John Kefala Kerr
John is a composer, sound artist and writer. A prize-winning graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the University of Sussex. John has had work presented at festivals and venues in the UK, USA, Europe and Japan.
John’s output includes instrumental, dramatic, orchestral, textual and intermedial works. These are often conceived in close proximity to everyday events, situations and circumstances. Recent work includes A Sign in Space (commissioned by Durham Cathedral), which received a Journal Culture Award in 2012, and Steamsong, a multimedia opera commissioned by the National Railway Museum.
Voices of Hope
Voices of Hope is an award winning chamber choir based in the North East of England. Founded in 2011 by Simon Davies-Fidler; Scottish conductor Mark Edwards was appointed as Musical Director in 2020.
Having originally formed for a one-off charity concert, Voices of Hope have since earned wide-spread recognition and success, most notably being championed as 2016 National Choir of the Year and 2017 Let the Peoples Sing finalists. The choir have been thrilled to perform in distinguished venues including Sage Gateshead, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Cardiff Millennium Centre and Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo. Additionally, Voices of Hope have contributed several broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and have been televised on BBC 4.
2019 highlights include performances in Mainz, Germany; at the City of Derry International Choir Festival and a Remembrance Day concert presented by Ēriks Ešenvalds.
With a keen sense of North East identity and an extensive appreciation across the region, Voices of Hope have twice been nominated as Performing Artist of the Year finalists in the Journal Culture Awards. The choir regularly perform original music by local composers, having premiered works by Ian Stephenson, John Kefala-Kerr and Kathryn Tickell. In 2018, the choir released its second album ‘A New Christmas’ featuring six seasonal commissions by composers from the North East.
BLOOD CHOIR 