Endymion Ensemble, Philharmonia Voices

The Cool Web : A Robert Graves Oratorio, a thrilling and uniquely moving new work by local composer and librettist, Jools Scott and Sue Curtis, uses the poems Robert Graves (author of the definitive WW1 autobiography Goodbye to all that) wrote as a young soldier to trace his journey from the peace of an English school to the Somme and back.

Music and libretto combine to chart the tension between words and experience; the journey from innocence through anticipation, camaraderie, incoherent horror and madness, to the final resolution and an attempt to find peace through poetry. The subject matter is intensely challenging but as powerful now, and as relevant to humanity, as it was 100 years ago.

Internationally renowned Endymion Ensemble (‘a powerful sense of energy and mystery’ – The Daily Telegraph) will be joined by Philharmonia Voices (‘the choral interludes hit with the force of a sledgehammer’ and were ‘simply unforgettable’ - The Guardian) in a performance conducted by Robin O’Neill (English Chamber Orchestra, 30 Grammy nominations as a recording artist). Soloist Edward Grint (‘Hugely impressive" - Independent) sings the young Robert Graves alongside a children’s choir that has been selected from Bath schools.

The Edith Cavell Story describes the remarkable life of the most heroic of WW1 nurses; and is adapted from Diana Souhami’s biography by esteemed broadcaster and writer, Leonard Pearcey, who will perform it together with actress Sophie Ward (Heartbeat, Young Sherlock Holmes).

Don’t miss this inspiring opportunity to celebrate two profoundly different personal experiences of the ‘first modern war’.