Common and Kind returns to the Union Chapel in 2018 for another extraordinary concert, connected to a series of partnership workshops bringing together schools, adult choirs, refugees & asylum seekers. 
The sensational birth of Common and Kind in the summer of 2016 was followed by the creation of the single Human Kind and, within a year, a second vast concert with a series of partnership workshops between adult choir, refugee and asylum seeker groups. This year, the massed choir of four hundred features school partnerships for the first time, bringing children from a range of backgrounds together from across London, along with adult choir & refugee partnerships and a sensational line-up of solo artists and ensembles.
Schools include Oasis Academy Silvertown (Newham), City of London Academy Shoreditch, St Ignatius (Enfield), St Paul's Way Trust School (Tower Hamlets), Mossbourne Academy (Hackney) and the Hackney Children's Choir (comprising ten schools across Hackney). Adult partner choirs include the London International Gospel Choir, Rainbows Across Borders, the Union Chapel Singers and the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants.
For 2018, as well as featuring a live rendition of Human Kind, founder Michael Solomon Williams has written a new song for the school and adult choirs, 'Hear Us!', an uplifting call for the isolated, the lonely and the forgotten to have their voices heard. Movement direction is from guest dance director Omari Carter (choreographer of Stomp!). In just two years since its birth in 2016, Common and Kind concerts have featured an exceptional array of world-leading artists from across the musical spectrum, and this year is set to be very special indeed. Featured solo artists in 2018 are New York soul sensation J. Hoard, UK hip-hop legend Ty, singer-songwriter and the UK’s 2018 Eurovision entry SuRie, percussion virtuoso Bernhard Schimpelsberger in duo with German pianist Chris Gall, ENO Harewood Artist soprano Nadine Benjamin with the Beethoven Orchestra for Humanity, Bengali pop star Saida Tani and the return of award-winning author and Guardian columnist George Monbiot in his collaboration with folk singer Ewan McLennan.
Reviews & Responses from 2016 and 2017
Press
‘A truly inspiring and thrilling evening... It was an amazing achievement. Every set was remarkable both for the standard of musicianship and for the fascinating nature of the music. Yet despite the extraordinary range of genres and styles, the whole thing gelled beautifully. I don’t know how you did it. I really believe you’re onto something here. A group of us have been struggling to conceive of an event with the potential to pull people together across the great divides in Britain, but I think you’ve just answered the question.' - George Monbiot (The Guardian)
‘Music symbolises a coming together – it unites musicians with audiences, as well as with each other. It prizes collaboration and harmony, and exemplifies our common humanity... something special happened. Their voices and their hearts seemed to come together in a true celebration of humanity, a demonstration of the power of music to connect people across borders and across genres.’ - Robin Lustig (Lustig’s Letter)
Choirs
‘Thrilled to be part of it again’
‘I felt so privileged to be part of it - a truly inspiring event.’
‘It was a phenomenal experience for all of us.
‘You pulled off the extraordinary’
Refugee & Asylum Seeker Centres
‘Thank you for such a wonderful event and build up. I am so grateful to you for supporting the inclusion of the LGBT asylum seekers and refugees [who ] took part and felt cared about and supported.’- Rainbows Across Borders
‘Last night was fantastic, Thank you for inviting us to take part.’ - Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants
Audience
‘A staggering evening - thank you’
‘Another resounding success.’
‘Mesmerising performances’
‘What a truly brilliant evening’