Skipton Camerata: Myth - Skipton Town Hall

Purcell - Overture to Diod and Aeneas
Purcell - Music for a While
Grieg - Prelude from Holburg Suite
Purcell - Fairest Isle
Vaughan Williams - Dives and Lazarus
Gluck - Che faro Eurydice
Barber - Adagio
Gluck - Senzo un Addio

Delius - Hy Brasil
Schoenburg - Verklarte Nacht

This programme starts our season inspired by the contemporary debate on migration, as it journeys from ancient myth, whether this be the myth of a bright future in Purcells Fairest Isle, or the myth of the fabled isle of Hy-Brasil in Irish legend to modern confession, exploring how stories are shaped and shared through music and movement, and how art helps us understand who we are.

The first half focuses on storytelling in sound. Arias by Purcell and Gluck draw us into worlds of drama and imagination, where love, loss and truth are voiced with striking emotional clarity. Though rooted in myth, these moments feel timeless and immediate.

String music by Vaughan Williams, Barber and Grieg continues the narrative without words, using colour, atmosphere and melody to evoke landscape, memory and legend. These are stories suggested rather than told, inviting listeners to bring their own experiences to the music.

In the second half, Schoenbergs Verklrte Nacht turns inward. Paired with a new choreography by the Rees Dance Company, music and movement trace an intense, intimate journey from darkness towards understanding, bringing the programme to a powerful close.