NATURE CONNECTS - PERFORMANCE
AN INTER-CULTURAL CELEBRATION OF NATURE & OUR SHARED PLANET
This October, We Live Here is working with Medway Diversity Forum & Rochester Cathedral to create a communal celebration of diverse cultural experiences of nature. Through music and spoken word, this unique, atmospheric event will celebrate our personal, emotional, cultural and spiritual encounters with nature from the perspectives of different cultural traditions. The performance will be followed by a communal Harvest Feast, connecting the delicious produce grown in our local countryside and the wide range of culinary traditions that can be found within Medway’s communities.
“Earth is my mother... Upon her stand the trees, the forest lords. She bears the herbs of every healing virtue. May Earth, rich in nourishment, bestow upon us her abundance.” Atharva Veda
“...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” Charles Darwin
FEATURING:
Faris Ishaq
Faris Ishaq is a Bethlehem-born Palestinian Nay virtuoso, percussionist and composer whose music draws on Palestinian and Arabic traditions, contemporary jazz and improvisation. His distinctive approach pairs the ancient reed flute with leg-mounted percussion, creating richly layered, entirely acoustic performances. A graduate of Berklee College of Music’s Global Jazz programme, Faris has collaborated with multi-Grammy-winning bassist John Patitucci and contributed to the BAFTA-nominated Assassin’s Creed Mirage soundtrack. His albums include Nature Addresses You, Kham and JASAD(2026). His work explores the relationship between breath, body, cultural memory and the living landscape.
Yana Vlaeva
Yana Vlaeva is a Bulgarian folk singer living in London, known for her expressive voice and deep connection to traditional song. After years performing in choirs across Europe, including Nusha Choir led by Neli Andreeva, she now sings solo, honouring the raw a cappella tradition and weaving in accompanied versions that bear her distinctive mark. Her debut EP Godini (Years) draws on the richness and depth of Bulgarian traditional music, offering an intimate encounter with ancestral sound and songs of love, loss, and resilience - including works never before captured on record.
Bryan Reyes
Bryan Reyes began his musical education at the Faculty of Music at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, training as a classical guitar soloist. After moving to London, he developed his flamenco practice, studying with Tito Heredia and Jero Férec and attending masterclasses with artists including Santiago Lara. He has performed at venues including Sadler’s Wells, Southbank Centre and the Royal Academy of Arts, and has accompanied leading flamenco dancers and companies. Bryan is founder and director of Flamenco Collaborative and Encuentro Flamenco, supporting collaborative learning and emerging artists, and performs with London-based flamenco ensemble Identidades.
Karen Reeves-Toppin
Karen Reeves-Toppin is a classically trained singer, vocal teacher and community music leader with more than 30 years’ experience as a performer and educator. Born in the UK to Barbadian parents and raised largely in Barbados, her musical life has been strongly shaped by faith, Caribbean culture and community. She is founder and director of Medway Can Sing Community Choir, bringing people together through singing to support connection, confidence and wellbeing. Karen has performed as a soloist and ensemble singer, including with the London Community Gospel Choir, and works across Kent and London supporting singers and musicians of different ages and backgrounds.
Adrian Bawtree
Adrian Bawtree is an English composer and organist who currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at Rochester Cathedral. was educated at Christ's Hospital before attending the University of Oxford and was an organ scholar at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, in London. He later studied at Worcester College, Oxford, under David Sanger, and won a silver medal from the Worshipful Company of Musiciansfor achieving the highest score in the Royal College of Organists exam.
Maya McCourt
Maya McCourt is a cellist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and music facilitator whose work brings together folk and traditional music from across the world. She is Artistic Director of Flotsam Sessions, a London-based music collective creating spaces for people from diverse cultures and backgrounds to share, learn and perform music together. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Maya holds a Master’s degree in Music in Development from SOAS. She has performed widely in the UK and internationally, and works with organisations including Play for Progress and Ethno England. Her music crosses folk, blues, jazz and classical traditions, with cello and voice at its heart.
Partners
