17Nineteen concert inspired by Sunderland legend brings together young people with autism

A special concert, inspired by a Sunderland legend, which brings together young people in the city with autism is to be performed at 17Nineteen, the Holy Trinity Church.
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The East End venue hosts Wheresoeover They Are In Any Measure, a musical project bringing together people who attend creative classes at Autism Able CIC in Sunderland, musician David Littlefair and composer Ben Lunn to create and perform original music.

The performance is a one-off, held at 17Nineteen on Saturday, April 1 from 7pm.

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The title of the piece takes its name from a phrase in John Lilburne’s writing on human rights and freedoms.

Wheresoeover They Are In Any Measure comes to 17Nineteen on Saturday, April 1 from 7pm.Wheresoeover They Are In Any Measure comes to 17Nineteen on Saturday, April 1 from 7pm.
Wheresoeover They Are In Any Measure comes to 17Nineteen on Saturday, April 1 from 7pm.

Lilburne, also known as Freeborn John, was a radical Leveller born in Sunderland in 1614 and a major figure in the Civil War era. His ideas of free speech and “freeborn rights” is thought to have been a great influence on the 1789 US Constitution.

His boots are displayed at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

The project will take a unique and contemporary look at ideas of freedom as it relates to young neurodiverse people on Wearside.

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It will use a series of experimental and ambient music making techniques and a number of accessible instruments; such as MiMu Gloves, Leap Motion controllers and Vochlea microphones, which allow participants without any musical training to dive into the joy of music making.

A spokesperson for the event said: “After visiting Sunderland Museum and learning about John, seeing his boots on display and discussing his work, our young people were asked, ‘If you had a pair of boots that you could put on and go and do anything, what would you do?’

“Using the answers to that question, we find ourselves writing music about travelling back in time to the era of the dinosaurs while listening to Metallica, or flying into space for a shopping trip, or talking about the perfect government with Antarctic penguins.”

Tickets are available on a pay-what-you-like basis from seetickets.com and Eventbrite.

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Funding for the 1719 event comes from Composer-Curator, a scheme brought by Sound and Music, a UK charity which provides opportunities for people to create and enjoy new music.

The work was made possible by the Composer-Curator programme in partnership with Sunderland Culture. Composer-Curator is supported by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

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