Page 57 - FINAL_Theatre of Sound Coverage Book

November 2021

Playing & Teaching
‘A moment of audience feedback I’ll treasure

forever’ - recalling musical memories with

dementia

London Sinfonietta cellist Adrian Bradbury writes about the joy of witnessing a dementia patient
recall melodies from her past while working on a new chamber opera ’Tomorrow’s Wonder… A
Window into Our Lives’

Members of Live Music Now and London Sinfonietta rehearsing with composer Electra Perivolaris
and Theatre of Sound co-founder Stephen Higgins. Participants Paul and Lesley Stretton-Stephens
attend over Zoom

In collaboration with Rare Dementia Support, Live Music Now and London Sinfonietta, new opera company
Theatre of Sound launches with Judith’s Castle – inspired by Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and drawn from
experiences of families living with dementia

More often than not we cellists – orchestral, chamber or solo - find ourselves sat right at the front
of a concert stage and so get to sense an audience in full technicolour glory. Snippets of hushed
conversation, whiffs of perfume, a full array of evening footwear, these are our 7.27pm treats as
we await the downbeat. It is actually wonderful communing so closely with the expectant public,
and only rarely is it off-putting (the smell of chips and vinegar being gulped by a fully tuxedoed
front row punter during Carmina Burana being a notable example).