On February 9 a performance of the cantata ‘Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo’ is given by Dubai Opera Festival Chorus, the Latifa School Girls’ Choir, conducted by BBC Singers’ own Rob Johnston. The violin solo will be performed by Eva Grasbeck and accompanied by Tatiana Tarakanova, piano.
Nujeen Mustafa, the ‘girl from Aleppo’ herself, and librettist Kevin Crossley-Holland will be present along with Cecilia McDowall, interviewed by Bettany Hughes before the concert Finale.
In this five-movement cantata Nujeen’s dramatic story – recounted in her biography ‘The Girl from Aleppo’, co-authored by Christina Lamb – is retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Nujeen’s experience unfolds in the musical narrative; chorales, haunting vocal solos, intense violin solos, restless choruses, body percussion, all driving a course from country to country to arrive, thankfully, in Germany. It is a journey of hope and extraordinary fortitude against all the odds.
