Sunday 17 June, 2012 will see the world premiere of The Last Train to Tomorrow, a new work composed and conducted by Carl Davis (CBE) and commissioned by the Hallé for the Hallé’s virtuoso Children’s Choir. 

The choir stalls at The Bridgewater Hall, perched behind the orchestra, will be transformed into a railway carriage full of children as the story of the Kindertransport is retold on the Manchester stage.   The Kindertransport, which took place from 1938 to 1939, saw over 10,000 Jewish children brought to England by train from Berlin, Vienna, and Prague; an act of generosity which saved them from the Holocaust.  None were accompanied by their parents; a few were babies carried by children.

The first Kindertransport arrived at Harwich on December 2, 1938, bringing 196 children from a Berlin Jewish orphanage burned by the Nazis during the night of November 9.  Most of the children left by train from Vienna, Berlin, Prague and other major cities (children from small towns travelled to meet the transports), crossed the Dutch and Belgian borders, and went on by ship to England.  The transports ended with the outbreak of war in September 1939.

The Last Train to Tomorrow will present ten new songs by Davis, linked by first person narration telling this extraordinary story which ends with the children’s safe arrival at Liverpool Street Station in London, meeting their sponsors and starting a new life.  The text is by the celebrated children’s author Hiawyn Oram.

This premiere will feature the Hallé and The Hallé Children’s Choir.

Tickets will go on sale in Spring 2012 as part of the Hallé’s Summer Promenade Concert Season.

For further press information please contact:
Katherine Camps Kilgour at Bright Media – 07958 649502 or email
Katherine@brightmedia.uk.com