//live Review\\ Song of Descent by Phoenix Rousiamanis -The Niamos Centre-24th February 2024

In 1991, Nina Simone took the stage at the Nia Centre in Hulme. Thirty-three years on, on a cool night in February in the very same venue in Hulme, now known as Niamos, Songs of Descent played out in front of a captivated crowd of friends and strangers telling a tale of vulnerability and transformation throughout.

Songs of Descent is a Monodramatic Opera, composed by Phoenix Rousiamanis and performed vocally by Rowan Kudekha-Lark, that retells the story of Persephone’s descent into the underworld as an analogy to the queer experience and psychological downfall. Beginning with a speech from Phoenix about both the opera and some warnings about the content discussed in the piece, the stage was set for an unforgettable vocal and orchestral performance.

With the strike of the first note ringing through the auditorium silence settled over the crowd, a crowd ready to be transported. From the get-go, Songs of Descent hooked you in with intensity, and dedication in its vocal and instrumental delivery, leaving you feeling less like you were watching a monopera and more like you were in the midst of the story, experiencing every moment as if it were your own personal memory.

With a dark tonality, particularly within the first section of the opera, featuring violin, flute, cello and double bass which complimented Rowan’s passionate and at times haunting vocal delivery, Songs of Descent provided an intimate and at times analytical view of personal experience that left you eager to hear what was coming next, with every section came a new perspective, a new season to delight in, this opera felt cathartic and grand in its delivery and edge of your seat storytelling from its moments of hope to its moments of despair, there was an honesty and rawness that was embodied wholeheartedly, every emotion delivered from the soul through physical movement or facial expression that added an extra layer of immersion to the performance. You couldn’t look away, not that you would want to with the brilliance unfolding before you.

Music moves us in unexpected ways, it can break our hearts, it can strengthen our souls, and can make us feel alive. Most of all it can make us feel human, a little less lost, and bring us an understanding of our lives from the small moments to the life-changing ones. Song of Descent is a certain example of this phenomenon in the best way. From its ominous to its delicate moments, particularly towards the end of the opera, Songs of Descent enchanted with every note and lyric, that made you listen in close and for many, begin to understand a wider view of experience.

As the opera’s curtain fell, and the lights began to illuminate the venue once again, there was a standing ovation which solidified Songs of Descent as a showcase of honesty, vulnerability and most of all strength that would stick with all those in attendance long after the night was over.