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Quick summary
- Price
- Free - Booking required
- Audience type
- Ages 16+
- Running time
- 1pm - 2pm
- Venue
-
- Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Additional information
Event description
Sunderland born composer Alison Cotton will perform the music from her album, Engelchen, a musical tribute to the lives of Ida and Louise Cook, focusing on their work in rescuing Jewish refugees in 1930s occupied Nazi Germany.
Engelchen, which translates to “little angels”, was a term used by some of the refugees to address Ida and Louise in letters asking for their help to escape.
The album was released on Rocket Recordings (UK/Europe) and Feeding Tube Records (North America) in March 2024. Alison’s music was recorded following a project for Sound and Music/Sunderland Culture and began with a multimedia event in Sunderland in 2023 at Seventeen Nineteen which included a performance of some of the compositions.
Throughout this project Alison learnt about the lives of Ida and Louise in depth and her music portrays the dangerous journeys carried out by the sisters in doing their rescue work, their love of opera and how it connected to their work and of the plight of refugees, both then and now.
Contemporary refugee and women’s groups in Sunderland are collaborating with displays of items to purchase to support these groups.
Ida and Louise Cook feature in our Rebel Women of Sunderland exhibition. Currently showing in the Special Exhibitions Gallery until Saturday 1 August.
Running order
- 1pm – Welcome and short talk by Dr Angela Smith
- 1.10pm – Music from Engelchen by Alison Cotton
- 1.30pm – Q & A with Dr Angela Smith
- 2pm – Close
Engelchen Reviews
“Alison Cotton’s moving rendition of the Cook sisters’ story serves as a timely reminder of the radical, even life-saving potential of the profound social bonds forged through a shared love of music” The Quietus Magazine
“The power of Cotton’s compositions for Engelchen lies in both its clarity, and its lack of affectation. She’s sensitive to the story, conveying it through simplicity. Nothing is overdone, everything serves the narrative” Uncut Magazine
“Alison Cotton does an impressive job of uncovering historical events and simultaneously let its themes speak to and of today” Shindig Magazine
“Some of the most moving, powerful music you’re likely to hear this year” NARC Magazine
“A laudable tribute to quiet heroism” Songlines Magazine
“The term cinematic is so often applied to music that it is nearly meaningless, but it really is appropriate for her musical storytelling.” Dusted Magazine
