Cap O'Rushes 

featuring UNIT, BSO Resound, and HeadSpace

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As part of the opening event for the Culture, Health and Wellbeing International Conference on 21st June 2021, Arts & Health South-West hosted the première for their commission Cap O’Rushes by British award-winning Composer, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian.

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Based on the story of Cap O’Rushes, a rare version of a folktale from Suffolk, AHSW and Cevanne worked with three inclusive ensembles BSO Resound, Ensemble Juvenil de Setúbal, and HeadSpace Ensemble to bring her composition to life. Created in lockdown, this premiere provides a timely and extraordinary audio and visual reflection of one daughter’s journey towards reconciliation.

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Set within a contemporary backdrop, social themes of power, identity and personal growth are explored through a heroine’s strategy to resolve a family crisis. Within the framework of three ‘movements’ or ‘acts’ reflecting POWER | EXILE | RECONCILE, each ensemble explored one compositional movement, and through the course of these movements the music charts the narrative’s transition from exile to reunion with brass, strings, percussion and electronic instruments.

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Inspired by gestures, sounds, and imagery of the Cap O’Rushes story, the composition was visually woven together with dance and film footage from UNIT, a collaborative duo consisting of a Choreographer and Film Director.

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Filmed individually and in line with Coronavirus restrictions in the UK and Portugal, the project offered a space for collaboration and creative practice, as well as showcasing the impact inclusive music making can have even within the most challenging of times.

Premiered on 21st June, the digital premiere performance of Cap O’Rushes was a wonderful and inspirational opening to the conference, affirming the power of the arts to connect people across cultures and celebrating and showcasing inclusive approaches to working with people with disabilities to co-create work of a high artistic standard. The premiere supported the 1st day of the International Conference which focused on the role of arts and culture in relation to inequality; community development; global public health and responses to the pandemic; prevention and everyday creativity. The premiere of the composition was also enjoyed on the same day by Make Music Day in celebration of World Music Day.

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The Cap O’Rushes production was made possible with support by Stichting Horizon.

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