As part of Gŵyl 2021, Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood and Brett Anderson performed Death Songbook: Singing into Darkness with special guests Nadine Shah, Adrian Utley and Seb Rochford.

Paraorchestra is the world’s only large-scale integrated virtuoso ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians.

Their mission is to redefine what an orchestra can be. They see it as an extraordinary and perfectly synchronised body of instruments that draws on the tradition of centuries but is enriched and expanded by the talents, the instruments and the zeitgeist of the 21st century.

Brett Anderson, Charles Hazlewood and Paraorchestra were joined by guest vocalist Nadine Shah in a one-off special performance of music by icons such as David Bowie/Jacques Brel, Echo and the Bunnymen, Skeeter Davis, Japan, and Suede.

The exquisite songbook featured delicate new versions of songs about death, the death of love, loss, and transcendence.

This rich set - amplified by the diversity and virtuosity of Paraorchestra musicians and the talents of Adrian Utley and Seb Rochford in new arrangements by composer Charlotte Harding - journeys through the melancholy and euphoria of loss.

Performed in the vast emptiness of the largest lyric stage in Europe, Death Songbook reminds us that music is our greatest friend in bleak times; meeting our sorrow head-on, it comforts, nourishes, and uplifts.