REST is a new four-movement work for chamber orchestra commissioned by CLS from composer Emily Levy, premiering in Autumn/Spring 2025-26.

The commission seeks to explore and present versions of the UK’s response to migrants and refugees over the past 80 years. Taking the Kindertransport as a starting point, these four movements will delve into complexity; the kindnesses, the cruelties, the welcomes, and the aggressions enacted by individuals and our society on refugees and migrants since the middle of the last century. Attached to the commission are community projects with partners working to support refugees and migrants. These projects will create safe space for individuals to share their stories (whichever and whatever part of it they choose) and to co-create moments of music which reflect that lived experience. REST is both a celebration of the extraordinary courage of individuals in the face of unimaginable consequences, and an exploration of our country in a moment of societal crisis and the history that led us here.

https://cityoflondonsinfonia.co.uk/rest/