Curlews and Other Creatures
Simffoni Mara invites you to a magical evening of language and creativity inspired by connections between Wales, Ireland and Africa
Dydd Gwener 28 Mehefin : Friday 28 June
Amser/Time: 7:30pm
Neuadd-y-Pentref Tremarchog/St. Nicholas Village Hall, SA64 0LG
An evening featuring the first performance of a new song cycle by Pembrokeshire composer David Pepper and a one-man show by Cameroonian poet Eric Ngalle Charles.
Cri’r Gylfinir/The Curlew’s Cry is the latest collaboration between David Pepper and Jon Gower, who wrote the lyrics. It is inspired by a bird with one of the most evocative calls but sadly a species very much in decline.
The Rituals of the Molikilikili (Stick Insect) is about the power of literature to overcome trauma. It weaves between languages, folktales, and Bantu oral traditions.
The evening will also feature songs by Britten, Schumann, Faure and Puccini performed by Georgina Stalbow and accompanied by David Pepper.
There will also be poetry from Africa and Wales and some verse that spans and connects the two.
Meet the Artists
David Pepper - Piano
Jon Gower - Writer
Georgina Stalbow - Soprano
Eric Ngalle Charles - Storyteller
David Pepper
Composer - Piano
David Pepper is a creative artist working and collaborating as a musician in Wales. Performing across the genres and collaborating with a wide mix of art forms David draws his inspiration from the landscape by actively moving through it via trail running, fast packing and pilgrimage. He is a leader for the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, a path that connects Ireland with Wales through the friendship of St Aidan & St David. And in the last few years has gone on a journey of discovering the sounds and stories that connect these two ancient lands. Often collaborating with the visual arts and filmmakers to create live cinematic experiences in the festival scene David is on a creative journey to express the old ways of these lands in contemporary performances.
David has been involved with the On Lands Edge Festival since the beginning in 2021 as a Creative Director and a Performer within the festival. David brings a wealth of experience and creativity to the Ar Ymyl Y Tir / On Lands Edge Festival with an interest in site specific works from his time studying at Dartington College of Arts and an emphasis on contemporary collaboration across the art forms. David is based in Pembrokeshire but has a wide experience of working across Europe and draws on this to curate exciting festival programs that aim to find a balance between community, connection, and creativity. David has been a long-term collaborator and supporter for the Arts across Pembrokeshire and has been actively involved in all the current Music Festivals of Fishguard with a view to increase partnership across the arts to increase accessibility, innovation, collaboration for a vibrant and diverse arts scene in rural Wales that is both rooted in its sense of place and connected to the urban centres and International Communities.
Jon Gower
Writer
Jon Gower has over forty books to his name, in Welsh and English, including The Turning Tide: A Biography of the Irish Sea, a hymn to a sea passage of world-historical importance which combines social and cultural history, nature-writing, travelogue and politics.
He is also the author of The Story of Wales which accompanied the landmark BBC series, An Island Called Smith which gained the John Morgan Travel Writing Award and Y Storïwr, which won the Wales Book of the Year award. Jon is a former BBC Wales arts and media correspondent who lives in Cardiff.
Photo by Elena Gower
Eric Ngalle Charles
Storyteller
Eric Ngalle Charles is a Cameroonian writer, poet, playwright, and human rights activist based in Wales. A PhD researcher at King’s College London, he was awarded a Creative Wales Award Fellowship in 2017 for his work on migration, trauma, and memory. Parthian Books published his autobiography I, Eric Ngalle: One Man’s Journey Crossing Continents from Africa to Europe (2019). He recounts his journey to Europe, spending several years in Russia and elsewhere seeking refuge. He was selected as one of Jackie Kay’s best British BAME writers with a unique theatrical voice. He sits on boards at Aberystwyth Arts Centre and edited Hiraeth Erzolirzoli: A Wales-Cameroon Anthology (2018). The 3 Molas (2020) is an anthology about Cameroon and Wales. His poetry Collection Homelands Seren Books (2022) was published in April.
Georgina Stalbow
Soprano
Georgina Stalbow is originally from Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Georgina graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire with a First Class Honours degree in Vocal and Operatic Studies in 2011. She studied with Margaret Field, Julian Pike and Louise Crane. She continued her studies and was awarded a Masters with Distinction from Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff where she studied with world renowned Welsh tenor Dennis O’Neill.
Georgina recently finished touring with Opera Della Luna’s production of HMS Pinafore in which she performed the lead role, Josephine. She sang the role in venues all over the UK including Wilton’s Music Hall (London), Buxton Opera House, Theatre Royal, Bath and the Oxford Playhouse. Recently she also sang Bacchis in Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène with Opera Della Luna, and Ilia (cover) in Mozart’s Idomeneo for Buxton International Festival. Other operatic roles include Sacerdotessa, Aida (Teatru Astra, Gozo); Barbarina, The Marriage of Figaro and Miss Ellen, Lakmé (Swansea City Opera); Peep-Bo, The Mikado (Co-Opera Co); Amore, Orfeo ed Euridice and Echo, Ariadne auf Naxos (Fondazione Cantiere Internazionale di Montepulciano); Miss Wordsworth (cover), Albert Herring, Celia (cover), Lucio Silla and Asteria (cover), Tamerlano (Buxton International Festival). Chorus credits include Verdi’s Giovanna d’arco and Macbeth (BIF), directed by world renowned director the late Elijah Moshinsky.
In 2013 Georgina sang incidental music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Richard II in the Barbican Theatre, London with David Tennant playing the title role. She is a fluent Italian speaker and made her international debut at the Fondazione Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano, Tuscany in 2010 singing Emmie in Britten’s Albert Herring directed by Keith Warner. In the World Premiere of David Blake’s Scoring a Century, Georgina sang Woman 2 and Show Girl. Other world premiere’s include Norberto Oldrini’s Swimming Paradise with Quartetto Ascanio (Cantiere Internazionale d’arte di Montepulciano) and Eric Jones’ trilogy Great is the Story: The Nativity and The Fulfilment and The Appearance recorded live at St David’s Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, and produced by Alto Publications.
She is delighted to be performing in Pembrokeshire and joining forces again with David Pepper after their highly successful recital as part of Llanstadwell Festival last year.
