Chorwerk Frankfurt
Evelyn Ruf, Music Director
In the 2nd project in 2025, Cecilia McDowall’s cycle Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo, which premiered in 2018 for choir, soloists, violin and piano, is the focus of the programme.
The five-movement cantata tells the extraordinary story of Nujeen Mustafa, a Kurdish teenager with cerebral palsy who was forced by the war to leave her homeland and embark on an arduous journey to Europe with her sister.
In this five-part cantata, Nujeen’s story, as described in her biography The Girl from Aleppo (co-written by Christina Lamb), is retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland and impressively set to music by Cecilia McDowall.
Cecilia McDowall impressively shapes the narrative of the journey through chorales, rhythmically spoken passages, body percussion and a solo violin with echoes of Middle Eastern music.
