howard assembly room season guide (spring 2015)

HowardAssemblyRoom Spring2015

Spring at the Howard Assembly Room...

Juan Martin, January 2011

We are very grateful to the Emerald Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation whose support enables us to offer such a varied and eclectic programme of performances and events.

Mediterranean: a sweep of incredible music from around the Mediterranean sea; ancient music finds new voices in a turbulent 21st century.

Operatic: Epic adventure story Swanhunter, and off-beat saga The Virtues of Things bring the pick of contemporary opera to Leeds.

Futurefolk: simply brilliant musicians, thrilling performances, freethinking visionaries.

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Performance

Thursday 16 & Friday 17 April 7.00pmSaturday 18 April 2.00pm & 7.00pm Adults £10, 18 and under £5 Reserved seating

Approx. 70 mins (no interval)

Sung in English

Commissioned by Opera North

Participate Saturday 9 May11.00am – 1.00pmFree for all ages

Booking Essential

Part of European Opera Days

Sing ON: With hope in your heart Few songs have had as many lives as You’ll Never Walk Alone. Performed twice in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 musical Carousel, the song was popularised by Gerry and the Pacemakers and Elvis Presley, before it was adopted by fans in Liverpool and Glasgow, becoming perhaps the most iconic football song of all times.

Join Opera North for an uplifting morning of music exploring this and other songs from the musical.

This workshop accompanies Opera North’s revival of Carousel this May.

Swanhunter An Opera North / The Wrong Crowd co-production Composed by Jonathan Dove using a libretto written by Alasdair Middleton.

Against his mother’s wishes Lemminkäinen travels to the icy north in search of a bride. There, following an encounter with the mysterious Louhi, Lemminkäinen is set a series of impossible tasks. But unseen dangers lurk in the shadows...

Will he find love? Can he complete his tasks? There’s only one way to find out...

This new collaboration between Opera North and the acclaimed visual theatre company The Wrong Crowd, creates a beautiful new production filled with song, movement and puppetry.

54 Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.ukBox Office: 0844 848 2727

CAROUSEL

Music

Thursday 23 April7.45pm£15 Reserved seating

Music Friday 24 April7.45pm£20 Reserved seating

Paul Lewis & Allan ClaytonPianist Paul Lewis returns to the Howard Assembly Room following his 2010 sell-out concert. For this concert he partners tenor Allan Clayton in a work of boundless musical beauty and depth.

Schubert’s timeless first song cycle, Die schöne Müllerin follows the journey of a love-lorn young man, exploring themes of romantic love, lost hope and impermanence.

Much sought after tenor Allan Clayton is exciting and sensitive in his delivery which, paired with Lewis’ deep understanding of Schubert, promises an exhilarating performance of one of the great song-cycles.

El Amor Brujo Spain meets the New World With the Orchestra of Opera North The Orchestra of Opera North takes over the Howard Assembly Room with a magnificent concertexploring the centuries-old links between Spain and South America. At its heart is Villa-Lobos’ exquisitely expressive Concerto for Guitar, played by guitarist Craig Ogden. Alongside it sits El Amor Brujo, Manuel de Falla’s flamenco-inflected evocation of love, lust and witchcraft and Ginastera’sArgentine Variaciones Concertantes. The evening is completed by Schoenberg’s arrangement of Debussy’s symphonic poem Prélude à l’après- midi d’un faune.

Conducted by Eduardo Portal, this is the Orchestra of Opera North at its best.


MEDITERRANEAN


‘...arguably the finest Schubert interpreter of his generation’ Gramophone on Paul Lewis

‘Clayton is the real thing: a great British singer who deserves to be championed’ The Times on Allan Clayton

Sardinia at Twilight Discover the magic and music of Italy’s most intriguing island: Sardinia. This hour-long concert from versatile singer/guitarist Elena Piras contrasts her native music with that of Bulgaria and Scotland.

Red Desert Shot on location in Budelli, Sardinia, Red Desert is Antonioni’s first colour film, starring the incomparable Monica Vitti. His use of spellbinding panoramas from the industrial side of the Sardinian landscape, abandoned fishing cottages, and loomingdocked ships, creates an ultra-stylish, near apocalyptic vision of a disaffected woman’s life.

Introduced by Dr Alan O’Leary, Senior Lecturer in Italian Cinema and Cultural Studies.

In association with LivItaly, a project run by Italian at the University of Leeds.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has cemented his world-class reputation with his most recent pair of films, Palme d’Or winning Winter Sleep and this, his 2011 epic, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

Depicting 24 hours in a murder investigation, police, prosecutors, a doctor and the killers themselves search for a body buried in the Anatolian steppe. Extraordinary photography of the landscape at night, absorbing characterisation and wry humour come together in an unforgettable film that is at once a road movie, a police procedural and a drama of Chekhovian subtlety.

There will be an introduction ahead of the film screening.

Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy 1964. 117 mins. Cert 15. Italian with English subtitles.

*Book both for £7.50(Not available online)

Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey 2011. 157 mins. Cert 15. Turkish with English subtitles.

‘Stunning...pure exhilarating mastery’ The Guardian

Film Saturday 25 April7.00pm£5

Music Friday 1 May5.45pm – 6.45pm£5*


MEDITERRANEAN MEDITERRANEAN

Film Friday 1 May7.30pm£5*

10Box Office: 0844 848 2727Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk

The Virtues of Things Conceived by composer Matt Rogers (AKA Gameshow Outpatient) and writer Sally O’Reilly, The Virtues of Things is a witty dissection of how operas unfold their fictions and how objects themselves carry meaning.

A long-established family prop-making business struggles to adapt to modern pressures and time only sees its problems multiply. A slick outsider steps in to help, but his attempts to modernise place the family in peril.

The Virtues of Things is directed by Olivier Award-nominated Bijan Sheibani, (Associate Director at the National Theatre), and was commissioned by Aldeburgh Music, Royal Opera House and Opera North to give opportunities to emerging opera writers.

Joining together these leading arts organisations for the second year running The Virtues of Things premieres in London before visiting Leeds for an exclusive Yorkshire date.

Performance Friday 15 May7.45pm£15

Reserved seating


Sung in English

Music Matt RogersLibretto Sally O’ReillyDirector Bijan SheibaniDesign Giles CadleLighting Matt Haskins

Supported by the Opera North Future Fund

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Taraf de Haïdouks With support

Astonishing Romanian music from the world’s greatest Gypsy group.

Taraf de Haïdouks, literally translated as ‘band of outlaws’, has an intense energy and flair. Their shows burst with clattering virtuosity and passionate Gypsy rasp – stealing your breath and getting your feet moving.

Music Monday 18 May7.45pm£20

Reserved seating

Save 20%

13Box Office: 0844 848 2727Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk12

When presenting their BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music, long time admirer Johnny Depp stated: ‘Taraf de Haïdouks are the greatest musicians I know – they play a music which expresses the most intense joy, and have this gift to make you feel alive.’

‘Their live act is extraordinary – a magical mix of quicksilver melodies, amazing violin and cimbalom solos, earthy songs of lost loves and riotous traditional wedding songs’ The Daily Telegraph

Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.ukBox Office: 0844 848 272714

Lau Support: Siobhan Wilson

Described by The Guardian as ‘perhaps the best live band in the country’, Lau combines the talents of accordion virtuoso Martin Green, guitarist/singer Kris Drever and nimble fiddler Aidan O’Rourke.

For a decade they have been stretching folk music’s boundaries and exploring new musical territory. 2012’s Race the Loser album was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year and featured in many critics ’best of year’ lists.

The new album, The Bell that Never Rang is released in May, just in time for this show-stopping night.

Canzoniere Grecanico SalentinoPizzica IndiavolataWith support

Tens of thousands of people congregate in Italian piazzas for Canzoniere’s concerts in Italy. Originally thought to cure the poison spider’s bite, the pizzica tarantata is a hypnotic blend of ferocious rhythms and passionate dance that Canzoniere take from its ancient roots to the present day, and right back again.

Now, with their most recent album chosen as one of The Guardian’s Top 5 Albums of the Year and collaborations with Ludovico Einaudi and Ibrahim Maalouf, their explosive brand of tarantella is conquering the global stage. Not to be missed.

Music Wednesday20 May7.45pm£15

Music Tuesday 19 May7.45pm£17.50

‘Lau continue to imbue the British folk scene with colourful, thought-provoking and highly original sounds’ Folk Radio

HHHHHThe Guardian Albums of the Year

HHHHMOJO

‘Canzoniere was a whirlwind‘ The New York Times

Save 20%

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MEDITERRANEAN

Stefano BollaniWith support

Stefano Bollani is an Italian pianist and composer of ebullient charm and uncommon sensitivity, whether performing solo or in landmark collaborations with Enrico Rava and Chick Corea. Of his latest release, Joy in Spite of Everything, All About Jazz said: ‘like a kind of musical contortionist, Stefano Bollani keeps repositioning himself with eye-popping ease. The diversity and eclecticism of Bollani’s projects are reflected in the sweeping breadth of his vocabulary’.

His solo piano concerts are a veritable tour-de-force,a combination of virtuoso improvisation with an unfaltering lightness of spirit. A rare opportunity to see a major figure in today’s European jazz.

Words Thursday 28 May 7.45pm£7.50 Reserved seating

Music Thursday 21 May 7.45pm£12.50

‘...makes the instrument sound as if it functioned with liquids rather than hammers.’The Guardian

Tariq Ali Between Past and Future‘Since the beginning of the Arab Spring there has been much talk of revolutions. Not from me. I’ve argued against the position that mass uprisings on their own constitute a revolution, i.e. a transfer of power from one social class ... to another that leads to fundamental change’ Tariq Ali.

Acclaimed commentator, author and broadcaster Tariq Ali investigates the deep currents of change sweeping across the Eastern Mediterranean, from IS, Assad and the rise in old tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims to the role of the West. Acute analysis, provocative analogy and a lifetime of activism come together in this fascinating lecture.


MEDITERRANEAN MEDITERRANEAN

‘Ali remains an outlier and intellectual bomb-thrower; an urbane, Oxford-educated polemicist.’The Observer

Part of Liberty Lectures in association with the University of Leeds

Save 20%

Box Office: 0844 848 272718

Casablanca Released in 1942, Casablanca has only improved with age, remaining Hollywood’s quintessential evocation of love. This blockbuster has it all: silver screen royalty, quotable lines, and a heart-breaking love story.

The film is set in a highly fictionalised WWII Morocco, under the control of the French Vichy Regime, where desperate refugees plead for transit papers to escape the stucco-walled coastal city of Casablanca. There, nightclub owner Rick Blaine (the thrilling Humphrey Bogart) has his world shaken as his lost love (Ingrid Bergman) and her anti-Nazi rebel husband arrive.

With live piano to transport you back to the ’40s on arrival.

Heritage Blues Orchestra With support Like fellow neo-traditionalists the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Grammy-nominated Heritage Blues Orchestra draw their lifeblood from African-American musical traditions: from juke joint country blues to chain gang songs. Performing here as a quintet, their sound harnesses the grit of low-down Mississippi blues, urban R&B, gospel and bold New Orleans brass.

Lead guitarist Junior Mack, singer/guitarist Bill Sims Jr and vocalist Chaney Sims perform classics from the likes of Son House, Muddy Waters and Leadbelly: all driven along by drummer Kenny ‘Beedy Eyes’ Smith and harmonica ace Vincent Butcher. An unmissable show!

Music Thursday 4 June7.45pm£17.50 Reserved seating

Film Saturday 30 May3.00pm£5

Dir. Michael Curtiz, USA 1942. 103 mins. Cert PG.

‘...a rich, detailed screenplay studded with an indecent number of sparklingly quotable lines. It is a movie to play again, and again’ The Daily Telegraph

‘A welcome new sound bringing a sense of urgency to the Blues’All About Jazz

19Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk

MEDITERRANEAN

Music Friday 5 June7.45pm£17.50 Reserved seating

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MEDITERRANEAN

Le Trio Joubran A rare opportunity to catch the pre-eminent Palestinian oud trio, formed by three brothers – Samir, Wissam and Adnan Joubran – perform with master percussionist Youssef Hbeisch. The Joubran brothers come from a family steeped in Palestine’s rich musical history. Their father, Hatem Mbadda Joubran, is a great oud maker, and their mother is an acclaimed singer.

The brothers have a glittering international career. Their repertoire pays homage to their 4,000 year old instrument and takes inspiration from jazz and flamenco. Only hearing is believing these rich, subtle melodies and magnificent improvisations.

‘...a style that brings a new dimension to the traditional Arabic lute, thanks to the almost intuitive way they work together, and the emotional range of their improvisations’ The Guardian

Box Office: 0844 848 2727Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk

Box Office: 0844 848 272722 23

‘Absolutely stunning stuff...it is so infectious’Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 6

Music Saturday 6 June7.45pm£12.50

Çiğdem AslanMortissaWith support

Just occasionally, a new artist emerges to throw old music styles into an intriguing contemporary perspective.

Turkish-Kurdish vocalist Çiğdem Aslan has been described by The Guardian as ‘one of the best British-based discoveries of the year... [whose] success is down to her reworking old songs with a blend of delicate soulful vocals, subtle theatrics and a stage persona that could switch from stately to slinky and flirtatious.‘

With her band, she sings Rebetiko - the bravely outspoken Greek urban folk blending Byzantine, Turkish and Balkan influences - bringing to life the smoky bars and cafes of 1920s Athens and Smyrna.

Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk

‘...searingly beautiful.’The Financial Times

Reem KelaniWith support British-Palestinian singer, musician and broadcaster Reem Kelani returns to the Howard Assembly Room following a show-stopping sell-out performance in 2012. With repertoire that criss-crosses the Mediterranean, from Palestine and Syria, Egypt and Tunisia, to Turkey and Spain, these are songs she not only sings, but truly inhabits.

A staggeringly powerful voice and joyful stage presence make for a live performance that is quite simply unforgettable. The concert includes songs from her forthcoming album based on the music of great Egyptian composer Sayyid Darwish (1892 – 1925) accompanied by Bruno Heinen on piano.

Music Thursday 11 June7.45pm £12.50

Reserved seating

Due to popularity max. 2 tickets per person

MEDITERRANEAN

MEDITERRANEAN


Vashti BunyanHeartleapWith support Nine years after Lookaftering, her last album of new material, legendary British singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan performs songs from her new LP, a unique and entrancing collection of ten songs forming what she is adamant will be her final album. Vashti re-emerged after 30 years in thewilderness with the 2000 re-release of her 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day (a bona fide cult-classic that made number 53 in The Observer Music Monthly’s Top 100 British Albums of All Time).Her new songs reveal an artist at her peak, masterfully marrying content and form to sparkling effect.

Hisham Matar The Temptations of the Sea Hisham Matar was born in New York City to Libyan parents and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo. His father, a political dissident, was kidnapped from Cairo in 1990 and remains among Libya’s ‘disappeared’.

As part of the Mediterranean series, he reads from his novels Anatomy of a Disappearance and Man Booker Prize-nominated In the Country of Men. Interlacing fiction, autobiography and reflection he explores what it is to be a wanderer and the nature of displacement. Live music weaves through this specially conceived talk.

Music Saturday 13 June 7.45pm£15

Reserved seating

Music Friday 12 June7.45pm£5

‘Matar suffuses Nuri’s education in love and loss with an erotic frisson and fragile grace that lend the book an inner radiance’ The Independent

Part of Liberty Lectures in association with the University of Leeds

‘Clear tones; perfect intonation; an ideal balance between individual colour and an ensemble blend’The Times

24 Box Office: 0844 848 2727

Save 20%

26 Box Office: 0844 848 2727

Tell me what yo’ singin’ for Soul of Calypso A concert of calypsos celebrating the pioneer of Caribbean music in 1950s Britain: Edric Connor. Connor collected, catalogued and recorded Trinidadian music, as well as being an acclaimed singer, broadcaster and actor in his own right. The evening features calypsos and Trinidadian folk music from his songbooks, performed by Nigel Wong and Simone Sauphanor, who both played with Edric.

In the second half, the electrified beats of Trinidad’s most popular contemporary musical form, Soca ‘the soul of calypso’, bring us bang up to date and are performed by Sheldon Blackman and members of the legendary Breakfast Band.

Sacred Sounds More than 877,000 Indian soldiers, many of them Punjabi Sikhs, fought in WWI. Their involvement has only recently been fully acknowledged in remembrance of the Great War. Inspired by the discovery of a single photograph, this special concert uncovers the music the soldiers took with them to the camp and battlefield.

Interspersed by readings of Sikh soldiers’ letters, the concert explores the song of the Great War, from ‘Shabads’, sacred Sikh hymns sung before battle, to a mother’s lament for a departing son. With Keertan Rehal, Kirpal Singh Panesar, Christella Litras and others.

Music Friday 3 July 7.45pm£7.50

Produced by the Geraldine Connor Foundation

Music Wednesday 1 July6.30pm£7.50

Produced by Alchemy in association with SAA UK and The Network of Sikh Organisations


Box Office: 0844 848 2727

The Selfish Giant Opera North’s Children's Chorus presents a new semi-staged production of The Selfish Giant, based on the story by Oscar Wilde, with music by Handel.

Join the 80 strong Children’s Chorus for the much loved tale of the giant who builds a wall around his beautiful garden to keep the world out.

Graeme Danby (Policeman in Opera North’s 2013 Albert Herring) plays the giant, Justin Doyle conducts and James Hurley directs.

Little Voices Opera North’s Early Years Programme

Sing songs, explore instruments, play games and have fun with music in our weekly sessions.

Suitable for ages 0-4.

For more information call 0113 223 3520 or email [email protected]

Opera North Youth Company presents...

Opera Bingo Cards at the ready... it's Bingo Life!

How much do we really know about the people we see in everyday life? This immersive musical theatre piece puts the audience in the centre of the action during a bingo game, with life changing effects for the bingo hall regulars.

Performance Sunday 12 July 4.30pmAdults £7.50, 18 and under £3

Participate Weekly starting Monday 11 May10.00am – 10.45am & 11.15am – 12.00pm during term time. £6 per session, per child.

Book online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk 2928

Performance Saturday 18 July 7.00pmAdults £7.50, 18 and under £3

Events for families and young peopleAll children must be accompanied by an adult.

Photographs: Juan Martin (pg 2-3) by Karen McBride, Swanhunter (pg 4) by Mike Cranston, Sing ON (pg 5) by Alastair Muir, Paul Lewis (pg 7) by Molina Visuals, The Virtues of Things (pg 10-11) by AKA (©ROH2014), Lau (pg 14) by Genevive Stevenson, Tariq Ali (pg 17) by Nina Subin, Heritage Blues Orchestra (pg 19) by Christophe Ubelmann, Le Trio Jourban (pg 20-21) by Jerome Conquy, Çiğdem Aslan (pg 22) by Savannah Photographic, Reem Kelani (pg 23) by Şahan Nuhoğlu (courtesy of Roll Magazine, Istanbul, Turkey), Hisham Matar (pg 24) by Diana Matar, Sacred Sounds (pg 26) Courtesy of the Council of the National Army Museum (London), Tell me what yo’ singin’ for (pg 27) by Terry Jeavons, Family events (pg 28-29) by Brian Slater.

Supporter credits:Swanhunter: Opera North Future Fund, J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust and by using public funding by Arts Council England. Performance in Leeds supported by the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation and The Linden Charitable Trust.

Little Voices: Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation.

Opera Bingo: Opera North Future Fund and The Bernarr Rainbow Trust.

The Selfish Giant: Opera North Future Fund.

THE HEADROW

MERRION STREET

EASTGATE

GREAT GEORGE STREET

EAST

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BOAR LANE

NEW YORK STREET

KIRKGATE

THE CALLS

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WOODHOUSE LANE RE

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A64(M) INNER RING ROAD

QUEEN’S HOTEL

KIRKGATE MARKETS

BUS & COACH STATION

WEST YORKSHIRE PLAYHOUSE

TOWN HALL

CIVIC HALL

MIL

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MERRION CENTRE

LEEDS RAIL STATION

BRID

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DUNCAN STREET KIRKGATELEEDSCORNEXCHANGE

CITYSQUARE

RIVER AIRE

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FIRST DIRECT ARENA HOWARD

ASSEMBLYROOM&LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

TicketsBox Office: 0844 848 2727Opening hours: Mon–Sat 10.00am–8.00pmhowardassemblyroom.co.uk

All events have unreserved seating unless otherwise stated.There is £1 charge for posting out tickets.

Save 20%Simply buy an equivalent number of tickets for two or more shows displaying the Save symbol and you will receive 20% off your tickets. Currently not available online.

DiscountsRetired Over 60, Leeds Card Holders: 10% offUnder 30, Full Time Students: £3 off18 and under, Pension Credit, JSA, Income Support,Incapacity Benefit, Disabled People: 25% off (essential carer free)Under 30s: Opera, fun and fizz! Join Opera North’s free Under 30s scheme and you’ll receive offers for £10 tickets and exclusive invitations to Nights ON the Town.

All discounts are subject to availability and do not apply to tickets of £7.50 and under. Only one discount per ticket and they cannot be used retrospectively. Proof of status must be shown.

Access: Howard Assembly Room is committed to improving accessfor our audiences and aims to ensure that disabled visitors have an enjoyable experience. We have an infra-red systemfor visitors with hearing impairments, wheelchair spaces and lift access through Leeds Grand Theatre. We also welcome guide dogs and hearing dogs. Please note that disability concessions and wheelchair spaces cannot be booked online - please call 0844 848 2727 or book in person so Box Office staff can advise on how we can meet your specific access needs.

Times displayed are the actual start of the performance.

Howard Assembly RoomEntrance via Leeds Grand Theatre46 New Briggate, Leeds LS1 6NU

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The information in this brochure is published in good faith, but changes may occasionally be necessary. In the event of unforeseen circumstances Opera North reserves the right to change the performers or performance.

Box Office: 0844 848 2727 howardassemblyroom.co.ukRegistered Charity No. 511726

Principal Partner Major Supporter

1 Sardinia at Twilight 5.45pm1 Red Desert 7.30pm9 Sing ON: Carousel 11.00am – 1.00pm11 Little Voices Various15 The Virtues of Things 7.45pm18 Taraf de Haïdouks 7.45pm 19 Lau 7.45pm20 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino 7.45pm21 Stefano Bollani 7.45pm28 Tariq Ali 7.45pm30 Casablanca 3.00pm

MayMusic

Film

Participate

Participate

Performance

Music

Music

Music

Music

Words

Film

16-18 Swanhunter Various23 El Amor Brujo 7.45pm24 Paul Lewis & Allan Clayton 7.45pm25 Once upon a Time in Anatolia 7.00pm

AprilPerformance

Music

Music

Film

4 Heritage Blues Orchestra 7.45pm5 Le Trio Joubran 7.45pm6 Çiğdem Aslan 7.45pm 11 Reem Kelani 7.45pm12 Hisham Matar 7.45pm13 Vashti Bunyan 7.45pm

Music

Music

Music

Music

Words

Music

June

1 Sacred Sounds 6.30pm 3 Tell me what yo’ singin’ for 7.45pm12 The Selfish Giant 4.30pm 18 Opera Bingo 7.00pm

JulyMusic

Music

Performance

Performance

howard assembly room season guide (spring 2015)

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