moment of societal crisis and the history that led us here.
The community projects
We will be working in West London, in North London, and in North Wales, with partners that both have links to current refugee crises and have a history of welcoming new communities and diaspora. These co-created and bespoke participation projects will be designed with our partners and participants, allowing them to shape music-making projects that are embedded into their community. All these projects will include locally-based facilitators and musicians to ensure legacy beyond the initial investment.
Why this project?
It’s the summer of 2024 and across the UK riots are happening. They are happening because people are angry, disenfranchised, and fuelled by false ‘facts’. They are happening because people cannot get a doctor’s appointment, cannot afford spiralling costs of living, and they are looking for someone to blame.
From Plymouth to Liverpool shops are boarded up, people are hiding in their homes, and hateful banners are being painted. Meanwhile, a key instigator is sitting in the sun, sending racist messages across social media whilst raising a toast to themselves. Fires are started, buildings are burned, first responders are abused and attacked, and people are terrified. At the same time, another movement comes together – holds hands on the streets of London, Newcastle, Bristol – a movement of young people, old people, Brown people, White people, Black people, a movement of kindness, acceptance, humanity, and peace.
Classical music cannot possibly fix society’s problems, and it would be wrong for us to think that it could. But we know that classical music has historically chosen (and continues) to avoid difficult conversations with itself about race, culture, and multi-sectionality. And in doing so, with a few notable exceptions, the classical music sector has neatly side-stepped having an opinion or drawing a line in the sand. It is not our place to tell someone else’s story, which is why we made the decision to commission a work that was reflective of UK policy, society, and response to migration – to try and capture some of that incredible humanity that has been about opening doors, welcoming and giving new homes to people; while not shying away from reflecting the other side – the bigotry and hatred, the fear, and the misunderstanding.
Our values at CLS are to be joyous, connective, and collaborative. To be open to the new, and to do everything with a sense of wonder. We cannot deliver those values if we don’t first grapple with who we are and what we represent, and then fight for change. We want to create a project that does not shy away from the complicated and complex questions, and offers a space through music where different ideas and different ideologies can sit in the same room together: to listen to stories and hopefully, in listening to those stories, take the first steps towards a deeper understanding of our shared humanity.
We might not always get it right. But we will do it honestly. And we will protect the vulnerable and celebrate the humanity in every single person in this story.