Send back the Echo
based on Beethoven’s personal letters and memoirs
inspired by a deaf musician, featuring a deaf actor
send back the Echo is not an homage to the myth or legend of Beethoven. It is a journey inspired by a deaf musician. The composer's personal letters and memoirs reveal a human story of intense passion, fear and joy as he reconciled solitude and deafness with a deep love of nature and music. These confessions, interpreted and performed in British Sign Language by deaf actor Vilma Jackson, are accompanied by music from the film’s director & composer, Jasmin Kent Rodgman. Commissioned and performed by the multi-national ensemble United Strings of Europe, Send back the Echo invites a moment of reflection on the alienation faced by the deaf community and people of colour within music, culture and the arts. “The many ways in which we can listen have never been more important.”
Original production generously supported by Arts Council England and the Marchus Trust. Thanks to BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine.
produced by Jasmin Kent Rodgman and Julian Azkoul
music: Jasmin Kent Rodgman
length: 8’
on stage: 1 BSL actor, 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1 double bass
Read this article by composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman and actor Vilma Jackson
“…no man can love the country as I love it. Woods, trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires.”
— ludwig van beethoven