Print Page

John Donne Celebration

John Donne Celebration, St Paul's Cathedral, London


On Thursday 9th June, at 7.30pm in St Paul's Cathedral, London, EMC put on a performance of hitherto unseen songs and poems by the greatest English poet, John Donne, performed for the first time in four hundred years by the most celebrated early music performers in Europe.

The recitals were set amongst performances of Donne's sermons, letters and poetry, read by some of the most distinguished classical actors of their generation, including:
Emma Kirkby
Carolyn Sampson
The Sixteen with Harry Christophers
Harriet Walter
Imogen Stubbs

The event was a huge success; St Paul's was filled to capacity, and was pristine and beautiful - this was the first public performance at St Paul's since the interior scaffolding was taken down (that very morning) - and many expressed how much they enjoyed the original performance as they filed out of the cathedral that evening. In total £13,500 was raised, which went to Peace Direct to aid redevelopment, reconstruction and peace building in areas affected by the Asian tsunami.

In Sri Lanka, the Centre for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation is using university students from the different ethnic communities to identify potential youth leaders in villages affected by the tsunami. The young people will be trained in community development and will run clean up projects, and children's programmes, emphasising getting people from different parts of the community to work together on reconstruction.

In Aceh, the area worst affected by the tsunami, funding will enable a range of civil society organisations from Aceh and the rest of Indonesia to meet to strategise their involvement in the developing peace process. The purpose is to ensure that agreements are enforced, particularly the aspects relating to human rights and democracy, and the culture of corruption, violence and impunity can be effectively challenged.