Saturday 2 March 2019 SJE Arts

Empowered Women Trilogy: Into the Melting Pot

The Lives and Soundtrack of Christian, Jewish and Arabic Women in Medieval Spain

Blurring the boundaries of what a concert is, The Telling bring you three intimate “concert-theatre” pieces to mark International Women’s Day 2019, transporting you back in time through plaintive ballads, lively dance music and dramatic narrative. The Empowered Women Trilogy celebrates the lives of three extraordinary women who defy the strictures of their time and whose stories are both of their time but also startlingly contemporary.

Suzanne Ahmet actress

Clare Norburn soprano, writer

Ariane Prussner mezzo, percussion

Joy Smith harp, percussion

Giles Lewin vielle

Fatima Lahham recorders

Natalie Rowland & Pitch Black Lighting lighting design

Spain, July 1492: the deadline for the expulsion of the Jews is days away. At twilight a Jewish woman lights the lamps and starts up her spinning wheel. It is her last night in Seville. She tunes into voices of a community of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women from across the Spanish peninsula. Down the centuries, women’s stories of integration, love, the rich cultural heritage of the Spanish peninsula and racial intolerance are played out to a soundtrack of plaintive Sephardic songs and lively medieval Cantigas and instrumentals which fuse Christian, Jewish and Arabic instrumentation and styles. With atmospheric candlelight and lighting design.