The Lost Words: A Spell Book | Elektra Women's Choir

On its first tour to the United Kingdom, Canada's celebrated Elektra Women’s Choir, from Vancouver, Canada, presents The Lost Words: A Spell Book, a whimsical and evocative musical interpretation of the bestselling book by Cambridge author Robert Macfarlane and visual artist Jackie Morris. Their magical book’s “spells” and watercolours are meant to conjure back into the lives of children twenty words about nature removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.

Elektra, under Artistic Director Morna Edmundson. is known internationally for its leadership in developing compelling new repertoire for women’s choirs, commissioned ten Canadian composers to set two “spells” each. The world premiere of this work was held in Vancouver, Canada, in October 2022, to great acclaim.

The performance will be a treat for the eyes and ears, with large-screen projection of the book’s illustrations. Actor Laara Sadiq will read each spell, and the new compositions performed by Elektra and a small ensemble of instrumentalists, complete the celebration of this literary “re-wilding of childhood”.