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Australian Premiere of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s DreamCity

May. 25, 2023

On May 3, members of the London Symphony Orchestra joined the Sydney Youth Orchestras, the NSW Regional Youth Orchestra, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the Sydney Opera House to give the Australian premiere of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s DreamCity, conducted by Elizabeth Scott. The concert was part of the LSO’s Discovery education program which has been running for over thirty years.

DreamCity was premiered by Simon Rattle and the LSO in London’s Trafalgar Square in 2021. The 4.5-minute piece for strings was developed with the LSO East London Academy as a response to the experience of lockdown for young people in the city, drawing upon conversations with the young string players involved in the project, and explores themes of perseverance, uncertainty, dreams, dance and playing games. Witter-Johnson notes:

"DreamCity is a vibrant, energetic and rhythmically pulsing song without words for string orchestra.  Inspired by conversations with the young string players of the LSO East London Academy (ELA) on their personal experiences of the lockdowns that occurred in 2020, I drew upon the themes of personal creativity, perseverance, uncertainty, dreams, dance and playing games.

The process of creating this piece was unique to us all in that I first created a series of 34 individual fragments that reflected the themes. These themes composed for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass were then recorded by five Members of the London Symphony Orchestra at LSO St Luke's. From these recordings, I created a series of 'backings' to support each of the 34 fragments that the LSO East London Academy would later record. With the support of the five LSO Members as section mentors, the fragments were learned and then recorded by the ELA players at home to create a total of 480 recorded audio fragments that I then used as raw material to build the piece.  

As a collective, I felt that we were all linked through our experiences of living in one of the world's most active and engaging cities, physically and culturally, and I wanted to reflect that in the energy of the piece, combining the elements of classical lyricism and edgy inner city vibe. Working with Deon Elsworth on the video added an important dimension to the music in that it enhanced and expanded the themes, really bringing to life the energy of the cultural city backdrop of the piece and balancing it with dreamy underwater scenes in a melting pot of colors and movement that to me represents DreamCity."


Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra premiere Ayanna Witter-Johnson's DreamCity

This month also saw the world premiere of a new version of Witter-Johnson’s Rise Up (2019, rev. 2023) by the London Youth Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall. On May 9, 1000 young singers from across London came together to perform this grand choral version of Witter-Johnson’s 4 ½-minute song for voice and piano in a gala concert marking 10 years since London Youth Choir's foundation.

To learn more about Ayanna Witter-Johnson, visit: fabermusic.com.

Ayanna Witter Johnson
DreamCity (2021)
for string orchestra
4.5'

Rise Up (2019/arr. 2023)
for massed youth choirs
Mixed Voices, Unison/Upper + Equal Voices
4.5'

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