nightingale
“And the king in the cool of the moon
Hearkened to the nightingale’s sorrowfulness,
Till all his own was gone.”
King David – Herbert Howells / Walter de la Mare
Mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries (“emotional force” – The Times) and pianist Jong Sun Woo (“poetic and characterful” – The Guardian) present a new programme inspired by birdsong.
It takes its lead from Herbert Howell’s beautiful song King David, in which the king recognises his own melancholy in the song of a nightingale, with song and poetry exploring what it means to listen and be heard.
At its heart is a new song cycle created by composer Alex Groves and participants from Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, in partnership with mental health & arts charity Hospital Rooms.
Nightingale will be released on the CRD Records label in 2026.
listen
“Everyone Sang”
Music by Ivor Gurney, words by Siegfried Sassoon
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on and out of sight.
Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
and horror drifted away…. O but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless;
and the song will never be done.
performances
Friday 2 May 2025, 1pm
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Part of the City Music Foundation concert series
programme
Herbert Howells – King David
Matthew Emery – For broken and tired am I (Three Songs)
Olivier Messiaen – Pourquoi? (Trois Melodies)
Judith Weir – Written on Terrestrial Things (The Voice of Desire)
Sally Beamish – Nightingale (4 Songs from Hafez)
Muriel Herbert – The Lost Nightingale
Robert Schumann – Wehmut (Op.39, No.9)
Johannes Brahms – An die Nachtigall (Op.46, No.4)
Poem: Emily Dickinson – Hope is the thing with feathers
Alex Groves & Nightingale Project Participants – The Light We All Share
(i) It’s Beautiful, Isn’t It?
(ii) The Sun, Rising Again
(iii) A Smile, From You
(iv) The Light We All Share
(v) We Change And Grow
Poem: William Shakespeare – Sonnet 29
Johannes Brahms – Lerchengesang (Op.70, No.2)
Alban Berg – Die Nachtigall (Sieben Frühe Lieder)
Antonin Dvořák – Vy vroucí písně spějte (Cypriše)
Ivor Gurney – Everyone Sang
Imogen Holst – Weathers
John Ireland – Earth’s Call
Amy Beach – The Blackbird
Frances Poulenc – Georges Braque (Le travail du peintre)
Stephen Sondheim – Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird
Eric Coates – Bird Songs at Eventide
about the new song cycle
The Light We All Share is a tapestry of experiences and reflections on the theme of hope. Created collaboratively with staff and service users at Goodmayes Hospital in collaboration with the charity Hospital Rooms, it weaves together the stories shared with us in a series of workshops – the sparks of hope that brighten our days, the things that keep us going and the wisdom we’ve gained along the way.
We started off with a simple question – ‘What sparks hope for you?’. From the answers we received, we started to discover common themes like the natural world, our friends and family, or special places, foods or activities. These became the basis for musical improvisations which created unique soundworlds for each idea. Then, we thought about the stories we wanted to share, writing letters, poems and even recipes. As a group, we turned these into little fragments of text, assembling and reassembling them in countless different poems.
All of this music and all these words flowed into The Light We All Share – some songs touch on a single story, others feature many voices speaking as one. Above all though, they’re hopefully a testament to the incredible people who helped make them and space for you to reflect on your own sparks of hope.
Alex Groves (composer)
London, June 2025
the team
Joanna Harries - mezzo-soprano
Praised for her “stylish” singing (Opera Magazine) and the “emotional force” (The Times) of her performances, mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries recently finished at the National Opera Studio and made her debut with Opera Rara at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall.
She begins the 25/26 season with appearances at Oxford International Song Festival and Brighton Early Music Festival, singing Hansel in Hansel and Gretel at Longborough Festival Opera and recording and performing Suzy/Lolette/Rorò in the 1921 Paris version of Puccini’s La Rondine with Opera Rara and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.
A keen recitalist, she is a current City Music Foundation artist and former Britten-Pears Young Artist, and recent performances include the Elgar Concert Hall, Birmingham, Snape Maltings and Pushkin House.
www.joannaharries.com
Jong Sun Woo - piano
Described as ‘poetic and characterful’ (The Guardian), Jong Sun Woo recently won the Pianist Prize at Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition 2024 and with her duo partner Giacomo Schmidt, the 1st prize at Wolf International Art Song Competition 2024 in Stuttgart, 2nd prize and the audience prize at Schubert Lied Duo Competition 2023 in Dortmund.
Jong Sun also received the Gerald Moore Award from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2022 and the Pianist Prize from Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards in 2021.
Jong Sun has participated in many young artist programmes, including Heidelberger Frühling Lied Akademie 21/22, Wigmore French Song Exchange 23/24, Carnegie Hall SongStudio 2025. She is also a Samling Artist and Britten-Pears Artist.
www.jongsunwoo.com
Alex Groves - composer
Alex Groves is an Ivor Novello-nominated composer and curator working across contemporary classical and electronic music, from traditional concert works to spatial sound installations and collaborations with theatre, dance and opera.
Recent projects include hottt for the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, DANCE SUITE for PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial, Four by Four by Four for Britten Sinfonia, Curved Form (St Endellion) for Manchester Collective, Paradise Planet for English Touring Opera with writer/director Rebecca Hanbury and solo works for soloists including Ben Goldscheider, Kate Ellis and Rakhi Singh.
His music has been presented nationally and internationally at venues including the Southbank Centre, Barbican Centre, Kings Place, soundfestival, Britten Pears Arts, St George’s Bristol, The Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie, MASS MoCA and MONOM, broadcast on NTS Radio, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music, and released on Delphian, Nonclassical, Cantaloupe and Bedroom Community.
www.alexgroves.co.uk
Hospital Rooms
Hospital Rooms collaborates with artists, service users, and NHS mental healthcare units to craft innovative artwork and creative programmes while dispelling stigmas and advocating for culture and creativity in mental health as a universal human right. Their latest project was in collaboration with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust at Springfield University Hospital, where they commissioned 10 installations for the Phoenix Unit, a secure rehabilitation residential unit for patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
www.hospital-rooms.com
Inspiration
Nightingale builds on work by mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries and composer Alex Groves during the last few years with Hospital Rooms and patients at the Recovery College, Springfield Hospital in Tooting.
The project Fabric of Sound created improvised soundscapes with participants, which were later exhibited as a temporary sound installation at Hauser & Wirth’s art gallery on Saville Row. This new project seeks to take our work further, by creating a work that will live on after the workshops in a professionally released recording.
Joanna Harries, Alex Groves & Fabric of Sound participants at Hauser & Wirth (2023). Credit: Jennifer Moyes
Nightingale brings together two important strands of our work – as professional, performers, and as music facilitators in the community. We firmly believe that “outreach work” should not be a box-ticking exercise – something separate from “real art”. We want to invite this community into the creative process, to create a high-quality work of artistic excellence and integrity and bring it to the world in a professional capacity.
thanks & support
With thanks to the supporters and partners who have helped to bring this project to life:
Audition Oracle
City Music Foundation
CRD Records
Hinrichsen Foundation
Hospital Rooms
Marchus Trust
NELFT (North East London NHS Foundation Trust) & Goodmayes Hospital
Vaughan Williams Foundation
