send back the echo

for Sign Language actor and 9 string players

based on Beethoven’s personal letters and memoirs and text by Evelyn Glennie

inspired by a deaf musician, featuring a Deaf actor

UPCOMING PERFORMANCE: 09.05.2026 Southbank Centre, London (click for tickets)
PAST PERFORMANCE: 05.10.2025 Victoria Hall, Geneva

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 composer Jasmin 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” – Rodgman

Programme

Jessie Montgomery Strum

Jasmin Kent Rodgman send back the echo (USE commission) with text by L. van Beethoven

Gareth Farr Mondo rondo (arr. Julian Azkoul) OR Olli Mustonen Nonetto No. 2

Evelyn Glennie A little prayer (arr. I-han Fu) with text adapted and performed by Vilma Jackson

L. van Beethoven String Quartet in F minor, Op.95 ‘Serioso’ (arr. Azkoul)

Run time approx 75 mins

Optional outreach work and enhancements in partnership with Audiovisability:

–Workshop for general public and d/Deaf audience members
–Live audio description in British Sign Language
–Haptic devices for d/Deaf audience members