Grand Union Orchestra shows are best thought of as ‘music theatre’ rather than ‘concerts’.
They are based around songs, and there is a narrative, sketched out as much by the instrumental music as the lyrics.
They frequently reference social, political, or historical events related to the performers’ experience or their heritage.
Grand Union Orchestra 40th anniversary film
Our 40th Anniversary Film features exactly the same qualities as you experience in live performance: a sense of its energy and spontaneity, deeply moving songs and spirited choruses, dramatic presentation and colourful action.
Bringing together over 30 musicians and singers, across three generations of artists representing every major musical culture worldwide (some of them members since the very beginning!), it draws on the astonishing range of highly dramatic and original music Tony Haynes has written for the Orchestra over the years.
Read more about the film, including the synopsis and artist and production credits.
OTHER THEMED PROJECTS
Excerpts from the Grand Union Orchestra's Undream'd Shores, its most spectacular show to date! From the Hackney Empire, November 2015, about the experience of migration past and present. Music by Tony Haynes, featuring the Grand Union Orchestra, GU Youth Orchestra, World Choir, great singers and jazz soloists.
On October 4th 1936, the people of East London united to prevent a provocative march by Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists ('Blackshirts') through their streets to antagonise the local Jewish community, long settled there. Though officially supported by the police, the march was turned back by local communities uniting in protest. The Battle of Cable Street, as it became known, is a stark reminder that racial and religious animosity is always a present danger... This performance was recorded live at Rich Mix in Shoreditch to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle. Performed by the Grand Union Orchestra with a choir of local people, the music is by Tony Haynes, lyrics by Sara Clifford. Read more here.
From Grand Union Orchestra performance of Undream'd Shores with Leeds University School of Music choir and orchestra. Music by Tony Haynes.
On the banks of the River Ganges (known also as ''mother') a woman waits with a candle every night, asking the river for news of her son, lost in the war. This civil war between East and West Pakistan led to Bangladesh becoming an independent state in 1971. This piece sketches the struggle for independence from the viewpoint of those involved. It is performed by Bangladeshi singer Lucy Rahman, South Asian musicians and singers from SAA-uk (Leeds), students from Leeds schools and the full Grand Union Orchestra. Music by Tony Haynes, lyrics by Mohammed Rafiquzzaman.
Grand Union AllStars
Grand Union AllStars - selection from the repertoire of 8- to 10-piece groups drawn from the global Grand Union Orchestra. Musicians featured include: Zhu Xiao Meng (Chinese harp), Ruijun Hu (Chinese flutes), Yousuf Ali Khan (tabla), Jyotsna Srikanth and Lily Baker Haynes (violin), Claude Deppa and Shanti Jayasinha (trumpets/cello), Louise Elliott (flute, tenor saxophone), Ionel Mandache (accordion), Daniel Louis (steel pan), Abass Dodoo (African drums), Carlos Fuentes (Latin percussion), Gerry Hunt (guitar, soprano sax), Andres Lafone (bass guitar), Paul Clarvis and Cristiano Castelitto (drums).
Projects honouring Bangladesh
This short film was produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh, March 26th 1971. It tells the story of the buildup to this event and the war that followed entirely in music and song, by British and Bengali composers and writers.
Grand Union Orchestra musicians visit Bangladesh frequently. Here is a short documentary film made by Terry Braun of a visit in April 2009.