Holmfirth Arts Festival 2024 Double Bill: The River Flows and Requiem for a Fading World

The River Flows (Holmfirth Song Cycle) by The Good Earth Collective and Friends: Presented by Screaming Media Productions and created by Good Earth Collective’s songwriter Steve and artist Jan Ansell, The River Flows is a musical journey about Holmfirth and the river that created it. From the Bronze age to the present day The River Flows is an audiovisual experience that explores the landscape, industry, work lives, and the human stories of Holmfirth through its residents and the ongoing relationship with the river that gave the town its name. Steve Sykes commission.

Requiem for a Fading World by Kerrin Tatman: A live music performance that tells a fantastical, post-apocalyptic tale for modern times. The secular, narrative piece blends contemporary classical, choral and folk influences and turns the traditional Requiem structure on its head. Set in a landscape of perpetual winter, where all modern fuel resources have nearly run out, we follow two solo singers – a Mother (alto Jacqui Wicks) and her Daughter (soprano Emily Brown Gibson) – on their separate journeys to navigate this harsh terrain. This ambitious work by award-winning composer Kerrin Tatman, which premiered in 2023 at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music (previously Sage Gateshead) is written for choir, solo singers and a chamber ensemble featuring English lyrics by songwriter Rosie Bristow. This commission by Holmfirth Festival features the Holmfirth Choral Society rehearsed by Geoffrey Lockwood, and a specially assembled orchestra of talented local musicians. Commissioned by Holmfirth Arts Festival.