Page 260 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

07 June 2024

REVIEW: Windrush, The

Journey

PUBLISHED ON June 7, 2024 by Dio Moore
Rating: 4 out of 5.

An innovative celebration of the

Windrush Generation and the

contributions Black musicians have

made to classical music

With today’s constant political chatter about immigration and
deportation, it seems apt to be reminded of how much Britain
needed those people who came here from the West Indies on HMT
Empire Windrush. It is important to not forget how reprehensible the
government’s treatment of the Windrush Generation has been. It is
also imperative to celebrate those people who left their homes,
endured poverty and mistreatment, yet still made such a mark on
the country we live in today. Windrush The Journey, by Pegasus
Opera and in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, is that celebration.

For an event advertised as a ‘fusion of classical music, steel pan, jazz,
and blues’ the first half didn’t really deliver. The musical
arrangements were beautiful, the performances were flawless, but
the music couldn’t be described as a fusion of anything – it was
classical through and through. Yes, it was enjoyable, and yes, it was
showcasing the work of Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges,
a French Black classical composer and musician born in 1745, but
there was a distinct feeling of colonialism that I couldn’t escape. It
was a safe choice of musician to showcase; while beautiful and
complex, you wouldn’t have known that Joseph Bologne was of
African descent from his work alone. But perhaps that was the point;