Genesis Sixteen will make its Proms debut on Wednesday 14 August when they perform in the Hallé Orchestra’s Prom of Berlioz’s oratorio The Childhood of Christ, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

The Prom performance is the latest example of current members and alumni being used by leading conductors and ensembles in performances at major venues such as the Sistine Chapel. A few days after the Prom members of Genesis Sixteen will perform at the Edinburgh International Festival in the premiere of the Genesis Foundation’s commission James MacMillan’s Fifth Symphony: Le grand Inconnu.

Genesis Sixteen is a free young artists’ scheme which aims to nurture the next generation of talented choral singers. Participants receive group tuition, individual mentoring and masterclasses run by some of the industry’s top vocal experts.

For tickets to this Prom, click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/edmz3d

*Since this was published, Sir Mark Elder has had to pull out of the concert. He will be replaced by Maxime Pascal.

We caught up with 2019 Genesis Future Directors Award winner Caitriona Shoobridge, who makes her directorial debut at the Young Vic with Ivan and the Dogs by Hattie Naylor, opening in the Clare theatre on 10 July.

What have you been up to since winning the Genesis Future Directors award?

Since winning the award I’ve been busy planning and prepping other projects. I’ve recently directed Kat Wood’s KILLYMUCK which was on at The Bunker and is now on tour in Northern Ireland. Next up I’m directing a selection of plays from Mark Ravenhill’s Shoot GET TREASURE REPEAT with students at ALRA (Academy of Live & Recorded Arts).

What is Ivan and the Dogs about and what inspired you to direct the play?

The play is about a four-year-old boy who leaves his apartment in 90’s Moscow and goes to live on the streets. He befriends a pack of dogs and lives with them until captured by Russian police. Ultimately it’s a story about finding love in the face of extreme adversity, poverty and trauma. It’s taken from a true story and is an extraordinary play. I was drawn to it because, although it was written about a specific place, it feels incredibly universal and pertinent to now.

Have you started rehearsals? How is it going?

Yes. We’re coming to the end of our second week and have just begun getting the piece up on its feet. Without giving too much away, because of the nature of the production the process of rehearsing has been very technical we’ve had to work everything through in parts in order to bring it all together at a later stage. It feels very new and exciting for us to work in this way.

Do you think there are enough mentoring opportunities for emerging directors in the UK? Is there anything that needs to change in the industry to give more emerging directors a platform?

Breaking into directing can be really tough. Especially if you’re not from a privileged, middle class background. I do think there are lots of people and organisations that want to change this though, there’s definitely support to encourage diversity and find the work of under-represented artists.  There’s lots of support for very early career directors but often once you’ve made a couple of shows it can be difficult to find the support to move on to making bigger work. I’d love to see more opportunities that support directors over a much longer stretch of time in their careers as well as initial access to theatres and the work they make.

What do you hope the audience takes away from your production?

Inspiration to see and support more theatre.

Ivan and the Dogs runs from 10-20 July in the Clare, Young Vic. Find out more here.

Read more about the Genesis Future Directors Award

Dadiow Lin has been awarded the latest Genesis Future Directors Award at the Young Vic. She will now be working with the Young Vic team to select her play, which will open in the Clare theatre in October.

Dadiow is an Associate Lecturer in the Theatre and Performance department at Goldsmiths, University of London. She began her career as an Assistant Director at the National Theatre of Taiwan, before moving to London to complete an MA in Devised Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Dadiow has developed her own theatre company, Theatre Counterpoint and has produced professional productions in venues such as Camden People’s Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre and Rich Mix.

Fellow 2019 Genesis Future Directors Award winner, Caitriona Shoobridge, opens her production of Ivan and the Dogs by Hattie Naylor from 10 – 20 July.

Created in 2012, the Genesis Future Directors Award supports and nurtures emerging directors, providing them with the opportunity to explore and develop their craft whilst staging a fully resourced production at the Young Vic. Previous recipients of the award include Caitriona Shoobridge (2019), Lekan Lawal (2018), Debbie Hannan (2018), John R. Wilkinson (2017), Nancy Medina (2017), Leo J Skilbeck (2016), Bryony Shanahan (2016), Ola Ince (2015), Rikki Henry (2015), Tinuke Craig (2014), Finn Beames (2014), Matthew Xia (2013), and Ben Kidd (2012).

The Genesis Foundation has supported the Young Vic for over 15 years and currently funds the Genesis Fellow and Genesis Fellow Production Fund, the Genesis Future Directors Awards and the Genesis Directors Network.

Read more about the Genesis Future Directors Award

Find out more about our partnership with the Young Vic

The new cohort of Genesis Sixteen singers for 2019-20, The Sixteen’s free young artists’ scheme for 18-23 year-olds funded by the Genesis Foundation, has just been selected. The scheme aims to nurture the next generation of talented ensemble singers and, with the new intake, The Sixteen will have mentored more than 200 singers in the early stages of their careers.

Over the course of the next academic year, participants will receive group tuition, individual mentoring and masterclasses run by some of the world’s top vocal experts and a series of week-long and weekend courses led by key figures from The Sixteen including Founder and Conductor Harry Christophers and Associate Conductor Eamonn Dougan. Support from the Genesis Foundation means participants receive free tuition and a bursary to cover all additional costs.

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman, Genesis Foundation says: “One of the greatest gifts we can receive is to have people in our lives who transform us by their wisdom and generosity of spirit. The latest young singers about to join Genesis Sixteen will be blessed by having Harry Christophers, Eamon Dougan and the team come into their lives. Harry is not only one of the world’s leading musicians but also an inspirational mentor who dedicates himself to transforming the lives of the singers who join Genesis Sixteen.”

Harry Christophers CBE, Founder and Conductor of The Sixteen says: “Genesis Sixteen from its inception in 2010 has far surpassed our wildest dreams. Each year has been a revelation and I am certain that our ninth cohort of singers will be no exception. We have chosen a wonderfully talented and diverse group of singers and I can’t wait to start working with them. Once again thank you to the Genesis Foundation for constantly making the impossible possible.”

The outgoing cohort of Genesis Sixteen performs its annual lunchtime concert – the culmination of its year-long training – on Saturday 20 July at London’s St Clement Danes, as part of The Sixteen’s annual Sounds Sublime Festival. The Festival includes a performance by Streetwise Opera responding to Eric Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine, with Genesis Sixteen singers.

The cohort will also perform BBC Choral Evensong on Thursday 18 July at London’s St Alban-the-Martyr Church, which will be recorded for later broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Applications for Genesis Sixteen cohort for 2020 – 21 will open in November 2019. This intake will celebrate ten years of Genesis Sixteen, coinciding with the Genesis Foundation’s 20th anniversary in 2021.

Find out more about our partnership with The Sixteen

James MacMillan’s Fifth Symphony, Le grand Inconnu, to receive world premiere at Edinburgh International Festival, Saturday 17 August.

The UK’s largest commissioner of sacred music, the Genesis Foundation, has announced one of its most ambitious commissions to date. Le grand Inconnu, a large-scale choral symphony by James MacMillan will be performed by the work’s dedicatees Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, alongside members of Genesis Sixteen, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on Saturday 17 August as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation says:

“The Holy Spirit has rarely, and arguably never successfully, been fully explored in a symphony. As the metaphysical part of the Holy Trinity it represents a far bigger challenge for composers than a musical representation of an actual event such as the crucifixion. But few subjects deserve to be expressed in the uniquely powerful and emotional form of a symphony more than the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a form of initiation that brings us closer to God and the gift of his love. The Holy Spirit resides is us all once we accept God in our lives and is a deeply personal way of connecting to him and understanding his purpose for us. James MacMillan is the world’s leading composer of sacred music whose commitment to God and to Christ his son has informed his compositions from the beginning of his career. Everyone at the Genesis Foundation is impatient to hear the results of his tackling this profound subject that’s central to belief and to watch as its power is transmitted around the world in future performances and recordings.”

The Genesis Foundation has a long-standing partnership with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen that has resulted in numerous commissions from James MacMillan. Recent highlights include the 2018 Sistine Chapel performance of MacMillan’s Stabat mater, a Genesis Foundation commission, which gained worldwide attention as the first-ever concert to be live streamed from the Sistine Chapel. Other recent Genesis Foundation commissions for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen include MacMillan’s O Virgo Prudentissima, based on a tiny fragment from the Eton Choirbook by Robert Wylkynson, which received its world premiere in Eton College Chapel alongside other commissions and works from the Eton Choirbook itself.

The world premiere of Le grand Inconnu will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Image Credit: Adrian Myers

Photographer Joanna Piotrowska, 2011 recipient of the Genesis Scholarship at the Royal College of Art (RCA), is currently showing recent work in a solo show, All Our False Devices. The show runs until 9 June 2019 at Tate Britain and is a part of Art Now, a series of free exhibitions at Tate Britain focusing on work by emerging artists.

The Genesis Scholarship at the RCA was awarded to MA photography and painting students to cover their fees during their two-year MA programme of study. After being awarded the 2011 scholarship, Joanna, a 2009 graduate from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland, commented: “This scholarship will give me the opportunity to focus on my project wholly and will help me take my practice to the next level and mature as an independent artist.”

Joanna’s works relate to self-protection, psychophysical relationships and the power dynamics underlying how we relate to each other. All Our False Devices is an installation of black and white photographs and 16mm films, depicting people in major world cities within makeshift shelters in their homes and gardens, subverting childhood play. Other works in the show see her subjects enacting gestures and movements from self-defence manuals, implying violence against women as well as their empowerment.

Since graduating from the RCA, Joanna’s work has been exhibited in Being: New Photography 2018 at MoMA and 10th Biennale Berlin, 2018. Forthcoming projects include a solo show at Kunsthalle Basel in the autumn 2019.

Read Joanna’s profile interview in The Guardian

Find out more about All Our False Devices

The Young Vic is inviting applications for emerging theatre directors to apply for the Genesis Future Directors Award 2019. The Award, provided by the Genesis Foundation, enables the Young Vic to identify, support and nurture a director to explore their craft and stage a public production in the Clare Theatre.

The Genesis Future Directors Award is aimed at young and/or emerging directors who have demonstrated a talent for, and commitment to, directing but have had limited opportunities to gain a foothold in the wider theatre industry. The recipient will work for four weeks on directing a play for the Clare Theatre, which will form part of the Young Vic’s season and be fully supported by the Young Vic’s creative, administrative and production teams and the Genesis Foundation.

The close relationship between the Genesis Foundation and the Young Vic dates back sixteen years. The partnership has been crucial to establishing and maintaining the Young Vic’s work with directors which is central to its work and includes the Genesis Fellowship and the Genesis Directors Network.

Past recipients of Genesis Future Directors Awards include John Wilkinson (2018), Debbie Hannan (2018), Lucy J Skilbeck (2017), Nancy Medina (2017), Ola Ince (2016), Bryony Shanahan (2016), Rikki Henry (2015) Finn Beames (2014), Tinuke Craig (2014), Matthew Xia (2013) and Ben Kidd (2012).

The latest recipients were Lekan Lawal and Caitriona Shoobridge. Shoobridge’s production of Ivan and the Dogs by Hattie Naylor will run from 10 to 20 July. Lawal’s production of Wild East, by April De Angelis opened on 6 February and has completed its run.

Applications are open for members of the Genesis Directors Network and non-members. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 2 April 2019.

Losal Chiodak has been announced as the first Genesis Young Curator, a role which seeks to increase representation within UK visual arts organisations of young curators from minority backgrounds. The Genesis Foundation is committed to providing financial support to programmes which nurture young creatives in the early stages of their professional lives. Create London’s Genesis Young Curator is the latest scheme to continue with that ethos.

The role is run by Create London in partnership with Tate Britain and Chisenhale Gallery. Director of Create London Hadrian Garrard was the recipient of the 2016 Genesis Prize, which is awarded in recognition of outstanding mentoring of artistic talent. This £25,000 bi-annual award is the only prize in the country to recognise mentors and is intended for the expansion of their work. Garrard chose to invest the prize in developing young curators from backgrounds which reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Create London commissioned the Panic! Report in 2018, which revealed that those from BAME backgrounds make up just 2.7% of the workforce in galleries, museums and libraries.

The newly appointed Genesis Young Curator, Losal Chiodak, has recently been part of the communications team at Counterpoint Arts, an organisation that engages with refugee and migrant experiences and expression. From 25 February he will start work with Create London for three days a week over the course of a year. He will also spend one day a week with the Tate Britain curatorial team for the first six months, and over the latter six months, one day a week at East London’s Chisenhale Gallery with its engagement curator. The aim of the role is to support and aid his development as he embarks on his career by building professional networks, developing his knowledge of contemporary art and surrounding discourse, and providing him with a practical insight into the curating process and the opportunity to produce ambitious art and engagement projects in a range of settings, both within a gallery and in a non-gallery context.

Create London hopes this position will establish a network of young curators from underrepresented backgrounds as well as encouraging other organisations to create new, entry level roles for those from diverse backgrounds so that routes in to the creative industries become as open and varied as possible.

Harriet Capaldi, Genesis Foundation Managing Director, says:

“When the Genesis Prize was awarded to Hadrian in 2016 it begun a discussion between us about the need for a programme that addressed the lack of training opportunities for young arts professionals from minority backgrounds. Hadrian devoted his prize money to starting Create’s first Young Curator Award programme and everyone at the Genesis Foundation Is delighted that this programme has now been extended and that they’re partnering with Tate and Chisenhale Galleries.“

Losal Chiodak says:

“I’m extremely excited to be joining the Create team and getting the opportunity to learn from new colleagues across the three institutions involved in this venture. I plan to make the most of this role and bring everything I can to this opportunity. I hope that I will be able to take and expand on the innovative ways Create considers participatory arts and find new ways to give back to our local communities.“

Genesis Foundation commission continues to move and inspire audiences after performances in the Sistine Chapel, London’s Barbican Centre and Scotland

James MacMillan’s Stabat mater is to receive its North American premiere on 7 November 2019 with a performance at New York’s Lincoln Center as part of its Great Performers series. The Stabat mater was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen who will perform it in New York. They will be joined by Britten Sinfonia who have been the orchestra for all the other performances bar Scotland.

From its premiere in October 2016, MacMillan’s Stabat mater fast established itself as one of the most profound and moving contemporary sacred compositions. When the work was performed in the Sistine Chapel in April 2018 it become the first concert to be live-streamed from the Vatican. A highly praised album of the work, on The Sixteen’s own label, CORO is their best-selling recording of all time.

The Genesis Foundation is the country’s leading commissioner of sacred choral music, having commissioned 27 works to date, and has a long history of supporting both James MacMillan and Harry Christophers and The Sixteen.

Since his first work for the Foundation, Padre Pio’s Prayer (2008), MacMillan now combines his Genesis Foundation commissions with mentoring other Genesis composers to reflect the guiding ethos of the Foundation. Summer 2019 will see the world premiere of his biggest commission yet from the Genesis Foundation, details of which will be announced in April.

The majority of the Genesis Foundation’s commissions have been for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, including last year’s Star of Heaven which featured four world premieres of works based on texts from the Eton Choirbook. The Genesis Foundation has funded Genesis Sixteen, the free choral training programme for singers aged 18-23, since its inception in 2011.

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman, Genesis Foundation said: “I am delighted that James’s Stabat mater is to receive its American premiere. Truly great works of art are rare. Works that challenge, deeply move and yet are also able to give hope are even rarer. James’s Stabat mater is all that and more. Those of us who have been fortunate to experience the Stabat mater live in concert know that it is a masterpiece that encompasses the timelessness of Mary’s grief for her dying son, a story as relevant today as it has ever been.”

James MacMillan commented: “Conversations with John Studzinski led directly to the composition of my Stabat mater. A great modern humanitarian inspired by faith, John always has interesting and pertinent things to say about the arts and the contemporary world. We agreed that the Stabat mater is a text which captures the sense of grief and anxiety which pervades much of the world today, afflicted as it is by war, despair and mass migration.”

Image credit: Adrian Myers

Founded in 2015 by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Good Chance built its first temporary theatre in the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp. The theatre became a civic and cultural centre of the camp and a powerful voice in the international conversation about the refugee and migrant crisis. Robertson and Murphy subsequently wrote a play, The Jungle, based on their experiences in the Calais camp.

The Jungle, directed by Justin Martin and Olivier and Tony Award-winner Stephen Daldry, received its world premiere at the Young Vic in 2017 to overwhelming critical and audience acclaim, later transferring to The Playhouse Theatre in the West End and winning Best New Production of a Play in the Broadway World UK Awards 2018.

The play has just completed a successful run at St Anne’s Warehouse in New York, with Ben Brantley of the New York Times writing “Thrilling… ravishing… devastating…it feels as if all the world is holding its breath.” Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter described the production as “A stunning feat of design. A marvellously realised production…essential viewing.”

The Jungle will now receive its West Coast premiere in San Francisco at The Curran theatre where its arrival is hotly anticipated, with performances from 26 March until 19 May.

Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson were joint recipients of the 2018 Genesis Prize for their outstanding work with Good Chance Theatre. Worth £25,000, the Genesis Prize is the only prize which recognises outstanding mentoring of artistic talent and gives winners the opportunity to expand on that work.

Image credit: Marc Brenner