Young performers to squawk in Oratorio for Gulls

An Oratorio for Gulls has been composed for the Deal Music and Arts Festival in Kent.

The work, by festival artistic director Luke Syles and librettist Hazel Gould, will be performed by pupils from Warden House Primary School, Deal, and St Edmund's Catholic School, Dover, accompanied by the Bold As brass and woodwind band.

The performance, one of the first in the renovated Maison Dieu hall in Dover, is about a young herring gull, forced to leave the nest and face an often hostile world.

Vicki Feldman, head of music at St Edmund's, said getting children to go to a concert "under the premise of going along to squawk like seagulls" would open their eyes to the "wonderful world" of music.

The work is the result of workshops with residents during 2023, expressing concerns over issues such as immigration, coastal erosion and housing shortages.

Rob Hacket, headteacher of Warden House, is playing with the White Cliff Symphonic Wind, which will perform in the second half of the concert.

"Some are very young children are in a choir for the very first time and so this is a very special experience for them, and I want to be a role model for them, so I am playing too," he said.

The work is specially written for young people and composer Luke Styles developed compositional material with them directly.

Graham Harvey, festival musical director, said: "It's something that's not very melodic but it's rhythmical and they can mimic seagulls and performing it is something they will never forget."

An Oratorio for Gulls is part one of a trilogy of events, each addressing a different theme and performed by people who live in those communities.

Deal Music and Arts Festival starts on Friday and An Oratorio for Gulls is set to be performed on Saturday.

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