Fuel has announced a new concert staging of An Evening with an Immigrant, written and performed by Inua Ellams, now featuring a live orchestral score by Laura Mvula performed by Chineke! Orchestra.
The performance takes place on Sunday 26 April at 7.30pm at Queen Elizabeth Hall, with tickets from £5.
This new iteration of Ellams’ celebrated solo work blends poems, stories and autobiographical reflections with Mvula’s expansive musical textures. Chineke! Orchestra will perform the score live, marking the first time the piece has been presented in this form.
Born in Nigeria and later relocating between England and Ireland before returning to London, Ellams traces a story shaped by migration, displacement and creative resilience.
Inua Ellams said: “With the world premiere of the orchestral version of An Evening with an Immigrant I’m trying to reach new audiences to affect change in immigration rhetoric and government policies. I’m thrilled to be working with Laura Mvula, whose songs have soundtracked the first decade of the show; collaborating with her to create a new iteration is exciting and new for both of us. She is phenomenal – a generational talent, and I am humbled by her range, heart, ambition and drive.”
Laura Mvula said: “It’s been really exciting for me to approach An Evening with an Immigrant as a composer responding to Inua’s beautiful poetry, it’s a collaboration and process that really resonates with me. In An Evening with an Immigrant, Inua has managed to voice so many stories in his unique, poignant and critically important style. It’s a pleasure to create music that both deepens and highlights the show’s incisive, urgent and bold words.”
Fuel’s Artistic Director and CEO Kate McGrath said: “10 years on from the premiere of Inua Ellams’ powerful personal story of his experience of migration, its message and call for change is sadly no less urgent. Fuel is thrilled that Laura Mvula has accepted our commission to create an orchestral score for the extraordinary Chineke! Orchestra to perform with Inua, and to be presenting the premiere of this new work with Southbank Centre at Multitudes and in partnership once again with Choose Love. We look forward to welcoming audiences to this very special event.”
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
