An 11th 'Yearnings for Home' Concert!
Yearnings for Home has officially entered its second decade of concerts, and we're hoping that this will expand it's listener base from the current number of 217 to over 250!
For those who are meeting this project for this first time: 'Yearnings for Home' is a concert (first performed in 2024) that explores what 'home' really means. Taking the poem by Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, and its context as a starting point, Claire commissioned me for a new Violin Concerto that explores the idea of what home might really constitute. Is it a place, feeling, or person? Harper's poem suggests numerous places that might constitute home, yet these places are discussed in direct opposition to the displacement of her community to Baltimore where she resided.
This reflection led to introspection – both Claire and I had recently moved to Baltimore and were becoming acutely aware of things that we related to 'home' that specifically made us aware of our displacement. To build the piece, we poured in a mixture of melodies that we loved during our respective childhoods, and I wrote some additional original melodies to thread them together. Using my research into composition and the psychology of audience reception, these were then embedded in a narrative that follows a single protagonist through the course of their entire life as they pursue the answer of what 'home' really means to them.
You can hear a snippet of the music on Instagram here.
The concert will be held at Downing Place United Reformed Church on the 20th June 2026, at 5:00pm
Tickets are available online or on the door: £15.00 General/£10.00 Students
Soothing, Vibrant, and Fulfilling.
We hope you can join us.