Last year Emma was invited to record five songs with the symphonic rock band Simple Harmonic Motion.  On 21st and 22nd February, she will join them to present their new album ‘Fantasia’ in the Netherlands and France.

Here is their press release:

Total immersion in lights and sound. That is the approach of progressive rock band ‘Simple Harmonic Motion.’ Together with Leiden mezzo-soprano Emma Brown, the British band will visit Leiden to present their latest album “Fantasia” in a free concert here in our very own Hooglandse Kerk. Their stunning music is accompanied by bespoke projections in the medieval high choir.

‘Simple Harmonic Motion’ have performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Led by Jonathan Beckitt, they have an fresh and innovative approach to music. Their latest album “Fantasia” shows their respectful covers of well-known classical music. It includes folk songs, the Bach-Gounod ‘Ave Maria,’ the ‘Sanctus’ from Fauré’s Requiem, and Albinoni’s ‘Adagio.’

Their previous albums have been equally innovative. In “Tone Poems” they explored the poetry of John Keats, based on Greek mythology, as is depicted magnificently in the accompanying projections. In this album, guitarist Curtis E Johnson really shines, showing his creative use of the harmonic textures of distortion and feedback.

Unusually, the band began as a studio project. They wanted to record high-quality, original music, as can be heard on their album “Interludes.” The success of this album inspired them to perform live. The bespoke projections fit ‘hand in glove’ with the music. A backing track helps the musicians stay synchronized with the animations, and still allows them to play and sing relatively freely.

It is challenging to classify the band. Between them, the musicians have experience in many different genres. Emma is well-known here in the Netherlands as a classical singer: she is the most recent member of the band, joining them in 2018 for “Fantasia.” Meanwhile, bass-player Steve Kershaw regularly performs with jazz bands in the UK, Europe, and Russia. Drummer Gerry O’Riordan has performed in many different genres and works as a sound engineer in London. Guitarist Curtis E Johnson has recorded solo albums as a rock vocalist. Composer, arranger, keyboard player and flautist Jonathan Beckitt draws on all their respective talents. Simple Harmonic Motion has been labelled as a ‘progressive rock band,’ a ‘symphonic rock band’ and also as ‘minimalist,’ ‘ambient,’ and ‘new age contemporary classical music.’ In short, they are the band where genres meet.

Friday, 21st February, 20:30, Hooglandse Kerk, Leiden, the Netherlands
Saturday, 22nd February, 20:00, Cathedral of Our Lady, Amiens, France

On 15th and 16th February Emma will be singing for a private group during First World War remembrance ceremonies at various locations on the Western Front in Northern France.

Emma’s composition ‘O Nata Lux’ has recently been published by Edition HH. This six-part a capella motet uses a tenth-century text for the Feast of Transfiguation. However, it is suitable throughout the liturgical year.

For more information and to purchase the motet, please visit Edition HH.

It’s been a wonderful year for Emma, singing in many different countries including Nepal, Hungary, and Vietnam for both charitable and commercial causes, recording under the record label Floating World Records, and gradually publishing her compositions with Edition HH.

Emma sang for veterans in the presence of HRH Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on 6th June in Bayeux, France, following the seventy-fifth anniversary of the D-Day landings. Later in the year, she sang in the presence of HRH Princess Margriet and her husband Prof. Pieter van Vollenhoven at the Air Borne commemorations in Arnhem, the Netherlands. It was lovely to see the respect shown to the veterans by both members of the public and by the royal guests. Emma was also honoured to be invited to sing for the US Mission to the EU’s Independence Day celebration in Brussels, Belgium, which various dignitaries including Jared Kushner attended.

Emma continues to sing for veterans and for remembrance ceremonies. She sang for Gurkha veterans and their families at the Gurkha Welfare Trust in Pokhara, Nepal. Back in Europe, Emma sang for D-Day and Operation Market Garden commemorations, as well as for the Spirit of Normandy Trust’s veterans reunion in Portsmouth and at their fundraising dinner on HMS Victory. She also sang in Venray, the Netherlands, for their celebration of seventy-five years of liberation, and at the First World War commemorations in Arras and the Somme.

On this theme, together with pianist Han-Louis Meijer, Emma released her first solo CD. “Echoes of War” presents music from and about the First and Second World Wars. It includes songs which were popular songs during both wars, such as those made famous by Vera Lynn, songs by classical composers such as Ravel, Poulenc, and Butterworth, love songs, patriotic songs, and retrospective songs. The CD is available at Floating World Records and various online stores and music-streaming systems.

Emma’s next recording, also on Floating World Records, is with the progressive rock band “Simple Harmonic Motion.” “Fantasia” is due to be released in Febuary 2020. It includes sensitive and moving covers of classical music, including the Bach-Gounod “Ave Maria,” the Sanctus from Fauré’s Requiem, and various English folk melodies. Simple Harmonic Motion have a fascinating approach to performance: as well as using a mixture of live playing and synthesised backing tracks, they immense the audience in powerful light projections. For a taste of their work, please see the video below.

Another wonderful collaboration has been with Hungarian guitarist Robert Sinha. Robert and Emma worked together on a programme of music from the commemorations of the Dutch Admiral De Ruyter in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam last February. In September, they toured Budapest and Cegled, Hungary, with a programme of English music from Dowland to Sting. There are plans for further tours in 2020 and 2021. Below is a video of their work.

Emma also sang for a very wonderful children’s organisation, the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, which has helped over a million children in Vietnam and Mongolia. The foundation was established thirty years ago by Christina Noble OBE, who was forced to live on the streets of Dublin as a teenager, and today helps children avoid the same horrendous circumstances. After singing a fundraising concert in Westport, Ireland, Emma was invited to sing at the foundation’s thirty-year anniversary gala in Ho Chi Minh city. Please do take some time to read about Christina’s life and work, for example in her autobiographies “Bridge Across My Sorrows” and “Mama Tina,” and consider donating to the foundation here.

Emma’s compositions are being published by Edition HH. Her motet “O Lux Beata Trinitas” was sung in Bath Abbey, Nottingham Cathedral, and St Thomas, Mellor, Stockport, all in the UK, as well as in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, in her home town of Leiden, the Netherlands, Emma was commissioned to write music for the carillon (city bells) for the city’s annual 3rd October liberation festival. Her composition “Leidse Gedenck Klokken” will be published by Edition Pors, a publisher specialising in music for carillons.

And on that note, here is a Christmas carol which was published last November and is available here.

Next year already has some interesting concerts, including singing in Ulaanbaatar for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, at remembrance ceremonies in France and the Netherlands, and at the Hay on Wye Second World War commemorations.

Thank you for reading, and thank you to all the musicians, organisers, and members of the public who have supported Emma over the last years. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Emma’s composition “Sweet was the Song the Virgin Sung” is now available through Edition HH:

http://www.editionhh.co.uk/shop/item.aspx?itemid=780

This simple and captivating four-part (SATB) setting should be suitable for choirs of most levels.

“Emma Brown’s setting of ‘Sweet was the Song’, simple yet utterly compelling, captures the Renaissance character of the text while imparting a fresh, modern twist. Suitable for choirs both professional and amateur, it would make a beautiful addition to a Christmas concert or carol service, as well as providing a touching moment of spiritual reflection during Midnight Mass.”

-Per Hartmann

Text: William Ballet‘s Lute Book in Library of Trinity College, Dublin, c.1600

With thanks to the Leidse Cantorij, Leiden, the Netherlands and their director of music Hans Brons for this beautiful recording.