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| Conway Corridor Moral Award: recipient Vivien Connacher and members of Songhaven with Conway Corridor’s Carmen D’Cruz |
Final week (6 March 2025) Conway Corridor offered its 2025 Moral Gala, the annual celebration of their mission to Make Ethics Matter. The night combined speeches, dialog and performances, showcasing the vary of their programme and partnerships, together with the presentation of their 2025 Moral Award.
We started we a chat from Conway Corridor’s CEO, Dr Jim Walsh, which drew in Magritte, Velasquez, Manet, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock and extra in a wide-ranging dialogue about what Ethics really is. This was adopted by performances from artists from the London Performing Academy of Music, an impartial London-based music conservatoire, whose work supporting the training and growth of younger musicians is supported by Conway Corridor. We heard two Ukrainian musicians, a part of a programme the place the Academy brings younger Ukrainian performers to the UK for research. Pianist Anastasiia Rud, a 3rd 12 months undergraduate, performed a Chopin impromptu, Then tenor Grigore Riciu (who took half within the Academy’s Opera Studio efficiency of Puccini’s Turandot at Conway Corridor) carried out ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Turandot with the Academy’s founder, Stefania Passamonte on piano.
The primary half ended with a dialogue between Holly Elson, Conway Corridor’s Head of Programmes and Rosemary Richards, Director of the Bloomsbury Competition, which returns in October 2025. Rosemary defined that the pageant encompasses 40 to 50 venues within the space and celebrates Bloomsbury’s creativity together with supporting younger artists. It goals to have fun the variety of such a small space, being a place-based pageant that entails the neighborhood, however enterprise assist can be necessary. The core of the pageant’s assist is its relationships with enterprise and universities, and with Londoners themselves.
After the interval, Carmen D’Cruz, Chair of the Trustees of Conway Corridor offered the 2025 Moral Award to Vivien Conacher, founder and director of Songhaven which gives an area the place individuals residing with dementia (together with carers and companions) can come collectively and revel in skilled afternoon concert events in a joyous and welcoming ambiance, in addition to giving classically-trained artists paid efficiency alternatives which can be relaxed, enjoyable, and can develop their abilities and repertoire.
The organisation was based by Vivien in 2017 when, as a performer (she is a mezzo-soprano) she found the ability of music for individuals residing with dementia. She was a music pupil on the time and roped her pals in to provide dementia pleasant concert events. Since COVID, they’ve developed Songhaven at House, a FREE on-line assortment of 30 minute live performance movies (with accompanying printable programmes) recorded at Songhaven’s dwell live performance occasions. However there are additionally dwell concert events too, see their web site.
We ended with a solo efficiency by flautist Daniel Shao who offered a Daniel Shao and pals live performance at Conway Corridor final month. He started with Debussy’s Syrinx, then the ‘Sarabande’ from Bach’s Flute Partita and eventually Alison Loggins-Hull‘s Homeland.
