‘Songs for our Times’: Settings of Nigerian-American Poet Chinwe D. John coming Autumn 2023

Divine Art is delighted to announce a new collaboration with poet Chinwe D. John to produce an album of songs by two English composers written to reflect our turbulent times and to shine a light of hope for the future.

The album, titled “Songs for our Times”, is the result of a unique collaboration between two leading British contemporary classical music composers, Stuart MacRae and Bernard Hughes, and Nigerian-American poet/lyricist, Chinwe D. John. The classical lyrics, which feature themes relevant to our collective present-day lives, are set to music which is accessible, whilst still retaining its depth. Several universal subjects, including the need for wisdom within the halls of power; transcendent love; an immigrant’s homesickness; the search for inner peace; all flow through the album evoking the spirit of our day and age. Despite our current turmoil, the overall tone of the album is a hopeful one, making it a welcome balm during our turbulent times. 

Comprised of two song cycles; Kingdoms by Stuart MacRae and Metropolis by Bernard Hughes, the music is influenced by classical music traditions, as well as genres such as folk and highlife.   

The songs are brought brilliantly to life by three internationally renowned artists: Grammy award-winning pianist Christopher Glynn (Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival), tenor Nick Pritchard (award-winning regular on the opera and concert stage) and rising star soprano Isabelle Haile. 

The album was recorded on November 14th and 15th 2022, at St. Jude’s Hampstead, UK, with sound engineer Patrick Allen of Opera Omnia and is scheduled for release on 13 October 2023.

Artist Biographies

Composers: Stuart MacRae (Kingdoms) is a renowned composer of opera, orchestral, chamber and vocal music. His awards include the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Opera. He is based in his home country of Scotland, where he is a professor of composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 

Bernard Hughes (Metropolis) is cited as being one of the leading composers of choral music in Britain. He regularly composes work for the BBC Singers amongst other ensembles. His awards include the William Mathias Prize, the Polyphonos International Prize and the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Prize. 

Pianist: Christopher Glynn (on a Steinway D) is a Grammy award winning classical pianist, and much sought after accompanist, working with most of the world’s renowned classical music artists, on an international scale. He is the artistic director of the Ryedale Festival in North Yorkshire, having taken up the mantle in 2010. Under his leadership, the festival features up to sixty programmes a year. 

Tenor: Nick Pritchard is an award-winning versatile tenor, who features frequently with noted ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, and L’Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. His recording of Bach’s St John Passion under Sir John Eliot Gardiner was nominated in the 2023 Grammy awards for Best Choral performance. 

Soprano: Isabelle Haile is an award-winning Ethiopian-Romanian soprano, who has received her vocal training in Moldova, Italy, and the United Kingdom. She has sung in both operatic and solo recital roles internationally. In 2020, she completed a Masters with Distinction, in Vocal Performance, from the Royal Academy of Music. 

Lyricist: Chinwe D. John is a Nigerian-American physician and poet, whose previous work includes a book of narrative poetry ‘Tales of Fantasy and Reality’, and a contemporary classical music EP ‘Within a Certain Time and Place’ released under the Voces8 label. In 2020, in response to the particular challenges facing UK classical musicians, and the need for the genre to expand its audience base, she was inspired to take the steps that would lead to this album project.