Last autumn, something remarkable and precious took place in King’s College Chapel. That may sound par for the course for a building which is synonymous with spirituality and artistic excellence but, when you consider that the music concerned embraced Pink Floyd as well as English plainsong...

Simon Gunton introduces
Adoreus - a Cambridge Cantata
in King's College Chapel

that the performers included local mental health service users and community groups as well as the Chapel’s world-famous choir, and that patrons of the event range from Roger Waters to Christopher Biggins to David Howarth MP, you get some idea of the real originality and scope that characterised Escape Artists’ Cambridge Cantata: a Song of the City, composed by Simon Gunton. For the capacity audience, and more particularly for those who missed it, there was one downside to this extraordinary piece of music for and about the city: it was a one-off – ninety minutes or so of sheer beauty which disappeared into those celebrated rafters all too quickly.

'It is the morning after the Cantata at King’s and my feet still have not touched the ground! Like everyone else who was privileged to be present, I found your work profoundly moving, entertaining and inspiring. Thank you for a wonderful evening.'

Councillor John Hipkin, Mayor of Cambridge

In the most important sense, a project as special as the Cantata is never truly transient: its creators – professional musicians and guest participants alike – have been profoundly moved by its magic, and have had their lives changed in many ways by that uniquely powerful sense of communication that only the arts can bring. The rest of us, however, need a more tangible reminder – a recording, perhaps, or at least a second performance.

Kate's Song

Escape Artists emerged in 1996 from a theatre group founded by prisoners in HMP Wayland, and exists to build a bridge from the margins of society to the mainstream. To be welcomed onto what some might regard as the ultimate stage of elitism is an enormous achievement and a typically ambitious way for the company to mark its tenth birthday; it’s also a logical next step on the path which began in the summer of 2003, when Escape Artists were commissioned by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Care NHS Partnership Trust to map local provision of the arts for mental health care service users, then to rectify the lack of music provision for such groups that its research revealed. Under the inspirational guidance of musician, composer and experienced animateur Simon Gunton, the Cantata evolved through a long-term series of workshops at Fulbourn Hospital, various local day centres and Sue Ryder Care in Ely. The finished piece, which received a standing ovation in King’s College Chapel, was developed by the participants, whose diverse musical tastes resulted in an eclectic blend of rock, classical, folk and blues sound-scapes.

'An absolute triumph... It is the first time I have seen a standing ovation at King's! Uplifting, and overwhelming.'

Actually, ‘finished piece’ is hardly an accurate way to describe a work which lives and breathes according to its participants, and which has as many different possibilities as individuals have stories. The workshops for Adoreus, which involve Royal Opera House musicians, have expanded into two more areas of Escape Artists’ client base – homeless people and vulnerable young people – and will no doubt extend the boundaries of the performance on stage further still. What remains at the core of the music, however, is a juxtapositioning of romance with hard-hitting realism which anyone acquainted with Cambridge will recognise as the flip-sides of the city: an a cappella piece is made up entirely of words from the Big Issue, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and the Cambridge Evening News, and is conducted by bike lights; there are original prayers based on the thoughts of monks in Ely Cathedral, then a cacophony of cruelty as cymbals and umbrellas refer to harsh animal experiments; later, the rhythms of formal hall evoked through cans and cutlery are still fresh in the mind as a moving harp solo begins, written by a homeless man of 27 years standing who lost touch with the group. The piece begins and ends in a reworking of the Pink Floyd classic, ‘Grantchester Meadows’, and the result is satisfyingly cohesive, deeply-rooted in the familiar and yet strikingly different.

'It was stunning… the fun they had with the music and the beautiful sound that filled the entire space was fantastic. The plates, the spoons, the whistles, the chimes...the jabbering...what a treat! Really great.'

Adoreus, meaning ‘gift’, is perhaps the only single word which could sum up this initiative and if ever there was a piece of music which is more than the sum of its parts, it’s the Cantata. The lasting impact on those involved in the first performance, and the potential for people who join the project in its new stage, testify to the way that music can uncover a previously unsuspected seam of emotion and creativity. That’s not just true of those who come to live music for the first time: Simon Gunton, whose credits range from playing trombone in Chitty at the Palladium to putting together children’s orchestras for major motion pictures, has been deeply affected by the experience. ‘I’ve played all over the world,’ he says, ‘but I’ve found more satisfaction here than I ever did in an orchestra.’

More information about the music workshops at Sue Ryder Care

More information about the music workshops in Fulbourn Hospital