Grenfell Tower Benefit Concert -17th September

Soprano Nazan Fikret tells us about the origins and plans for the upcoming Grenfell Tower Benefit Concert:

My motivation to do a concert was simple: I woke up on 14th June, my 30th birthday incidentally, and heard the news. I was angry, shocked and desperate to help. For me it summarised everything that's wrong with our society: ignore the poor, cut corners to line to pockets of the rich and don't do anything to change things until disaster strikes. This was a tragic and avoidable incident. However, like so many singers, I haven't a penny to rub together, so thought doing a concert and raising money was the logical thing to do. I envisaged a church hall, a slightly out of tune piano and a few colleagues. I could not have imagined the high profile event this has evolved into!

The music community has been so generous- from singers of all ages and stages, to conductors, orchestral players, the Cadogan, Philharmonia, ROH, ENO, Garsington, Sarah Playfair, Henrietta Bredin of Opera Magazine, The International Opera Awards, Sophia Tuffin my Project Manager, Cantate Communications for Printing the programme, Annie Rushton for designing.....and Petroc Trelawny for presenting on the night! The list is endless!

All of this support has enabled us to plan a truly extraordinary concert which we hope will be a suitable commemoration for the victims and a fundraiser for the London Emergencies Trust.

For further information about the concert please visit www.cadoganhall.com

Tickets: from £20, available from Cadogan Hall Box Office
Online: http://www.cadoganhall.com/event/grenfell-tower-benefit-concert-170917/ Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
Box Office: 020 7730 4500

Singers to include: sopranos Lee Bisset; Francesca Chiejina; Samantha Crawford; Nazan Fikret; Janis Kelly; Louise Kemény; Anna Patalong; Gweneth-Ann Rand; Natalya Romaniw; Kirsty Taylor- Stokes; Ailish Tynan; Jennifer Witton; mezzo-sopranos Katie Grosset; Anna Huntley; Maria Jagusz; Héloïse Mas; Christine Rice; countertenor Jake Arditti; tenors Luis Gomes; Robert Lewis; Stuart Skelton; Jack Swanson; baritones Gary Griffiths; Martin Häßler; Benedict Nelson; Alan Opie; Ricardo Panela and bass-baritones Keel Watson and Joseph Padfield.

Pianists to include: Eugene Asti; Dylan Perez and Linnhe Robertson
Conductors to include: Edward Gardner; David Angus; Douglas Boyd; Richard Hetherington; Timothy Redmond; Matthew Morgan and James Sherlock
Super Orchestra composed of players from the leading London orchestras including: Philharmonia; Royal Opera House Orchestra; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and others