Tag: Andrea Brown

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as the ‘Sheds’ have a day out amid the huts. Hutch’s List No. 26, from The York Press

Shed Seven, huts five: Heading to the Yorkshire coast for the York band’s Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut today

OPEN studios, chocolate tales, dinosaurs and reflections on time make for a typically diverse week ahead in Charles Hutchinson’s diary.

Coastal gig of the week: Shed Seven, Jake Bugg and Cast, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, tonight; gates open at 6pm

THE 2025 season of Cuffe & Taylor concerts in the bracing sea air of Scarborough is under way. After two chart-topping 2024 albums in their 30th anniversary year, York band Shed Seven make their belated Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut tonight, supported by Jake Bugg and Cast. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Ric Liptrot: Taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios at PICA Studios, Grape Lane, York, today and tomorrow

Festival of the week: North Yorkshire Open Studios, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

MORE than 200 artists and makers are taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios 2025. In and around York, look out for Helen Drye; Emma James; Alex Ash; Dee Thwaite; Veronica Ongara; Rachel Jones; Laura Duval; Karen Winship; Donna Maria Taylor; Di Gomery;  Caroline Utterson; Jacqueline Warrington; Constance Isobel; Jill Tattersall and Adele Karmazyn.

Opening their studios too will be: Mo Nisbet; Robin Groveer-Jacques; Fran Brammer; Rob Burton; Jo Walton; Ric Liptrot; Rae George; Lu Mason; Lisa Power; Lesley Shaw; Katrina Mansfield; Evie Leach; Drawne Up; Sam Jones; Greenthwaite Sculptor (Janie Stevens); Sarah Schiewe Ceramics; Gonzalo Blanco, Gina Bean; Freya Horsley; Graham Jones; Justine Warner; Andrew Bloodworth and Steve Page. Full details can be found at nyos.org.uk.

Theatre Of Connections: Bringing to life the deep roots of chocolate’s story in IxCacao at York Theatre Royal Studio

Chocolate story of the week: Theatre Of Connections, IxCacao, York Theatre Royal Studio, today, 4pm

INSPIRED by the Mayan legend of the Cacao Goddess, IxCacao journeys into an ancient time when the Earth thrived under the care of matriarchs and the rhythm of nature. Movement, song, and storytelling combine in a reclamation of community, pleasure and ancestral knowledge in the face of domination:  a reminder that joy is a revolutionary act and that true abundance is meant for all.

Theatre Of Connections, a York theatre group made up of “individuals from the global majority and people with refugee and asylum-seeker background”, brings to life the deep roots of chocolate’s story to honour the many who have carried its legacy forward. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Shepherd Group Brass Band : In concert at Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Brass concert of the week: Shepherd Group Brass Band Spring Concert, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

FROM their Brass Roots through to their Championship section, the Shepherd  Group Brass Band presents a mix of all genres of music, culminating in a grand finale when all band members play together on stage. Tickets update: Last few still available on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Robert Lloyd Parry: Telling tales from The Archive Of Dread at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Tales of terror of the week: Robert Lloyd Parry in The Archive Of Dread: Revisited, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 7.30pm

IN late 2019, Southport storyteller Robert Lloyd Parry inherited the contents of a flat belonging to a dead man he had never met. The property was full of boxes, stuffed with chilling documents: letters, diaries, newspaper cuttings, notebooks and postcards. Filed in disarray, they all told impossible tales of terror. 

After the stunning revelation of two of these documents in York last year, Lloyd Parry now begs leave to share more items from The Archive Of Dread. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rock’n’looroll: The Dinosaur That Pooped: The Rock Show at Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow

Children’s show of the week: The Dinosaur That Pooped: A Rock Show, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 12.30pm and 3.30pm 

WHEN Danny and Dino’s favourite rock band announce their last ever concert, they go on a quest to acquire the last two tickets. However, a villainous band manager is lurking, so nothing goes to plan. Will the band perform? Will Danny rock out? Or will Dino’s rumbling tummy save the day?

Adapted from the number one best-selling books by McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter, this new 60-minute stage show, directed by Miranda Larson, promises a “poopy good time” for all the family. Cue new songs by Fletcher and Poynter, loads of laughs and “a whole lot of poo”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Singer Jessa Liversidge, left, and her poet sister Andrea Brown: Combining in A Tapestry Of Life at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Life, love and loss: Jessa Liversidge: A Tapestry Of Life, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tomorrow, 6pm

EASINGWOLD singer, songwriter and community singing workshop champion Jessa Liversidge presents her 60-minute solo musical performance, inspired by Carole King’s album Tapestry.

Such much-loved songs as You’ve Got A Friend, Will You Love Me  Tomorrow?, It’s Too Late, So Far Away, I Feel The Earth Move and Natural Woman will be interspersed with original songs, rooted in the powerful poetry of Jessa’s sister, Andrea Brown, from her Life, Love, Loss collection, reflecting on “life’s big themes of love and friendship and loss, situations and journeys, that every human can identify with”. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Comedian Raul Kohli: Exploring what it means to be British in Raul Brittania at Theatre@41, Monkgate

Comedy gig of the week: Raul Kohli: Raul Brittania, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, June 21, 8pm

COMEDIAN and proud Brit Raul Kohli is the son of a Hindu Indian and Sikh Singaporean, raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, where his best friend was a Pakistani Muslim.

Kohli has lived in every corner of this glorious nation and is fascinated by the diversity of these small isles.  Imagine his surprise to hear from politicians and the media that “multiculturalism has failed”: the spark that lit the flame for his exploration of what it means to be British. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Poet Ian Parks: Performing in About Time Too at St Olave’s, Marygate, York, this evening

In Focus: York Festival of Ideas event of the day: Navigators Art presents About Time Too, St Olave’s, Marygate, York,today, 7pm

ABOUT Time Too rounds off a day of free talks celebrating time. Navigators Art’s evening concert features poetry readings, music and original song settings, including works by York-born poet W H Auden and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney, together with time-related works by York writers and musicians.

Taking part will be Jane Stockdale, from White Sail; poet Ian Parks; electronic musicians  Namke Productions; writer and University of York creative industries academic JT Welsch and poet and novelist Janet Dean Knight. Box office: bit.ly/nav-events.

Meanwhile, the Micklegate Arts Trail is in its final week, ending on Sunday (15/6/2025) with live music at The Falcon and The Hooting Owl at 2pm and 7pm, as well as works by 35 York artists in shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.

Look out, in particular, for the display of 3D work in Holy Trinity church, curated by Navigators team member Nick Walters.

Navigators Art’s poster for Making Waves Live!, Sounds of the Solstice

In addition, the Making Waves exhibition is extending the Arts Trail into City Screen Picturehouse, Micklegate, where collage artist George Willmore has curated an exhibition by 20 further artists, including new and more familiar York names. The works are on show in the cafe and the first-floor corridor gallery until July 4.

All events are free and the trail and exhibition are open during business and licensing hours.

In the aftermath of the festival, Making Waves Live! Sounds of The Solstice in The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse will showcase some of Navigators Art’s favourite performers from the past two years of live events, complemented new friends, on June 21.

The first session will run from 4pm to 6.30pm; the second will start at 7.30pm after a break. “We’ve lined up a superb range of local poets, comedians, singers and bands in a celebratory midsummer festival,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen.

Taking part will be folk song duo Adderstone, poet Becca Drake, comedian Cooper Robson, storyteller Lara McClure, punk/jazz trio Borgia, psychedelic band Soma Crew and more. For full details and tickets (from Ticket Source), go to:  bit.ly/nav-events.


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Jessa Liversidge to perform A Tapestry Of Life concert for Mental Health Awareness Week at The Courthouse, Thirsk. Further concerts to follow in York & Husthwaite

Easingwold singer and workshop leader Jessa Liversidge, left, with her poet sister Andrea Brown

First published on May 16 2025

EASINGWOLD singer, songwriter and community singing workshop champion Jessa Liversidge will perform A Tapestry Of Life today (16/5/2025) as part of Rural Arts’ Mental Health Awareness Week at The Courthouse, Thirsk, at 6.30pm.

Jessa’s 60-minute, one-woman musical performance, inspired by Carole King’s  album Tapestry, features such much-loved songs as You’ve Got A Friend, Will You Love Me  Tomorrow?, It’s Too Late, So Far Away, I Feel The Earth Move and Natural Woman, interspersed with original songs, rooted in the powerful poetry of Jessa’s sister, Andrea Brown, from her Life, Love, Loss collection.

“With titles such as Unrequited Love, The Girl Who Wasn’t Enough, If Only, Crazy, Sorry and Beautiful Day, these new pieces reflect on life’s big themes of love and friendship and loss, situations and journeys, that every human can identify with and all go through, just as Carole King’s timeless songs on Tapestry do,” says Jessa.

In addition to her debut Courthouse concert, she will be running a Friday Feelgood Singing Session earlier in the day, with a discount available if booking for both the workshop and performance at ruralarts.org. Tickets are on sale at ruralarts.org/whats-on/performances/jessa-liversidge/.

Further performances of A Tapestry Of Life will follow in Dundee-born Jessa’s Scottish homeland, at Leslie Town Hall, Fife, on May 31 at 7.30pm (UPDATE on 22/05/2025: CANCELLED) ; Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on June 15 at 6pm (tickets, tickets.41monkgate.co.uk), and her Husthwaite Village Hall debut on July 18 at 7.30pm (tickets, 07836 721775 or at sheila_mowatt@btinternet.com).

Jessa and Andrea in 1970s’ childhood days in Dundee

In 1971 Carole King released her award-winning album, Tapestry, whose  themes of love and friendship are still so relevant more than 50 years later. Thousands of miles away, two sisters were born in Dundee that year.

Jessa moved to Yorkshire at 18, Andrea stayed in Dundee, and although they followed very different pathways, their bond grew stronger as they followed their dreams and went through difficult times, such as losing their parents.

In 2022, Andrea published a first book of poetry, Life, Love, Loss, inspired by her experiences.  “I wrote this show during 2024, sparked by my sister’s poetry book,” says Jessa. “As a family, we hadn’t realised she wrote poems until she said she wanted to read at our mother’s funeral, and and then at our father’s too.

“Andrea works as a medical practice manager and wrote the poem Three Sides To Every Story during Covid, written from the doctor’s side, the patient’s side and Reception’s side. She then came up with the idea of a self-challenge to write a poem a day, and a lot of them were quite personal and emotional.”

Jessa “thought it would be lovely to set them to music”. “Andrea wrote about struggles that people go through, and I, as a sister, felt bad that I hadn’t realised it. Her revelations drew us closer,” she says.

The cover artwork for Jessa’s album recording of A Tapestry Of Life

“I’d never really written my own music, so I started writing songs using my looping skills, layering up harmonies, and it felt very therapeutic to work on them.”

A photograph that Jessa found of Andrea and herself in their childhood days reminded her of the cover to Carole King’s Tapestry, and the seed for A Tapestry Of Life was sown. “I’d sung Carole King’s songs through the years but had never focused on the album,” says Jessa. “Almost any of them could have featured in the show, but I picked out nine in the end to go with nine of my compositions.

“Hopefully I’ve created a journey through the show that’s not seamless but certainly is a journey, and I talk a little between songs about the stories behind them. Like Ripples In The Water, which reflects on four of us going our different ways but having strong roots that hold us together, and not realising how lucky we were as children but appreciating how close we are as adults, having gone through so much separately.”

Jessa first pieced together A Tapestry Of Life for a performance at the Durham Fringe last year. “It was a chance to try out material, as well as play Carole King songs, and I got good feedback from that, so it was a really positive experience and a very emotional one too, because people remembered when they first heard Carole’s songs; the feelings that the songs triggered in them.

“It was the same with Andrea’s poems set to music, with people identifying with those experiences. The way I perform it, just me and the piano, and the style I perform the show in, a heartfelt style where I just tell the story with my voice, and just a little piano assistance underneath, means the audience can really feel the emotions.”

“People have said the music has helped them connect with Andrea’s poetry,” says Jessa Liversidge

Creating the song settings of Andrea’s poetry came naturally to Jessa. “I struggle to call some of them songs as it’s me singing the poems, but some have more layers of harmonies; on others, it’s me playing one or two chords, almost improvising as I go along.

“Hopefully the music complements the poems and it’s more than just me reciting them. People have said the music has helped them connect with the poetry.”

The choice of intimate performance spaces has a further benefit. “Performing in a small space makes people think more about the possible meaning behind Carole King’s lyrics too,” says Jessa.

She has made an album version of A Tapestry Of Life, recorded live over a day at Beck View Studios in Scarborough, where she was joined by Malcolm Maddock, who played the piano parts on Carole King’s songs. The album is available at Jessa’s concerts, as well as on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

As well as performing, Jessa spends her week leading choirs, singing groups and workshops, as well as one-to-one singing teaching. Her regular groups include York Military Wives Choir, Easingwold Community Singers, children’s choir Wigginton Singstars  and her dementia-friendly group Singing For All.

Jessa Liversidge’s poster artwork for A Tapestry Of Life, her show combining Carole King songs from Tapestry with Jessa’s musical settings of her sister Andrea’s poetry

As a certified vocal health first aider, Jessa knows how to bring the best out of voices safely and will happily share plenty of healthy voice tips through her singing sessions.

Today’s (16/5/2025) workshop participants will take part in useful vocal warm-ups, then work with Jessa on songs linked to the A Tapestry Of Life show, both King and Liversidge compositions.

There is no need to be able to read music; all parts will be taught by ear and the songs will be tailored to whoever takes part. Jessa is known for her encouraging and positive leading style and is experienced at bringing diverse groups of people together to sing, so the workshop will be suitable for all abilities and levels of experience. Younger singers will be welcomed if accompanied by an adult, who would be responsible for them at all times.

Workshop singers will be able to take a break at teatime, then return in the evening to enjoy the show, with an opportunity for those who wish to perform the songs they have learned in the afternoon as part of the performance. 

More information on Jessa and her singing leadership can be found at jessaliversidge.com or JessaLiversidgeSinger on Facebook.