A PERFORMANCE poet whose love letter to Wrexham went viral has teamed up for an unlikely collaboration with a top orchestra for a new work about the pandemic.

Evrah Rose, who was inspired by rappers Eminem and Tupac Shakur, is looking forward to the premiere at a special concert to mark the 10th anniversary of St Asaph- and Wrexham- based NEW Sinfonia.

She rose to prominence in 2019 when her poem, ‘I Am From Wrexham’, which was written in response to the unfair bad press the town had received, attracted plaudits and tens of thousands of hits on social media.

Evrah has now joined forces with NEW Sinfonia and its recently formed chorus, NEW Voices, to create the new work called 'There's Just No Time'.

It reflects on choristers’ experiences during the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent lockdowns.

The piece will be performed during one of the 10 concerts and events being organised by brothers Robert and Jonathan Guy who founded NEW Sinfonia, which is also the resident orchestra at the North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph.

Entitled ‘Ten4Ten’, the events will take place at St Giles’ Parish Church in Wrexham and at the town’s community arts hub Tŷ Pawb on the weekend of November 26-28.

Evrah, 33, a former carer from Wrexham, said she had not done anything like the recent collaboration with the choir.

She said: "I jumped at the chance when they asked me to be involved. I went along to some of the rehearsals and collected people's experiences of the pandemic, good, bad or ugly.

“Some people were really positive about it - they lost weight and got in touch with nature and done things they hadn't necessarily done before like walks.

"Other people found it really quite difficult with the isolation and there were people in the middle where they felt isolated but also grateful for the kind of community spirit.

“It was a process of developing those experiences and then getting it into a written piece.

"It was really nice to see people together again, laughing and smiling and working together. It was really quite a cool experience."

NEW Sinfonia co-founder Robert Guy said the choir worked closely with Evrah to create the piece.

He added: "It is a piece for a narrator while the choir accompanies the new piece It's quite a powerful reminder of what it was like.

"The piece reflects it has been difficult but that there is now light at the end of the tunnel. It finishes with a really beautiful chorale and the words 'we are the light, we are the fight, we are the safety we can hold'.

The music for the new work is one of several pieces written for the festival by Jonathan Guy.

He said: "It’s a narrative piece and I've written a piece for the orchestra to play just beneath the narrator like an accompaniment and then the chorus joining in for the final section.

"It's been interesting working with someone who is creative in a different way.”

Further information and tickets for the festival are available on the NEW Sinfonia website at: www.newsinfonia.org.uk/copy-of-events.