These Memories May Be True

About

A City of London Sinfonia concert curated by Alexandra Wood (CLS Creative Director and Orchestra Leader), These Memories May Be True explores belonging: what makes a place feel like home, how memory ties us to places, and how we carry a sense of home after we move. The project grew from a year of conversations in a community kitchen between CLS musicians and people seeking asylum in the UK, sharing memories of people and places left behind and hopes for the future. Music and spoken introductions from CLS players weave together Indian and Western classical influences (Reena Esmail), Lebanese heritage (Bushra el‑Turk), Estonian family memory (Lembit Beecher), Buenos Aires (Astor Piazzolla), English folk tradition (Ralph Vaughan Williams), and an American context (Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring). Presented within CLS’s season on migration and belonging, the event places words and stories alongside orchestral music.