Guildhall partners with British Library and Handel Hendrix House for Abolition song project

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is partnering with the British Library and Handel Hendrix House for a new research project and concert series exploring British Abolition song. Abolition Song and its Legacies explores the music and writings associated with Britain's Black communities in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

‘Abolition song’ – a term created for this project – denotes music composed in Britain between 1788 to 1830 for concerts promoting Abolitionism, arguing for the recognition of enslaved peoples’ inalienable human rights. Led by music scholar, critic and journalist Dr Berta Joncus and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the two-year project will facilitate the production of digitised scores with the British Library, as well as six seminar days and six recorded performances.

Dr Joncus said: ‘Abolition Song and its Legacies provides a crucial opportunity to interrogate newly discovered 18th-century Abolitionist vocal music and explore its place in the histories of the British trade in enslaved peoples, the abolitionist movement, Black writers in Britain, and the musical legacies of Black communities here. In engaging project musicians to perform selected songs and keyboard music across six concerts, along with readings from 18th-century Black authors in Britain, we can lift these important artistic contributions off the page.’ 

Artistic director, conductor Joseph McHardy, will guide the project’s concert planning and delivery, with the first concert set to take place at Handel Hendrix House later this month, while music historian and tenor Tim Parker-Langston will lead rehearsal-workshops with the early career musicians selected to perform as part of the concert series.