Review: Julian Anderson Exiles: Siobhan Stagg, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
Barbican Centre, London

"For a work in part about the enforced “exile” of Covid, it has been tripped up rudely, like much else, by the pandemic itself. Two of its projected five movements were premiered by the LSO and Simon Rattle last September, with a third, for unaccompanied double chorus, added last week, the soprano Siobhan Stagg a gleaming soloist."
 

Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, January 2022​

"Its three sections make a well-balanced whole, drawing on both a sense of timelessness going back to Odysseus and Psalm settings (having the London Symphony Chorus singing from afar added to the effect) and effulgent sympathy for those exiled. Siobhan Stagg radiated compassion as the soprano soloist."

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Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, January 2022

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