Christine Cooper – The Battle of the Trees

Artist - Christine Cooper – The Battle of the Trees

Christine Cooper & Ceri Rhys Matthews
Saturday 8 July, 2pm-3.30pm
Gwenllian.

Christine Cooper is a storyteller and musician originally from Pembrokeshire, now based in Powys, with a passion for nature connection. In 2010 she completed a Masters in Arts & Ecology at Dartington College of Arts, with a focus on storytelling. The resulting piece, The Battle of the Trees, toured extensively in the UK, Canada, the US and Scandinavia, and was shortlisted for two British Awards for Storytelling Excellence. In 2015 she relocated to Helsinki to begin studies for a Masters in Folk Music at the Sibelius Academy, where her research focused on trance and ritual work. After a pause due to health challenges, Christine is reconnecting with the world with a new sense of purpose.

Her performance at Beyond the Border 2023 will be The Battle of the Trees, a twisted web of tangled stories, with an ancient mythic poem that inspired Tolkein and Shakespeare at its centre.

The loss of millions of trees in the 1987 storm, an archaeological dig on a remote East Anglian beach, a war poet in a frenzy of inspiration, and Christine’s own family story are drawn together through moments of more-than-coincidence.  Featuring Ceri Rhys Matthews on flute, clarinet, and pipes, alongside Christine’s fiddle and voice.