To call ‘Downton Abbey Live’ a ‘concert’ would be a serious understatement. Enthusiastic fans from the four corners of the world travelled to Highclere Castle on Saturday, 22 June, to enjoy what can only be described as an immersive Downton Abbey experience.

Set in the shadow of the imposing Highclere Castle, the event had all the ingredients of a fine period drama reenactment: the splendid original music composed by John Lunn and performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London with John himself playing the piano, iconic scenes from the series projected upon the big screen behind the orchestra and of course, everyone’s favourite butler, Mr Carson (Jim Carter), who was our host for the evening.

(And, our minions tell us that the Earl of Grantham himself (Hugh Bonneville) was hiding in the audience as well!)

As the guests made their way onto the castle’s grounds, they were greeted by Manu Brazo’s smooth saxophone pieces piercing the warm air of the gorgeous summer evening.

‘Everybody Sing’ Choir followed shortly with a 35-minute set where they performed their own music. The choir was also chosen to perform the Downton Abbey opening theme together with The Chamber Orchestra of London.

To further set the tone for this thematic event, ‘20s music was played during intervals, foreshadowing the release of the much-anticipated Downton Abbey movie set to release this September.

To the audience’s sheer delight, the ‘Downton Abbey Live’ program commenced energetically with the beloved ‘Downton Abbey Suite’.

Mr Carson then made his way onto the stage and addressed the guests in his signature style, abound with humor and laced with sarcasm and razor-sharp wit.

He introduced the brilliant Chamber Orchestra of London, the masterful conductor, Alastair King, who orchestrated and conducted the entire Downton Abbey series, as well as the upcoming Downton Abbey movie, and of course, the man himself, multi award-winning television and film composer John Lunn.

Throughout the evening, Mr Carson reminisced about some of the most extraordinary events that have taken place over the years at Downton Abbey, taking a most nostalgic audience down memory lane.

With a well-structured program, the night took the audience on an emotional rollercoaster, touching on themes of heartbreak, friendship, family bonds, and love.

The ‘Us And Them’ piece was accompanied by scenes from the life of the staff members living ‘below stairs’.

We were then taken through the trials and tribulations of Mr. Bates and Anna, which were shortly followed by a glimpse into life ‘above stairs’ and the Dowager Countess of Grantham’s tumultuous relationship with Isobel Crawley and Martha Levinson. Needless to say, her tongue-in-cheek remarks had the audience in stitches, as always.

Eurielle then performed an emotional ‘Nothing Will Be Easy’ to mark Lady Mary’s recuperation after the loss of her beloved husband Matthew.

After a brief reminder of the tragedies and trials brought about by the Great War, the tone of the concert shifted towards the fun times that the Crawley family enjoyed on occasion, with baritone Sam Young performing ‘Roses of Picardy’.

As the end of the first half of the concert approached, John Lunn addressed the audience and mentioned that he had wanted to do one scene exactly the way it was done in the TV series, with the exact music that was synced to that particular cue. Even though choosing one hadn’t been an easy task, the composer decided to use the train station scene from episode 1, season 2, when Matthew is walking to the train station to take the train back to the front line of WWI and Lady Mary is waiting for him at the station. The composer revealed that his intention with that piece of music (‘Such Good Luck’) was to have the audience believe without a doubt that Matthew would not be coming home from the war and that this was them saying their final goodbyes. Luckily for the couple, Matthew does come back home from the war, albeit seriously injured.

After the interval, there was a short presentation celebrating John Lunn’s professional achievements, during which the composer was awarded the Trinity Laban Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to music. The Honorary Fellowship is the conservatoire’s highest honor and was presented to the composer by Trinity Laban Principal Anthony Bowne.

The Honorary Fellowship presentation was introduced by British Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning television producer and executive Gareth Neame OBE, who is also CEO of Carnival Films and Executive Producer of Downton Abbey and a patron of Trinity Laban. He was joined on stage by Trinity Laban’s Director of Music Havilland Willshire.

Following an uplifting ‘A Grand Adventure’, and an emotional performance of ‘Did I Make The Most Of Loving You’ by Eurielle, Mr Carson continued relating anecdotes from the Grantham household, including Rose’s romance with a jazz musician. ‘Modern Love’ was the musical piece that accompanied this story.

‘Love and the Hunter’ was paired with hunting scenes, which were then succeeded by clips showing Lady Mary’s romances throughout the years. They were matched with Sam Young’s performance of a waltz arrangement of ‘If You Were the Only Girl in the World’.

The tale of the three sisters was shortly followed by clips of the Crawleys visiting the MacClare family in the beautiful Scottish countryside. The scenes were accompanied by my absolute favorite composition from the series soundtrack, the piece titled ‘Duneagle’, which was born right out of the composer’s Scottish roots.

As Mr Carson was saying his farewell, Julian Fellowes, the Downton Abbey writer and executive producer took to the stage to interrupt him and to assure the audience that come Autumn, Charlie Carson will have at least one more chance to show how crucial he is to life at Downton. Referring to the Downton Abbey movie which will be released in a few months’ time, he stressed, to our excitement, that although it has been an incredible journey, it isn’t quite over yet.

The concert ended with an abridged version of ‘Did I Make The Most Of Loving You’, performed by Eurielle.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Tommy Pearson, the writer and producer of this event and his collaborators, ‘Downton Abbey’, the most successful British drama ever created got its rightfully iconic concert experience. The stunning event was nothing short of a flawless adventure, to be remembered and kept in our hearts for a long time.

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com, on 27 June, 2019)

June 12 brought with it a special evening. A special and important evening. An evening celebrating the work of some of the most brilliant contemporary female composers for film, TV, and video games.

Organized by Manners McDade, ComposHER showcased work from composers Carly Paradis, Jessica Jones, Anne Nikitin, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Kate Simko, Jessica Curry, Jocelyn Pook, Nainita Desai, Imogen Heap, Alev Lenz, Claire M Singer, and Amelia Warner, most of the performances being either introduced or accompanied by the composers themselves. Their music was masterfully performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Hugh Brunt and included performances by SHE Choir and EERA.

The event sought not only to showcase the work of these 12 incredible composers but also to inspire the next generation of female composers and ultimately make this area of the industry as inclusive as possible for future generations.

With staggering stats revealing that only 1% of the composers hired to work on the top 100 fiction films at the US box office between 2007 and 2017 were female, it is crucial now more than ever to break the glass ceiling in the industry once and for all.

The lovely EartH Theatre in London proved to be a most fitting venue for this occasion and boasted a full house of visual media music enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, Jessica Curry and Imogen Heap were not able to make it, although both of them sent short messages for the audience.

After a short introduction by Hugh Brunt (London Contemporary Orchestra) and Harriet Moss (Manners McDade), the concert commenced with a few pieces by Claire M Singer (Music from ‘Tell It To The Bees’, directed by Annabel Jankel and awarded BCN Festival Castell de Peralada Award For Best Music), Alev Lenz (‘Fall Into Me’ from the ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Hated In The Nation’) and Nainita Desai (Music from ‘Untamed Romania’, nominated for Best Film Score at the GOPO Romania Film Awards and music from the upcoming video game ‘Telling Lies’).

Having been a composer for over two decades, Nainita was excited to hear her music played live for the very first time. We hope that this is only the beginning and that we shall get to hear her exquisite and emotional music live more often.

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and Anne Nikitin were then introduced by Edith Bowman. Edith is the host of Soundtracking, a weekly podcast where she chats with directors, actors, writers, producers and composers. This week’s episode features Carly Paradis, Amelia Warner, and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, where you can find out more about the composers’ work.

Emilie and Anne both performed at the piano and the audience had a chance to listen to some of the music Emilie wrote for ‘Only You’ (Harry Wootliff’s debut feature, nominated for a Sutherland Award for First Feature Competition at the London Film Festival, 2018) and ‘Found God’, which Anne wrote for the BBC series ‘Mrs Wilson’ (starring and Executive Produced by Ruth Wilson).

Jessica Curry’s ‘I Have Begun My Ascent’ from the video game ‘Dear Esther’ was a hauntingly beautiful successor to Emilie’s soft piano pieces.

After the interval, the audience was greeted by SHE Choir (a collaborative women’s pop choir based in London), which performed Imogen Heap’s ethereal ‘Hide & Seek’.

Jenna Fentimen (Women Composers Forum) and Thomas Mikusz (Alliance for Women Film Composers) addressed their mission to increase inclusion and visibility of women composers in film music, TV, and video games, stressing that the organizations they represent are not strictly for women composers, but that men can get involved as well.

They then introduced the following three composers and their beautiful music: Jocelyn Pook (music from ‘The Wife’), Jessica Jones (playing music from an upcoming BBC production) and Kate Simko (‘Dark Delirium’ and ‘Moving Forward’ from ’20 Weeks’).

Chandler Poling of White Bear PR got up on stage and introduced the last two composers of the evening: Amelia Warner, whose elegant music from ‘Mary Shelly’ was nominated at the World Soundtrack Awards for ‘Discovery of the Year’, and Carly Paradis, who performed music from the Netflix Original ‘The Innocents’ (featuring EERA), which won a Hollywood Music in Media Award, as well as music from BBC hit drama ‘Line of Duty’ (the soundtrack was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award).

The programme ended quite appropriately with the familiar ‘Line of Duty Finale’, which some of the guests ended up humming on their way out of the theatre.

Through their sheer talent, skill and comprehensive range of stylistic voices, intertwining classical composition with electronic sounds, vocal performance and sound effects, these incredible women prove time and time again that they are a force to be reckoned with.

It’s time to put the spotlight on women composers. It’s time to balance the gender equality scales. It’s time for change.

This event was organized with the support of Spitfire Audio, ASCAP, P&G, Manners McDade, Production Music Awards, WMP Studios, Alliance for Women Film Composers, Art Council England, Women Composers’ Forum, Free The Bid, NFTS, shesaid.so, SHE Choir and LCO.

(This article was originally published on SoundTrackFest.com, on 15 June, 2019)