Come and hear about the life and work of this pioneering woman who has changed the face of classical music through her Caribbean heritage.
Dominique Le Gendre, born in Trinidad and Tobago and living in London since the late 1980s, is a groundbreaking composer who went from playing in church and composing calypsos as a teen to training as a classical guitarist in Paris.
Dominique has worked with theatre companies and film collectives and, with her arts charity StrongBack Productions, combines literature and music in innovative projects. Her music commissions read like an international Who’s Who of organisations, from writing pieces for the BBC Radio 3 Proms to Canterbury Cathedral, from the Ensemble Du Monde (USA) to the Coro De Madrigalistas (Mexico).
She has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including directors Adjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton at Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2022, she co-wrote the music and lyrics for Birmingham Rep’s reboot of Mustapha Matura’s play The Playboy of the West Indies, hailed by the Guardian as a ‘bright calypso musical’ with ‘sweet duets’.
Dominique will be in conversation with literary activist and creative entrepreneur Joy Francis, co-founder of Words of Colour.
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Tickets: £5.00, available to book at:
Venue:
198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London SE24 0JT, located at the junction btw Railton Road and Hurst Street
Train:
Herne Hill (3-minute walk)
Tube:
Brixton
Buses:
3, 37, 68, 196, 201, 322, 468 to Herne Hill
Parking
There are two parking bays less than 10 metres from the building on Hurst Street, provided for the disabled. There is pay and display parking on the surrounding streets. The building is accessible to wheelchair users with disabled and baby changing facilities.
These conversations are part of a wider project: Women Speak Volumes Between Generations. Produced in collaboration by Speaking Volumes, Words of Colour and the George Padmore Institute, in association with 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning and the University of Coastal Carolina. This is the first of seven conversations running from 19 February to 14 May which will throw the spotlight on the work of pioneering creative older black women whose stories need to be shared. The Women Speak Volumes project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.