Closing Time appears on youTube
In November 2023, I posted about a fascinating, touching project that grew out of the personal experiences of London-based writer and performer Karin de Novellis, who looked after her husband, a dementia-sufferer, until his death.
During lockdown, Karin wrote a collection of poems, called Closing Time at the Kings Head, reflecting on everyday situations and some of the feelings she and her husband experienced while living with dementia. Australian composer Ross Fides transformed the poems into a staged song cycle for soprano, baritone, narrator and piano, which premiered in September 2023 at Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, New South Wales.
According to the programme notes, the staged performance aims to show 'how, in spite of the challenges, a care-partnership can embrace understanding, compassion and love, making the journey easier and better for all concerned. Fiddes’ music inhabits the words in such a way that the listener cannot help but be drawn into this moving and powerful piece.'
The first UK performance was in November 2023, at The Study Society in London.
The reason for this new post is that there is now an 'official' video of Closing Time on YouTube, in a performance directed by Ghillian Sullivan, with soprano Jane Ede, baritone Christopher Allan, Eliane Morel as narrator, and composer Ross Fiddes himself at the piano.
In addition to the poems used in the song cycle, Karin de Novellis has written a series of shanties, to well-known shanty tunes, that take a gently humorous look at the tribulations of the unpaid home carer, looking single-handedly after a loved-one suffering from dementia. Karin runs lively sing-along sessions for these carers, offering them a chance to share their own woes without collapsing into tragedy.
This is a project well worth supporting. Anyone interested in getting in touch with Karin can reach me by leaving a comment below.
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