Phaedra Ensemble: Ellis Island

Launching Phaedra Ensemble’s Kings Place residency, Ellis Island explores migration, memory and identity through Meredith Monk’s award-winning film and music by Mansurian, Shostakovich, Dessner and Weill, alongside the UK premiere of Philip Glass’s Piano Quintet.

Meredith Monk’s award-winning 1981 film Ellis Island forms the centre of a programme reflecting on the experiences of those who left one world behind to build a life in another. Acting as a symbolic bridge between old and new, the film connects a first half rooted in the musical traditions of Europe and Western Asia with a second that reflects the rich cultural landscape of New York.

Music by Tigran Mansurian and Dmitri Shostakovich evokes histories shaped by migration, conflict and shifting borders. In the second half, Philip Glass’s Piano Quintet (Annunciation) receives its UK premiere alongside Bryce Dessner’s Aheym and Kurt Weill’s September Song, works that explore how inherited traditions are transformed into new artistic voices.

Spanning continents and generations, Ellis Island traces the journeys of people, ideas and music, revealing how cultures evolve through exchange and encounter. It is a fitting opening statement for Phaedra Ensemble’s residency: a programme about origins, transformation and the enduring power of artistic reinvention.

Price: £20-£40