Odyssean Variations
Odysseus’ 10 year journey home after the battle of Troy, and his adventures with Gods and monsters…
In 2025 we celebrated our 30th anniversary with a performance of British composer Matthew King's Odyssean Variations, commissioned by us in 2008 for internationally acclaimed virtuoso cellist Natalie Clein, who joined us again to perform alongside the Saturday Programme’s CYMH orchestra and I Can Sing! choir. Odyssean Variations was complemented by a performance from our I Can Sing! students who opened the evening with a scena of music theatre songs.
Odyssean Variations, a large-scale piece for cello, orchestra and choir is a traditional set of variations on a theme, but it also contains a musical narrative based on Homer’s Odyssey, which describes the perilous journey of Odysseus, King of Ithaca as he travels home from the Trojan War and his adventures with amongst others the one-eyed Cyclops, singing sirens and Circe the sorceress.
“Natalie was absolutely excellent, she had a beautiful sound. I was able to understand the music better for studying it, and I enjoyed performing a longer piece of work”
“It was such a special evening... I loved doing it - it was such a joy and I was so impressed by all the students, tutors and Vahan!”
“It was a terrific concert. I thought all the performers did brilliantly. It was very exciting to hear ‘Odyssean Variations’ again. Lovely to hear the singers in the first half too ... singing with real commitment”
