JOAN ARMATRADING COMPOSES LOVE LETTER TO HER HOME CITY FOR NEW CLASSICAL WORK HOMELAND
Homeland, Joan Armatrading’s new work for choir and orchestra, is premiered by the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus on 7 December. The 15-minute score honours the city where the acclaimed singer songwriter spent her formative years.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus give the first performance of Joan Armatrading’s Homeland, marking a return to the city of her youth for the acclaimed singer songwriter. The new commission is performed within a festive Bringing the Light concert at Symphony Hall on 7 December at 5pm, conducted by Michael Seal and presented by Satnam Rana.
Joan travelled on her own to Birmingham from the Caribbean island of St Kitts to join her parents when she was just 7 years old. She went on to become Britain’s first female singer songwriter to gain international success. In 2023, she turned to classical composing, premiering her Symphony No.1 at The Southbank Centre in London to acclaim.
She explains: “Homeland is a piece that highlights the city of Birmingham and its people, reflecting their strong sense of community, resilience and warmth. It is a love letter to a place to which I am bonded and one I will always hold with affection and pride. Through both words and music, the piece weaves together the sounds, energy and rhythms of the city while reaching out into its vast surrounding countryside. This is Birmingham not simply as a backdrop, but as a living, breathing presence – an often-underrated landscape where industry and nature exist side by side in quiet beauty.”
Progressing through six short movements, Homeland reveals Joan Armatrading’s “wanderlust for cities around the globe”, her dreams of “strange unknown worlds”, the pulsing streets of Birmingham where “my heart soars high”, the sound of the city’s “heart beating… breathing into life” and the mixing of town and countryside where “every scent evokes a fondness for this place I cannot leave.”
In the sections of the score that employ wordless melismas, including the third movement for soprano voices, Joan Armatrading describes how “the text is made up of sounds that don’t belong to any real language. Instead of words, I have let the focus stay on the texture and emotion of the music.
“Birmingham is the place I grew up in and I appreciate the city and the countryside but most of all the people.”
Joan Armatrading’s Symphony No.1, premiered in 2023, saw the great singer songwriter pivoting to a new role as a classical composer. The first performance at the Southbank Centre in London was given by the Chineke! Orchestra conducted by Andrew Grams and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The Daily Telegraph described how the 30-minute symphony “was by turns dramatic, mischievous, tuneful, percussive, soothing and surprising. Its finale was a thing of wonder.”
About Joan Armatrading
Arriving on her own to join her parents in Birmingham from St. Kitts at the age of seven, Joan taught herself to play piano and then guitar before becoming Britain’s first female singer songwriter to gain international success. She has produced and played every instrument on her records since 2003.
Her songs have brought her many admirers, from Bob Dylan to Arlo Parks. She is the first UK female artist to debut at number 1 in Billboard’s Blues charts and the first female UK artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the Blues category. She has an Ivor Novello Academy Fellowship Award, Lifetime Achievement from the Radio 2 Folk Awards and an MPG Outstanding Contribution Award to UK Music.
Awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001, she was given the CBE in 2020. The same year, she was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Woman of The Year. She is a Trustee of the Princes’ Trust and has supported King Charles’ charity since 1982, mentoring many young people. She also holds six Honorary Degrees, Doctorates or Fellowships from various universities and has proudly appeared in The Beano!
One of her proudest achievements is her BA (Hons) in History from the Open University which studied for while on tour and took her final exam the day after the last gig of her 2000 dates.
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