United Strings of Europe: Send Back the Echo

United Strings of Europe play the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on Wednesday 14 April 2027, as part of the York Concert 2026/27 season. The evening is built around send back the echo, a piece by composer Jasmin Rodgman that was inspired by a deaf musician. It's the work that gives the concert its title and frames the whole programme, which pairs Beethoven with contemporary writing and looks at the alienation the d/Deaf community and people of colour face within the arts.

Throughout the night, Deaf actor Vilma Jackson performs Beethoven's letters and memoirs in British Sign Language, carried by Rodgman's music. The programme opens with Strum by American composer Jessie Montgomery, the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year, written for string quartet and string orchestra. Then comes A Little Prayer, a chorale Evelyn Glennie wrote when she was only 13. Rodgman's send back the echo was originally written for the ensemble's film of the same name, which premiered on BBC Arts and was selected for the London Short Film Festival in 2022.

The concert closes with Beethoven's String Quartet in F minor 'Serioso', Op.95, composed during a period of personal despair. The whole thing is led by the ensemble's artistic director, Julian Azkoul.

It starts at 19:00 at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, YO10 5DD. Tickets are £7.00 to £20.00.