Borderlands - 60th Birthday Celebration - Liz Dilnot Johnson

Borderlands is a special event celebrating award-winning composer Liz Dilnot Johnson's 60th birthday featuring the eminent Fitzwilliam String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Suzie Purkis

Join us at Elmslie House, Avenue Road, Malvern, UK for an evening of music and quirky song including the premiere of Borderlands, Liz's new string quartet conjuring up the essence of hills, sky and sea ~ with dragons... and the meditative Anam Cara for performers with audience - an interactive improvisation newly composed by Liz for this event. Exquisite solo pieces Harebell for solo baroque violin and music from Liz's ‘stunning’ Cello Suite. Solo songs setting the quirky poetry of Jo Shapcott performed to perfection by the extraordinary vocalist and performer Suzie Purkis: Pig, Elephant Woman and Watching Medusa.

'Suzie demonstrated every vocal trick in the book, with dramatically extended vocal techniques...imaginative, quirky and entertaining'

‘intriguing…heartily recommended’

Supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation.

Programme to include:

Borderlands: String Quartet No 5 [2024] (world premiere)

I Should Have Been Sea [2024] for voice and string quartet (world premiere)

Tide purl for string quartet [2013]

Harebell for solo violin [2022]

Elephant Woman, Pig and Watching Medusa for solo voice and percussion [2016]

Cello Suite for solo cello [2016]

Anam Cara for improvising voice, string quartet and audience [2024] (world premiere)

Composer Liz Dilnot Johnson brings five fantastic musicians together in this celebration of Liz's award-winning music. Described as 'a major composer deserving wide recognition' her music is regularly performed all over the world and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Liz takes her inspiration from her home on top of the Malvern Hills and the concert will include Liz's fifth string quartet Borderlands inspired by a series of photographs capturing what might be dragons in the landscapes of hills, sky and sea.