{"id":1884766,"date":"2026-04-15T14:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1884766"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:17:23","slug":"artists-matched-speed-dating-style-showcase-songs-at-leeds-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1884766","title":{"rendered":"Artists matched speed dating-style showcase songs at Leeds concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/227c\/live\/dedb5e60-38c4-11f1-930d-fbf2959e80bc.jpg”]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"KatyKaty Lambert\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The concert will take place at Leeds City Museum on Wednesday<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Songs by composers and poets matched “speed-dating” style will be performed in Leeds later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The Leeds Songbook concert will celebrate the city’s unsung heroes, organisers said – with the hope many of those featured will attend the performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Part of the Leeds Song Festival, the project saw composers and poets spend a day together earlier this year, before shortlisting their three favourite collaborators, and ultimately being paired up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Composition lead Martin Iddon said: “It’s relatively unusual for the composer not to get to choose the poet they work with. But because of that it is quite an exciting compositional challenge. It makes it quite a human project.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Iddon said many of the songs were written about Leeds people who often did not get the credit they deserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

He said: “These people are quite literally unsung most of the time, so hopefully they get the experience of someone highlighting quite how important they are to the city.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"KatyKaty Lambert\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Composition lead Martin Iddon said it was an “unusual” project<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

One of those involved is the poet Lydia Kennaway, who is originally from New York but has lived in Leeds for 48 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Her poem The Language of Flowers, which is about her florist neighbour Carole Taylor, is one of the works set to be performed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

She worked with composer Maxwell Nelson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"KatyKaty Lambert\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Lydia Kennaway said Leeds people had inspired many of her poems <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Kennaway said the city and Yorkshire as a whole provided inspiration for many of her poems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

“The landscape, the history, but also the people (provide inspiration),” she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

“There’s so much humour and generosity here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

“I know Yorkshire people are supposed to be tight-fisted, but in my experience they are emotionally generous, and that is very stimulating and rewarding, especially to a poet.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Listen to highlights from <\/i>West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest <\/i>episode of Look North<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cgmeekzgme8o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/227c\/live\/dedb5e60-38c4-11f1-930d-fbf2959e80bc.jpg”] Katy Lambert\/BBC The concert will take place at Leeds City Museum on Wednesday Songs by composers and poets matched “speed-dating” style will be performed in Leeds later. The Leeds Songbook concert will celebrate the city’s unsung heroes, organisers said – with the hope many of those featured will attend the performance. Part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1884766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1884766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1884766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1884766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1884766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}