SANSARA: Choral reflections for World Homeless Day

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet: on the eve of World Homeless Day, SANSARA performs Gavin Bryars’s ultimate outsider classic.

It starts on the streets of London, with a homeless man singing quietly to himself. It becomes…well, there isn’t really any way to describe what you’ll think or feel next, as Gavin Bryars weaves that broken scrap of human feeling into a sonic experience unlike anything else in modern music. There’s nothing quite like Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, and no more fitting venue than the central London church that puts homeless people at the heart of its mission. SANSARA gives the UK premiere of Bryars’s new choral version. Pulitzer prize-winning American composer David Lang writes: ‘Many religions profess that an important part of their belief is to care about how people who are comfortable should act towards people who are not…I live in New York, which has homeless people who need help all the time . . . the point of Poor Hymnal is, What would it be like to actually pay attention to the people who are around you?’

This concert is part of our 300th anniversary celebrations.

Programme:
Programme to include:
David Lang Poor Hymnal (excerpts – UK premiere)
Reena Esmail Take what you need
James Black His Love Never Failed Me Yet (Old Methodist Hymn)
Gavin Bryars Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (choral version – UK premiere)

Performers:
SANSARA
The Choir with No Name
Streetwise Opera
Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Tom Herring conductor
Members of the Choir of Worcester College Oxford