Samphire Ensemble presents Electric Eden

Samphire Ensemble returns to the Town Church this August with Electric Eden, a new programme exploring the English pastoral tradition and the meeting point between nature, music and modernity.

The concert follows the success of the ensemble’s Soundings performance in May and brings together classical repertoire, folk music and contemporary songwriting, alongside new arrangements and original work by Samphire director David Le Page and local composer and sound artist Flexagon.

Led by Guernsey-born violinist David Le Page, Samphire Ensemble brings together some of the island’s leading musicians to create performances that move between the classical and contemporary, often reimagining familiar music in unexpected ways.

At the heart of Electric Eden is the English pastoral tradition and a period in the early twentieth century when composers including Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst became fascinated by the folk songs and melodies that had been passed from voice to voice through generations.

The programme includes works by Vaughan Williams, Holst, Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Henry Purcell and Peter Warlock, alongside traditional melodies and music by Nick Drake, John Martyn, Sting and Paul Simon.