An extraordinary live opera performance sharing stories of displaced people and refugees.

Activity: Live Performance | Opera

Access: Paid | Ticketed | Wheelchair Accessible

Stories of loss, hope, resilience, brought to life through music.

Created by soprano Samatha Crawford and accompanied by pianist Daniel Peter Silcock, Freedom Cries Out is a live opera performance sharing stories of displaced people and refugees.

This powerful piece explores experiences of homeland, exile, war, family, hope and new beginnings.

Full performance details:

Freedom Cries Out features The Names of the Earth, a song cycle by Raymond Yiu, especially commissioned for the programme, setting stories from contemporary refugee accounts in collaboration with the other side of hope, a UK-based literary magazine edited by immigrants & refugees. In July 2025, Samantha gave the world premiere of The Names of the Earth at Holy Sepulchre Church, London.

The programme also includes Shawn Okpebholo's song cycle Words Like Freedom, setting poems of Langston Hughes, and Jake Heggie’s These Strangers. These cycles sit alongside selected songs by Errollyn Wallen, Cecilia McDowall, Elisabeth Lutyens and amongst others.

Freedom Cries Out features two newly created songs from arias in Roxanna Panufnik’s opera, Dalia (Garsington Opera, 2022), telling the story of a Syrian refugee girl as she crosses the Mediterranean Sea. The programme concludes with a newly commissioned song cantering on the message of hope, Lo Spirito by Fabio D’ Andrea.

Access

1 free PA / Essential Companion ticket is available per order via a discount code, for anyone who requires extra support for reasons of disability. Please contact Amelia on hello@artreach.org.uk to get your code. PA tickets must be purchased alongside a General Admission ticket.

For venue specific access, please follow the link below:

https://leicestercathedral.org/accessibility (https://leicestercathedral.org/accessibility)

Description supplied by the event organiser.