When his rock musician son George died by suicide, business coach Nigel Linacre started to write poetry. His friend, contemporary jazz band leader Vladimir Miller, who lost a band member to suicide earlier in his career, then began composing using George’s bass rhythms.
The result is the Grief Opera – a work that shines a spotlight on suicide, the most common cause of death in young men, and the consequent, harrowing grief.
The pair are bringing the Grief Opera to Bristol on Monday in the hope that it will enable people to have potentially suicide-prevention conversations and to work with their grief.
They will be accompanied at the concert, which takes place in St Paul’s Church, on St Paul’s Road, Clifton, at 1pm, by a number of performers who have also been affected by suicide. There will also be a performance in Ealing, West London, on 15 July.
Rather than being limited by a single genre, the Grief Opera uses classical and jazz forms, and is described as “part-opera, part-concert and part-musical”.
It moves from a father’s last conversations with his son, through the shock of the news, to the challenges of continuing to exist in grief. It is a journey from shock and pain to profound love.
Nigel, who didn’t see his son’s suicide coming – George died in 2021, aged 32 – will sing alongside Gavin Macrae, who lost his son Owen to suicide several years ago.
At its preview performance last October, the Grief Opera received a standing ovation and was described as “heart-breaking but hopeful” and “harrowing but ultimately uplifting”.
Neil Latchman, an internationally renowned classical opera singer, will perform with vocalist Keri Farish – George Linacre’s aunt – and young soprano and composer Rebecca Dorey.
George Linacre’s progressive rock band Eschar released Elements and Nova on Spotify. Music was George’s creative outlet but lockdown stopped his band rehearsing and playing. The surviving members of the band are completing a third album with more of George’s work.
For more information on the Grief Opera and to book for Monday’s concert, click here
