Sally Beamish releases new Quaker-commissioned work
'The text throws light on the damage – physical, mental and spiritual – not only to the tortured and their families, but also the perpetrators.'
A new choral work by Quaker composer Sally Beamish, commissioned by Friends, is now available on YouTube.
A Knock on the Door was commissioned by Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT) and uses two choirs to represent detainees and interrogators. Created with Peter Thomson, her writer-husband, Sally Beamish says the work explores how torture damages all involved. The piece premiered at Birmingham Town Hall in November.
Speaking to the Arts Desk website last year, Sally Beamish said: ‘The text throws light on the damage – physical, mental and spiritual – not only to the tortured and their families, but also the perpetrators, those who gives the orders, those in power who authorise it and collude in its use, and members of society in any country that condones its use. We wanted to emphasise the “ordinariness” of people affected by torture, and the fact that, given certain circumstances, anyone might find themselves on either side of this human tragedy.’
She added: ‘I have written several pieces in the past which express views and concerns shared by Quakers – for instance my violin concerto, based on Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, which is a passionate expression of my pacifist beliefs.’
Sally Beamish was introduced to Quakers after her grandmother became a Quaker in the early twentieth century. In 2020 she told the Friend that she was taken to Hampstead Meeting as a child by her father, alternating with Anglican services with her mother every other Sunday. Returning to Quakers when her youngest was seven, in 2002, she became a member of Glasgow Meeting and had ‘a real sense of coming home’.
She said: ‘The silent waiting experienced in Meeting is something that is necessary in creative work too.’
Q-CAT said that it is always looking for new ways to witness against torture on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). Central England Quakers Peace Committee also helped fund the composition.
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