Genesis Foundation commission, Hallowed, by Stephen Hough to receive its world première performance at the British Museum

9 March 2018

Continuing its programme of commissioning sacred music, the Genesis Foundation will premiere its latest work, by Stephen Hough, at the British Museum on Tuesday 13 March in a concert celebrating the exhibition Living with gods: people, places and worlds beyond.

Hallowed is the focal point of a concert designed to complement the British Museum’s Living with Gods exhibition which has been supported by John Studzinski and the Genesis Foundation. Presented by the Genesis Foundation, the programme of sacred music will be performed by its long-term partners Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in front of an invited audience of 200 guests.

Stephen Hough, one of the world’s greatest pianists, is also a gifted composer whose new composition, Hallowed, is a sequence of sacred settings celebrating the universality of the human experience. Following the exhibition’s much celebrated exploration of religious beliefs in communities across the world, Hough’s work examines the expression of religious wonder and awe, spanning from the book of Genesis – Abraham as the common father for Jews, Christians and Muslims – to an 8th century Chinese poem, a joyful Navajo text and finishing with the Lord’s Prayer from the New Testament.

Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond opened at the British Museum on 2 November to great critical acclaim:

“This show suggests that the things which, in today’s world, so often seem to divide us, are in fact the things that we share.” (The Times, ☆☆☆☆☆),  “so powerful it makes you cry” (The Daily Telegraph, ☆☆☆☆),  “full of surprises” (The Evening Standard, ☆☆☆☆)

Best Exhibition, The Times’ Arts Awards for 2017: “It’s not just the divine. This exhibition tells us why believing in gods makes us human.”

Click here to read an interview with Stephen Hough in the Catholic herald

Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond closes on 8 April 2018. Click here to book tickets.

For more information on the Genesis Foundation’s commissions, click here.