Singing Our Lives is a unique project which began in September 2016, when the Mixed Up Chorus received an Arts Council England grant to commission composer Mike Roberts (Head of Electronic Music, Guildhall School of Music & Drama) and librettist Sarah Grange (Improbable) to create a new song cycle. Partners included Mixed Up Chorus, Sing for Freedom, Rhyl Primary School and the Islington Refugee Centre.

Over several months the groups participated in music and writing workshops, sharing memories, music, stories, life experiences and creating new words and melodies. From the mass of materials created the composer and librettist worked to shape three new songs that captured the essence of the spirit and stories of the project: "Safe Space", "Prayer for Tomorrow" and "Mother's Day" (which has an accompanying animation). The new songs were premiered at a concert at Milton Court Concert Hall at the end of Refugee Week 2017, featuring over 200 performers and sold out to an audience of 600.

Singing Our Lives grows in scope and ambition each year. Hosted in partnership with IOM - the UN Migration Agency, Freedom from Torture, The Royal Opera House, Improbable and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Singing Our Lives 2018 reunited the Mixed Up Chorus, the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus and Freedom from Torture's Sing for Freedom Choir, as well as new special guests including poet and spoken word performer Zena Edwards, the refugee and asylum seeker choir Woven Gold and the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Stile Antico.

Over six months, the choirs and performers came together in creative workshops and rehearsals to contribute words, melodies and ideas to the new theatrical composition "Sembo!" (Justice!). Featuring over 200 musicians and singers, the premiere of Sembo! marked the 20th Anniversary of Refugee Week at Milton Court Concert Hall on Sunday 1st July, 2018. The concert explored the experiences of refugees and migrants in the UK and celebrated the rich musical diversity this inspires, combining opera, classical, popular and electronic genres with music from around the globe.

After securing £60K in grants from the Arts Council of England and the National Lottery Awards For All, the third year of Singing Our Lives has seen the project expand in many directions. In 2019 we have built on the collective power of the SOL company, welcoming new performing groups the Mind and Soul Choir and key members of the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians as well as stage director Freya Wynn-Jones to create powerful immersive performances, engaging the audience with participatory singing too. At the joyous finale of Refugee Week at the Southbank in June 2019, the 500 members of the audience were so moved and engaged they joined the SOL company on stage for the singing finale! We are currently working with students from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to develop a digital platform that will further engage thousands around the country with the project and there will be more amazing performances later on in the Autumn, with songwriting and craft workshops taking place later in the year in conjunction with our latest partner, Kinetika.

We did an amazing concert 'Singing Our Lives - Stand Together' on Jan 26th at the Union Chapel in London. In conjunction with Holocaust Memorial Day we had 6 groups and 250 performers on stage to a sell out crowd of over 700 and premiered our latest song "Lamma bada (Love Has No Borders)". 

We also launched our latest new song “Nowruz” as a virtual choir video with very special guests the world-renowned King’s Singers.

In December 2020 we held an international digital residency to begin to plan the next exciting stage of the project - an international collaboratively produced Opera.  The residency was hosted by Phelim McDermott of Improbable and bought together leading and emerging arts practitioners from around the globe including the Isango Ensemble (South Africa), Tin Can (India) and Theatre of War (US) along with UK practitioners and companies. We’re super excited about the next developments of the project - watch this space!

The SOL company came together during lockdown to compose a new song - The Circle - in part reflecting on their experience of the pandemic.  Some of the group were able to come together at a live rehearsal in June, others sent in film, audio recordings and photographs, and the resulting video and mini-doc that we released in September 2021 for international peace day.  

In 2022 Singing Our Lives pioneered a first international collaboarative exchange.  A company of 100 amateur and professional artists and singers in London worked via video link with leading international artists Mandisi Dyantyis (Isango Ensemble)  in South Africa, Phil Woodmore (Theatre of War) in the US and Tanmay Dhanania (Tin Can) in Calcutta.  Together with composers Gemma Storr and Saied Silbak and writer Zoe Palmer they created a new composition - Under the Same Sun - which premiered at concerts in London for Refugee Week 2022.  This pilot for international collaboration was hugely exciting and will inform the next phase of project development - to co-create a People's Opera with international partners and singers from diverse backgrounds across the UK and globally. 

In 2023 members of the Singing Our Lives Company came together to mark the Finale of Refugee Week at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer at London's Southbank Centre. Musical performances from Sing for Freedom Choir, the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians and the Mixed Up Chorus were brought together with performance poetry from Write to Life, the writing group based at Freedom From Torture, all based on the Refugee Week theme of Compassion. The Company came together for a thrilling massed finale of 'Lamma Bada', a version of the piece composed by the Singing Our Lives Company, raising their voices along with the audience in hope and solidarity for a more connected and compassionate world.