Leon McCawley: “No-one wanted to break the extraordinary spell he generated”
NO-ONE needs a second prompt when it comes to Leon McCawley. His success at the Leeds International Piano Competition, where he was runner-up in 1993, endeared him to northern audiences. Sure enough, there was a virtually full house for this generous recital, which included sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
Yet there were more than a few times during the first half of the evening when his adrenalin seemed to take over from his judgement. That was not the case in the second half, which he devoted to Schubert’s last sonata, D.960 in B flat major.
Athletes and performers alike talk about being “in the zone”. For some, it has become something of a Holy Grail, desirable but unattainable. In other words, it is but rarely reached. McCawley found it here. He played the Schubert like a man possessed, not running amok, quite the opposite. The audience sensed it early on and kept incredibly quiet, even between movements. No-one wanted to break the extraordinary spell he generated.
In what is possibly the quietest of Schubert’s first movements, McCawley sustained a magical serenity, having taken longer than usual to start, poised over the keys but waiting. When the distant trills arrived, they carried not menace so much as weight, like a distant rumble of thunder without any rain.
Although Schubert’s multiple key-changes can easily disrupt the flow, they were not allowed to here, seeming perfectly and smoothly logical. A little acceleration here, deceleration there, which might have sounded pretentious, were all of a piece with McCawley’s intensity. This slackened not a whit in the Andante, which was deeply thoughtful and ended with the same serenity we had heard earlier.
The scherzo was fiery but light, with crisp inner voices. Gravity returned in the trio but evaporated with the scherzo’s return and peaceful conclusion. The finale was inevitably more extrovert, and even briefly stormy, but the scale was always intimate, as if secrets were being shared rather than trumpeted around the hall.
By now McCawley had the audience in the palm of his hand and could have got away with almost anything. But he kept faith with our intelligence and resisted the temptation to over-explain. It was possible to believe that this was exactly how Schubert intended it to be. Certainly it was a performance never to be forgotten.
He had opened with a brusque account of Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971, which was accurate but had a scrambled feel, particularly in the final Presto. Beethoven’s E minor sonata, Op 90 was in retrospect the warm-up for the Schubert to come, shapely and with a great deal of surface feeling, but not quite penetrating to the innermost depths.
Mozart’s F major sonata, K.332 began with a pleasing clarity and ended with wit and finesse, while its central Adagio fluctuated tenderly between major and minor. But the Schubert was something else altogether.
Gould Piano Trio: Lucy Gould, Richard Lester and Benjamin Frith, right
NOT many ensembles undertake Tchaikovsky’s only piano trio. Its wide-ranging scope and the difficulties it presents, particularly to a pianist, put it outside many groups’ field of vision.
The Goulds, however, are not easily intimidated. They have recorded it, and preceded it here with Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn, Felix’s elder sister) and our own Judith Weir.
Tchaikovsky was pretty cut up by the death of his great friend Nikolai Rubinstein, the pianist who co-founded what became the Moscow Conservatory and also premiered Balakirev’s notorious Islamey.
After a summer of sorrow, he wrote his only piano trio over the Christmas period 1881-2, To The Memory Of A Great Artist. It reflects both the composer’s grief and the personality and prowess of Rubinstein.
The Gould’s success with the piece, played after the interval, depended to a great extent on the supreme control of its pianist, Benjamin Frith. His extremely rapid arpeggios in the opening movement, for example, were tastefully suppressed, so that balance with the strings was never under threat, and he kept his greatest intensity for the big climax after the central Adagio of this huge movement, from which the ensemble subsided gracefully.
The theme and 12 variations of the second movement, some of which are quite short, represent Rubinstein’s mercurial charm and incidents in his life, although Tchaikovsky is not specific about the details. So they require a chameleon-like response from the players. The Goulds were more than equal to the task, flashing between moods as to the manner born.
After the early repetitions of the folksong-style theme – sweetly eloquent in Lucy Gould’s violin, richly autumnal in Richard Lester’s cello – the two strings combined in tasty duet before Frith brilliantly evoked a musical box in Variation 6.
The succeeding waltz was sheer delight, while the Fugue was notable for the clarity of its individual voices. Frith really came into his own in the mazurka, where he evoked Chopin. The five-minute cut authorised by Tchaikovsky made the final variation and coda much more persuasive than if given complete.
Although going hell for leather, the players remained keenly aware of each other’s roles, while the closing funeral march, echoing the very opening of the work, was a tear-jerker. The work had sounded far better than this listener had thought possible. Indeed, I bought the disc.
Fanny Mendelssohn has only in recent years begun to be recognised for the superb composer she was, having languished far too long in her brother’s shadow. Her Piano Trio in D minor was written in 1846, the year before her death, although not published till 1850. So she never heard it, in public at least.
The work opened the evening. At once it was clear that the players were listening and responding to each other in the pleasing Allegro, and there was an equally charming lightness of touch in the gentle Andante. The 3rd movement, Lied, with its piano prologue, reached a surprisingly emphatic climax. In the finale, the Goulds again allowed the music to speak for itself – not as easy as it sounds – and this time its climax was beautifully prepared.
Judith Weir’s Trio – the first of two so far – dates from 1998 and is a beguiling piece. Although not programmatic, it is inspired by locations. The Venice of Schubert’s solo song Gondelfahrer (Barcarole) lies behind its opening, and it was easy to sense the bells of St Mark’s and the lights twinkling on the water, although the gondolier seemed to be making heavy weather of his paddling.
Scurrying strings with piano interjections marked the opening of the scherzo, with fiercer, lower timbres in its more accented trio, the two eventually coming into collision like satellites swerving off course.
African energies had been the inspiration here. Darting melodic snippets, looking for an alliance, resulted from her vision of deserted Hebridean beaches in the finale. This is spacious writing, gloriously uncluttered, and the Goulds revelled in it: music to hear and hear again, especially when played with such love.
Accessible Arts & Media hits 40! Pictured here is an Inclusive Music Project performance, Sing Out!, in 2019. Picture: Elly Ross
YORK inclusive arts charity Accessible Arts & Media’s 40th anniversary concert takes place at Temple Hall, York St John University, on Saturday afternoon.
“We’re all pretty blown away that we’ve managed to reach 40,” says creative director Rose Kent. “All the more incredible is that Hands & Voices [the singing and signing choir] are 25 and the Inclusive Music Project programme is ten this year.
“In true Accessible Arts & Media style, we’re marking our big 4-0 milestone with a special Big Birthday Bash with our friends from Communitas Choir and York St John, and we’re delighted that it’s a sell-out.”
Accessible Arts & Media started life as York Film Workshop in 1982 and registered as a charity, Old Dairy Studios, in 1988. “From 1992 to 2007, Old Dairy Studios delivered an annual Youth Month programme, giving young people in York the chance to record television and radio shows, form bands and record and perform music,” recalls Rose.
A rebrand in 2002 saw Old Dairy Studios re-launch as Cube Media. Meanwhile, in 1992, Artlink York was set up, as part of the national Shape disability arts network, changing its name to Accessible Arts four years later. “This was the beginning of Accessible Arts & Media’s long history of supporting learning-disabled people to unleash their inner artist,” says Rose.
Accessible Arts & Media was formed by the merger of Accessible Arts and Cube Media in 2008 and is now based at Sanderson House, Bramham Road, York.
“Over the past 40 years, Accessible Arts & Media’s creative projects have helped more than 10,000 people find their moment to shine,” says Rose.
Here she picks out her highlights:
* Being among the first organisations in Great Britain to introduce singing and signing to the mainstream, with the formation of the Hands & Voices. Still going strong 25 years later.
* AbleWeb started in 2011 as an online radio station run for and by learning disabled adults; developed into an inclusive information website that ran until 2018. AbleWeb team, all learning-disabled adults, created content for the site and made films and podcasts with community groups.
* Developing iMUSE, a multi-sensory creative environment that helps reduce stress and anxiety. Accessible Arts & Media is one of a handful of organisations worldwide that uses iMUSE, working with people with mental ill-health, people living with dementia and people with complex disabilities.
* Inclusive Music Projects were launched as a weekly inclusive music club for young people in 2012. Now provides a year-round programme of music activities for disabled and non-disabled children and young people from York and the surrounding area.
“As a small local charity, we’re really proud to have reached our 40-year milestone,” says Rose. “With our Hands & Voices choir turning 25 and our IMPs programme reaching ten years, we figured the best way to celebrate our triple whammy was to put on a show.
“What’s more, we’d love to hear from people who’ve taken part in our projects over the years. So, if you ever recorded at Old Dairy Studios, Cube Media or Studio Cube, joined in one of our Youth Months or came along to any of our projects and events, we’d welcome your Accessible Arts & Media memories! You can contact us at aamedia.org.uk or via our social media, facebook.com/aamedia.org.uk/ and twitter.com/aamedia_org_uk. We can’t wait to hear your stories.”
To join the waiting list for returned tickets for Saturday’s concert, contact Accessible Arts & Media at info@aamedia.org.uk or on 01904 626965.
PRODUCER and conductor Ewa Salecka will lead York choir Prima Vocal Ensemble in Song Of The Universal, their November 6 concert of Ola Gjeilo music at Riley Smith Hall, Tadcaster.
The York choir will be joined by The Mowbray Orchestra and pianist Greg Birch in a one-off performance of inspiring, enchanting orchestral and choral contemporary works by the Norwegian composer.
“With cocktail-style seating and bar facilities available throughout the Riley Smith Hall, this gem of a venue – just a short drive from York – promises a musical evening to appeal to every taste,” says Ewa (pronounced ‘Eh-va’).
Gjeilo’s distinctive sound is marked by sweeping melodious lines in waves of rich harmony, heavily influenced by cinematic-style orchestration. His work has been a constant highlight of Prima’s repertoire and a personal favourite of Ewa for many years.
“His music has the broadest appeal, being accessible to everyone” she explains. “There’s something for all listeners, from classical connoisseurs to those who simply love an instantly enjoyable stirring melody.
“For more than 12 years now, we’ve been one of the most versatile community choirs in the area,” says Prima Vocal Ensemble producer and conductor Ewa Salecka
“Additionally, the works are raised to new levels by the use of poetry and lyrics of the highest artistic standard.”
Prima have enjoyed collaborations with the polished musicians of The Mowbray Orchestra for many years. “They are outstanding professionals,” she says. “It’s always a thrill to work with instrumentalists of this standard.”
Her praise for the Prima singers shows no limits too: “I’m eternally proud of the achievements of this non-auditioning group. For more than 12 years now, we’ve been one of the most versatile community choirs in the area,” says Ewa.
“I love to create performance opportunities for people and I’m always looking for original material that will both appeal to and broaden the musical palette of the choir. In return, they always reward me with a passion and dedication that is genuinely humbling.”
The 7.30pm programme will include the British premiere of two Gjeilo works: first, the Dreamweaver suite, based on a Norwegian folk poem, recounts the dreams of its main character through the poetic verse of lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri.
The poster for Prima Vocal Ensemble’s Song Of The Universal concert in Tadcaster
Then, in Song Of The Universal, Gjeilo has created another signature uplifting sound, one that enhances the faith and belief in humanity expressed eloquently through the lyrics of American poet Walt Whitman.
To conclude the evening, Ewa will conduct Prima and the Mowbray string musicians in Gjeilo’s celebrated Sunrise Mass, originally intended to be performed before the pandemic. “In this featured work, movements of the Latin Mass are uniquely set to original English titles, reflecting the composer’s wish to express a very human emotional journey,” she says.
“Sunrise Mass memorably concludes this metaphor with Gjeilo’s masterpiece, The Ground, here in its original orchestral and choral glory.”
Extending a welcome to all in the Riley-Smith Hall’s relaxed, informal ambience, Ewa says: “Come and join us for what promises to be a unique, intimate and emotionally charged evening of the very best in contemporary choral music.”
Prompt booking is recommended at primavocalensemble.com/event-details/song-of-the-universal-concert-of-music-by-ola-gjeilo-1.
HULL Truck Theatre’s second half of their 50th anniversary season unleashes Ladies Unleashed, the third instalment of Amanda Whittington’s trilogy.
In the wake of Hull Truck hits Ladies Day – the one set at York Racecourse to coincide with Royal Ascot switching to Knavesmire in 2005 – and Ladies Down Under two years later, now the Nottingham playwright celebrates friendship, growing older and living for today.
Directed by artistic director Mark Babych, Ladies Unleashed reunites four friends, Hull fish factory workers Jan, Pearl, Linda and Shelley in 2022 on the peaceful, magical retreat of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in a story of secrets and mysteries, reunions and an imminent wedding, twists and surprises.
“Seventeen years! It’s absolutely frightening! I was checking when I started, thinking it must be ten years ago, but in fact it was 2005, and the world has changed so much since then,” says Amanda.
“I can’t believe it’s so long since we first went to Ladies Day with the fish factory foursome, and to Australia in Ladies Down Under a few years later. Creating these stories for Hull Truck was a magical time and the audience response was unforgettable.
“Since then, the two Ladies plays have been a firm favourite on the amateur circuit across the UK. Barely a month goes by without a production somewhere in the country, keeping the play alive since its original production. It’s such a gift as a writer to know what affection your characters are held in.”
Pearl (Fenella Norman), Jan (Allison Saxton) and Linda (Sara Beharrell) have not seen Shelley (Hull-born Gemma Oaten) for years, but when she suddenly turns up, Linda’s plans for a weekend of quiet contemplation (“not a hen party,” she says) take a different turn as tensions rise with the tide.
“I’ve always set the plays in the present day, so now Pearl is in her early 70s; Jan, mid-60s; Linda and Shelley around 40,” says Amanda.
Gemma Oaten in rehearsal for her role as Shelley in Ladies Unleashed at Hull Truck Theatre
“A whole generation has gone by, and I was quite reluctant to get back on the bike, after doing Ladies Day as a one-off, but then I did another one two years later, and so the characters are still very much alive in village halls and community centres.
“I thought of all the people who’ve been in Ladies Day or seen it, and there were discussions with Nick Hern Books, the publishers, who’ve been really instrumental in keeping the Ladies alive all these years.
“Then I started talking to artistic director Mark Babych about new ideas for the 50th anniversary, and a new Ladies play was floated. I was curious to think about where they were a generation later, but presenting it as a stand-alone play, looking at getting older and the benefits and challenges of doing that, when you don’t normally do that with characters from earlier plays.”
The third instalment was commissioned pre-pandemic. “There was a first draft, then the lockdowns, and when I came back to it, there’d been more changes,” says Amanda.
“I write about where we are, where we’ve been, so it’s partly a play about time. Writing dialogue for those characters again, I found it was like they’d never been away. They were just back in the room.
“It felt instantly right, and then it was about putting it in a dramatic framework that felt contemporary.”
After a day at the York Races in Ladies Day and a trip to Australia in Ladies Down Under, Amanda now sends Pearl Jan, Linda and Shelley to Lindisfarne and lets the island work its spell on them, like in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Tim Firth’s Neville’s Island.
“That was exactly the thought behind it, to get them to a place they can’t get off, a place that had so much history and texture, and, like Hull, had a great fishing industry, giving it that connection with the past.”
Ladies Unleashed cast members in the rehearsal room: from left, Martha Godber, Nell Baker, Fenella Norman, Sara Beharrell,, Allison Saxton and Gemma Oaten
Here was the cue for two new additions to the Whittington ranks of women, young fish workers Mabel (played by Martha Godber) and Daisy (Nell Baker), whose friendship from Lindisfarne’s past stirs anew as the island itself becomes restless, the sky darkens, the air chills, and the winds of change blow skeletons from closets. Whereupon past, present and future collide.
“I thought, what happens if the past comes alive and the young women they might have been awaken, working on the island a century earlier?” says Amanda. “This was the chance to bring magic realism into the play, and that’s been a lovely thing to open up.”
Women’s stories are at the heart of Amanda’s plays. “That’s very much what I’m about as a writer. It felt very natural for me to do that, and right from the beginning of my career that’s the voice I’ve always spoken in. Even now it’s still not common but it’s a characteristic of my work,” she says.
“John Godber’s plays, Arthur Miller’s plays, are never talked about as ‘male plays’, but women’s plays stand out because there just aren’t as many. Ladies Unleashed is about a female world, and as the women of Holy Island’s past come alive, it shows how women’s lives have changed so radically and yet how some things have still not changed.
“Thankfully, there are lots of untold stories from history about women that are being told now, but they’re not stories just for women; they’re stories for everyone.”
Ladies Unleashed plays out in the age of #MeToo and a rising focus on women’s rights. “It’s released something in the last few years that’s not about men versus women, or oppressing women, particularly as there are damaged men as well,” says Amanda. “That’s the spirit of my work, with women giving their perspective on a century of change, and in 2022 it’s really welcomed by audiences.”
What are the ladies unleashing, Amanda? “What holds them together is that core of friendship, and the key to that is their work as fish factory workers, but they all have something they need to be released from, barriers to break through, and part of that comes down to how that differs in the different generations and how that’s changed,” she says.
Hull Truck Theatre in Ladies Unleashed, September 29 to October 22. Last performance, 7.30pm. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Greg Haiste, left, and York-born writer and actor David Reed cross swords in rehearsal for York Theatre Royal’s premiere of Guy Fawkes. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
POLITICAL fireworks, street art indoors, beer and bratwurst, a Velvet Underground pioneer and the history of ghosts spark up Charles Hutchinson’s interest.
Premiere of the week: Guy Fawkes, York Theatre Royal, Friday to November 12
WAR-WEARY, treasonous son of York Guy Fawkes vows to restore a Catholic monarch to the English throne, whatever the cost. In the private room of an upmarket tavern, a clandestine of meeting of misfits takes place between this dark dissident, a Poundshop Machiavelli, a portly boob, a clumsy princess, a preposterous toff and a shoddy ham as they plot the most audacious crime ever attempted on British soil.
David Reed, from comedy trio The Penny Dreadfuls, plays York’s traitorous trigger man in his long-awaited combustible comedy-drama with its devilishly dangerous mix of Blackadder and Upstart Crow. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Torrents (Willow Herald Speak), by Michael Dawson, from Navigators Art’s Coney St Jam art intervention at the StreetLife project hub
Exhibition of the week: Navigators Art, Coney St Jam: An Art Intervention, StreetLife project hub, Coney Street, York, until November 19
YORK collective Navigators Art draw inspiration from the city’s rich heritage and vibrant creative communities to explore ways to revitalise and diversify Coney Street. On show is painting, drawing, collage, textile and 3D work, complemented by photography, projections, music and poetry.
Taking part are: Steve Beadle; Michael Dawson; Alfie Fox; Alan Gillott; Oz Hardwick; Richard Kitchen; Katie Lewis; Tim Morrison; Peter Roman; Amy Elena Thompson; Dylan Thompson and Nick Walters.
Woman To Woman: Julia Fordham, left, Rumer, Judie Tzuke and Beverley Craven will be in harmony at York Barbican
Collaboration of the week: Woman To Woman (Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke, Julia Fordham & Rumer), York Barbican, tonight, 6.30pm
NOT a rumour, definitely true, Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke and Julia Fordham have invited Rumer to join them for the latest Woman To Woman tour.
In this collaboration between the four female singer-songwriters, they present hit singles and album tracks, such as Promise Me, Happy Ever After, Welcome To The Cruise, Slow, Holding On, (Love Moves In) Mysterious Ways, Aretha and Stay With Me Till Dawn.
“We cannot wait to share a stage together, create beautiful vocal harmonies with each other and collaborate on some possible new material,” they say. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Self aware: Comedian Helen Bauer discusses herself at Theatre@41. Picture: James Deacon
Comedy gig of the week: Helen Bauer, Madam Good Tit, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm
SELF-AWARE stand-up Helen Bauer is on the road with her Edinburgh Fringe show about self-confidence, self-esteem and self-care. “It’s the year of ‘the self’ and I’m trying to be the change I want you to see,” says Helen, who grew up in Hampshire blandness and honed her comedic craft in Berlin.
Expect adult themes and language, including natural disasters and eating disorders, forewarns Theatre@41, as York awaits the co-host of two podcasts, Trusty Hogs with Catherine Bohart and Daddy Look At Me with Rosie Jones. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Velma Celli: York drag diva supreme adds sauce to all the bratwurst and beer at Yorktoberfest
Festival of the week: Yorktoberfest Beer Festival, Clocktower Enclosure, York Racecourse, today and next Saturday, 1pm to 5pm, 7pm to 11pm; Friday, 7pm to 11pm. Doors open: evenings, 6.30pm; daytime, 12.30pm.
FOLLOWING up last year’s debut, Yorktoberfest returns in party mood for beer, bratwurst, bumper cars and all things Bavarian. This beer festival mirrors the first Oktoberfest staged in 1810 in Munich, where the citizens were encouraged to eat, drink and be merry at the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and his princess bride.
Step inside a giant marquee to discover the rustic Bavarian Bar and Dog Haus, full of bratwurst, currywurst, schnitzel, apple strudel and pretzels; live music by the Bavarian Strollers oompah band and vocal drag queen entertainment by York’s own Velma Celli. Dodgems and a twister add funfair thrills. Box office: yorktoberfest.co.uk.
Underground overground: Velvets legend John Cale to be spotted at York Barbican on Monday
THE gig of the week, John Cale, York Barbican, Monday, 8pm
VELVET Underground icon John Cale’s only Yorkshire gig of his rearranged 2022 tour has moved from July 19 to Monday on his first British itinerary in a decade.
The Welsh multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, who turned 80 in March, will be performing songs from a career that began in classical and avant-garde music before he formed The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed in New York in 1965.
Over six pioneering decades, Cale has released 16 solo studio albums, while also collaborating with Brian Eno, Patti Smith, The Stooges, Squeeze, Happy Mondays, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Super Furry Animals and Manic Street Preachers. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Doctor Dorian Deathly: Will his face melt in his horror show at Theatre@41?
From ghost walk to ghost talk: Doctor Dorian Deathly: A Night Of Face Melting Horror (or The Complete History Of Ghosts), Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to October 31, 8.30pm
VISIT York Tourism Awards winner Doctor Dorian Deathly, spookologist and ghost botherer, celebrates Halloween season with six nights of ghost stories, paranormal sciences, theatrical trickery, horror, original music and perhaps the odd unexpected guest (with the emphasis on ‘odd’?).
“Together we will huddle around the stage and explore spine-chilling tales of hauntings, both local and further afield, dissemble horrors captured on film and follow the ghost story through from the origins to the Victorian classics and modern- day frights,” says Deathly, whose face-melting macabre amusements are suitable for age 13 upwards. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Black History Month concert at Grand Opera House, York
Harmonies of the week: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, supported by Muntu Valdo, Grand Opera House, York, October 29, 7.30pm
SOUTH African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s York concert marks Black History Month on their first British tour for many years.
When Paul Simon incorporated their harmonies into his ground-breaking 1986 album Graceland, that landmark recording was seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences.
Founded by the late Joseph Shabalala, the Grammy Award winners have since recorded with Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Barnsley folk singer Kate Rusby. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
Woman To Woman: The female fab four of Julia Fordham, left, Rumer, Judie Tzuke and Beverley Craven
WOMAN To Woman, the all-female fusion of singer-songwriter best of friends Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke and Julia Fordham and new addition Rumer, play York Barbican on night two of their 20-date tour tomorrow.
BRIT Award-nominated Rumer joins after gelling with Craven at a charity event, looking to build on the trio’s success with their 2018 album Woman To Woman and 2018-2019 tour that drew 35,000 people, then last November’s post-lockdown single, a cover of Andrew Gold’s Thank You For Being A Friend twinned with an original vocal piece, Juniper Tree.
A 23-track live album by Craven, Tzuke and Fordham, Woman To Woman – The Live Concert, followed in January, and now comes this autumn’s tour itinerary when York will be the only Yorkshire date for the new fab four.
Londoner Judie and her sisters in song began vocal rehearsals on October 8, followed by rehearsals sessions with their band. “Very scary, but very exciting,” she said, as she contemplated her latest return to the concert platform. “I go into a complete panic, thinking, ‘it’s coming, it’s coming’.”
It was ever thus for Judie, 66, who has always experienced stage nerves from Stay With Me Till Dawn days onwards and is most at home writing songs. “Absolutely. I always have been and I still am. I’ve always loved writing. It’s who I am. It’s my emotional release,” she says.
“I do have quite extreme feelings, and if I write songs, it gets them out of the system, so it’s therapeutic, though I’m quite scared as I’ve had cancer twice and it’s attacked muscles in my throat.
“I’ve never had a vocal coaching before, but now I’m doing it every day, and doing something called Airofit [a respiratory muscle training system], where you put this breathing apparatus in your mouth and you breathe against the resistance to build up the strength of your breathing. More than anything with Covid, I lost power in my breathing.”
How is Judie feeling? “Well, my vocal coach is sure I’ll be fine, but she’s not the one singing. I get terrified on stage, and the thing that keeps me going is my voice, which is now at 90 per cent, but I want to get it back to 100 per cent,” she says.
Confidence in her voice is vital, given her stage butterflies. “I love writing, but I don’t like being centre stage, as I’m chronically shy, but it’s a joy to have people interested in what I do,” she says.
Judie opens up further about her cancer experiences. “I had cancer nine years ago, and when I came back from that, I went back on stage too soon,” she says. “I always had this feeling that people were coming to see me fail, and I did this gig at the Union Chapel where my voice just wouldn’t recover as I sang.
“I thought adrenaline would kick in, but literally everything I’d feared kicked in, but my daughters [Bailey and Tallula, both singers] were with me and I got through it, getting so many standing ovations. That was a game changer.
“It made me less nervous to go out and do a show called Songs And Stories, where Bailey and Tallula did the backing vocals, and I could really get to know my audience, and how they know me through my songs because they’re lucky that I write lyrics that are very honest and are about people like me.
The tour poster for Woman To Woman
“That was the wonderful thing for me, to grow to understand my audience, where they could ask me questions, rather than feeling they were judging me.”
How did Judie, Julia and Beverley come together for Woman To Woman? “I’d met Julia very briefly at a writing retreat, and I met Beverley just before I had cancer, when I was asked to a ‘coat walk’, a charity do, a fashion show, parading up and down with mothers and daughters. But the day I got asked was the day just after I found out I had cancer and I said I’d do it if I was well enough.”
Judie’s treatment was confined to radiotherapy. “I was very lucky I didn’t have to have chemo,” she says.
Beverley later came up with the idea of performing together with a band. “She brought Julia on board too, and how we performed the shows came together naturally. Originally I thought we’d do our songs in rotation but it ended up with us doing backing vocals on each other’s songs,” says Judie. “I think for this new tour we’ll again alternate songs through each night.”
She is delighted that Rumer has come on board too, again at Beverley’s initiation. “I love singing with Rumer. Hers and my voice work well together, and we’ve been writing songs together for a couple of months.
“We don’t know what will happen next. We’ll put that on hold for now, but next year I hope we do a lot of songs for her next album. Right now Woman To Woman is what we’re concentrating on.”
Judie may be best known for her early albums, and particularly for the single Stay With Me Till Dawn, a number 16 hit in 1979, but as she looks back over 43 years in the limelight, she says: “I wish more people knew more of my albums. My favourite albums are my later ones because hopefully I got better as a songwriter.
“I listened to Wonderland the other day [her ninth album, from 1992], and I thought, ‘this is good’! All my songs are a diary of my life and I’m not ashamed of any of the music I’ve made. It all tells a story.
“I make the records for myself, but I also make them to connect with other people, and I kind of wish they did, because when they listen to the newer albums, they fall in love with the songs.
“Like Humankind [from the 2011 album One Tree Less]. I gave that one to Beverley and Julia when we were looking for songs we could do together, and it made me feel so good they loved it and wanted to do it with me.”
Judie continues: “It means I can keep singing, as I have a lot to say, a lot of feelings I want to share, like the way that other people’s music helped me through dark days when I was younger. Jackson Browne. Joni Mitchell. Free, for all sorts of reasons, especially Paul Rodgers’ voice. Marvin Gaye. Tammi Terrell. But the songs that really helped were by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Neil Young, John Martyn too.”
Songs that stay with you till dawn, like that beauteous ballad by Judie Tzuke (born Judie Myers), whose stage name has so often been misspelt or mispronounced. “What I like is when people spell my first name right, ‘Judie’, not ‘Judy’!” she says. “For the surname, I say it like ‘Zook’, because it’s much easier, but it should be more like ‘Zhooka’.”
Woman To Woman, Beverley Craven, Judie Tzuke, Julia Fordham and Rumer, York Barbican, tomorrow (22/10/2022), 7.30pm; doors, 6.30pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Loré Lixenburg: Hosting SINGLR An Appera at the NCEM, York, on Sunday
MEZZO soprano Loré Lixenberg hosts SINGLR An Appera, an experimental sound event, at the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, on Sunday at 8pm.
Developed at the University of York, the world’s first contemporary music experimental voice Appera – a cross between an app and an opera! – comes to St Margaret’s Church for one night only.
The stories presented on stage recount the first meetings of participants in a specially created purely vocal dating app, SINGLR.
Welcome to SINGLR’s “fabulous dreamlike musical evening”
SINGLR ponders: What kind of voice do you like? Low growly voices or high and pure? Are you a fan of a throaty, husky sound or a voice as clear and sonorous as a bell? What would be the outcome if we chose who to be with on the basis of the voice and vocal creativity, rather than the usual parameters of visual appearance, income and what kind of pizza someone prefers?
“For the audience, the SINGLR salon will be a fabulous dreamlike musical evening where ambient electronic tracks and live musicians accompany the vocalised conversations of the SINGLR app participants,” says Lydia Cottrell, of York event organisers SLAP.
Tickets can be booked on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk on a Pay What You Can basis: £2, £4, £6, £8 or £10.
Them There Then That, Tabitha Grove’s story about stories, tours Explore York York libraries for Big City Read through October
Tabitha Grove explores beauty in the way that everything holds a story in Them There Then That at Explore York libraries
IN a second SLAP event, Big City Read 2022 artist-in-residence Tabitha Grove is exploring the beauty of the way that everything holds a story in Them There Then That, on tour at Explore York Libraries on various dates until October 30.
This new solo performance is inspired by Behind The Scenes At The Museum, York shopkeeper’s daughter Kate Atkinson’s 1995 debut novel, wherein she depicts the experiences of Ruby Lennox, a girl from a working-class English family living in Atkinson’s home city.
“It isn’t just books that hold our stories. It’s the people. It’s the places. It’s the times. It’s the objects around us,” says the event blurb.
The poster for the Big City Read 2022’s tour of Them There Then That, a story about stories by Tabitha Grove
“We’ve all created stories from the moment that we could. We haven’t always written them though. We’ve drawn them, we’ve spoken them and we’ve sung them. And the point of all this? To share them.”
In doing so, “if we listen carefully enough, these tales can even help us create our own stories”.
Tabitha will be performing “a story about stories” at Tang Hall Explore Library tomorrow, 11am to 12 noon; Hungate Reading Café, October 26, 7pm to 8pm; Dringhouses Library, October 29, 1pm to 1.30pm, and York Explore Library, October 30, 2pm to 3pm. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, starting at free, at slapyork.co.uk/events?tag=TTTT.
Don McLean: The day the music lived on at York Barbican
THE album sleeve to 1971’s American Pie was spread large across the York Barbican stage, the familiar Stars and Stripes thumbs-up now adorned with the number 50.
It would not be until 1972 that Don McLean’s double A-sided title track – all 8 minutes 42 seconds of it – would make number two in the British charts, making the 50th Anniversary celebrations of this different form of “growing the Pie” apposite for this year’s British tour.
McLean, the singer, songwriter and guitarist from New Rochelle, New York, turned 76 four days after his York show in a year when he has toured for long months, playing songs old and much newer from his ever-extending catalogue.
American Pie may have charted “the day the music died” but that music has never died for McLean, whose love of playing live, and desire to please the audience with his commitment to those performances, remains undimmed, as he expressed at length in gratitude mid-set on his return to a venue he had visited previously in May 2015 and April 2018.
“Are you ready for a good time,” he asked as he stood on a carpet – like the late Leonard Cohen at Leeds First Direct Arena on his last British tour – his eyes shielded by dark glasses, where once they were so expressive on his British television appearances of the Seventies; his dress code more that of a veteran rock’n’roller than a folk troubadour as he led a five-piece band that would have been equally at home in a bar room.
That would be true of his set too, played with a swagger, rather than tenderness of yore, his voice now deeper, worn, weathered, although not to the extent of American Recordings-era Johnny Cash. The thickening years were most noticeable on Vincent, a starry, starry night now gauzed in clouds.
There was to be no Crying tonight, but the boisterous American Boys Invented Rock’n’Roll was a latterday joy, catching the night’s mood.
To his right as ever was pianist and arranger Tony Migliore, his sidesman for 32 years. “That’s longer than my two marriages put together – and a lot more fun,” McLean joshed.
How many times must they have lived out McLean’s words: “And I knew if I had my chance/That I could make those people dance/And maybe they’d be happy for a while”?
Here they were, doing so again, as McLean struck up “A long, long time ago”, the cue for the audience to “still remember how that music used to make me smile”, taking to their feet at his urging for “what you’ve been waiting for”.
That song of mystique and mystery, that cultural landmark, that song karaoke’d by Madonna, American Pie, here served with an extra slice. “Do you wanna sing it some more,” he need not have asked, providing his own answer with a faster reprise.
The music died? Its makers may die, sometimes tragically, too soon, but its heart still beats and always will, here spontaneously prompting a musical stethoscope affirmation: a rousing finale of Heartbreak Hotel, the first number one for one of those American boys who gave birth to rock’n’roll, Elvis. Rearrange those letters, Elvis…lives on, and so will American Pie.
Thumbs up, Don.
Did you know?
Don McLean released the album Tapestry in October 1970. Carole King’s 30 million seller of the same title followed soon after, in February 1971.
Michael Akinsulire’s Othello in a street clash in Frantic Assembly’s 21st century Othello. Picture: Tristram Kenton
HOW reassuring to see packed houses for theatre shows in York this autumn, whether for Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d at the Theatre Royal or SIX The Musical at the Grand Opera House.
Sitting next to Theatre Royal chief executive Tom Bird on Tuesday night, he revealed that 60 schools – yes, 60 – had booked for Frantic Assembly’s combustible 21st century reimagining of Othello, Shakespeare’s tragedy of paranoia, sex and murder.
“That’s the draw of Frantic Assembly, not Othello,” he said. Maybe, but you don’t have one without the other.
The crackle of excitement in the air, the cheers that greeted the company’s arrival on stage, brought to mind the electric surge triggered by the visits of Emma Rice’s Wise Children company, most recently for Wuthering Heights, that again drew young audiences in abundance.
Drink it all in: Joe Layton’s Iago, left, Tom Gill’s Cassio, Felipe Pacheco’s Roderigo, Oliver Baines’s Montano and Matthew Trevannion’s Brabantio (right) in a scene from Frantic Assembly’s Othello. Picture: Tristram Kenton
You could draw comparisons between the two companies: the importance of choreography; the almost dangerous physicality of the performances; the unexpected moments of humour; the chemistry and one-for-all and all-for-one commitment between actors; the instant bond with the audience; the drive to bring text to thrilling life; the propulsive power of thunderous music.
Yorkshireman Joe Layton, who plays an incorrigible Iago, puts it this way: “The way Frantic work, you are creating a physical sequence, finding a physical connection between characters,” he says. “Then story and characters are layered in on top of that. You throw yourself in and trust the director. You have to give yourself and trust the process,” he says.
From the off, that working practice is borne out in a fast, furious and, yes, frantic Othello, adapted, directed and choreographed by Scott Graham and Steve Hoggett, newly updated for the 2022 tour co-produced with Curve, Leicester.
That opening feels like plugging into the powerlines of The Prodigy’s Firestarter in a wordless, breathless scene-setter that introduces characters (Shakespeare), setting (Laura Hopkins) and soundscape (Hybrid) all at once.
Michael Akinsulire’s Othello listens to Joe Layton’s poison-dripping Iago as Chanel Waddock’s Desdemona looks on. Picture: Tristram Kenton
Think Shameless or This England; a bar with a pool table and a slot machine; bottled beers; everyone off their heads or on a short fuse in high-street zip tops, trainers, hoodies, stretchy sportswear and joggers.
One long Friday night, full of broken glass, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and the darkest intents; a darker brew of John Godber’s Bouncers, where the booze meets the bruise.
Let Frantic Assembly light the fuse, then stand well back, but feel the fierce heat from all that brutal physicality as Layton’s mendacious manipulator Iago winds up Michael Akinsulire’s Othello, the Moor, who is as muscular with Shakespeare’s words as he is physically, his eyes bursting, his mind mangled, his baseball bat never far away.
This is an Othello of myriad street accents, making it universal, from Tom Gill’s Scouse Cassio to Akinsulire’s North London Othello; Chanel Waddock’s Essex Desdemona to Kirsty Stuart’s Scottish Emilia.
The pace is relentless, the dialogue hot on the tongue, the choreography dazzling, sometimes beautiful and sensuous, as in Akinsulire and Waddock’s pas de deux spread across the pool table, later to be repeated in such contrasting circumstances at the finale.
Frantic’s trademark physicality extends even to Hopkins’ design, suddenly coming to life in wave-like motions, first when a drunken Cassio staggers along the wall, and later when Othello is overcome with shock at what he has done, wishing it might swallow him.
Nothing sums up this Othello better than Iago’s prophetic T-shirt, Just Do It. Let’s hope Frantic Assembly will be back to “just do it” again, whatever the play, because Shakespeare all shook up this way demands a follow-up with more of this full-on brand of theatre.
Frantic Assembly’s Othello, York Theatre Royal, 7.30pm tonight until Saturday; 2pm, Thursday; 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
