“A tremendous ovation”

22 November 2023

The Mixed Museum has received funding to explore the British mixed race composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's connection to the Brighton Dome in the early 20th century – through a bitesize film and digital exhibition.

Photograph of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor sitting in a chair and looking at the camera
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Image: public domain.

We hope our film and the accompanying digital mini exhibition will be a beautiful and lasting way of helping mark that he was here and that he was important.

Laura Smith, Associate Editorial Director, The Mixed Museum

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

The museum has been awarded a grant to tell the story of the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s visit to the Brighton Dome, a historic music venue in the seaside city.

The British composer, of Sierra Leonean and white British heritage, first visited Brighton in 1901 – when he was at the height of his fame – to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra on the New Palace Pier, which had opened two years previously.

He returned in 1908 for his first performance at the Brighton Dome – a concert hall linked to the famous Brighton Pavilion – and it is this visit that the museum will explore in a bitesize film and accompanying digital exhibition.

The grant came about as part of Brighton Dome’s Heritage Takes Centre Stage project. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project comes at the end of an extensive building project at the site, and aims to “bring history to life through activities to engage with wide audiences across Brighton and Hove”.

Telling hidden stories about the Brighton Dome

We are delighted to be able to commission The Mixed Museum to explore the fantastic contribution of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to music in England and his connection to Brighton Dome’s history.

Kyla Booth-Lucking, Director of Programming and Participation, Brighton Dome

In order to offer the grants, the Brighton Dome partnered with Writing Our Legacy, a Brighton-based arts and heritage organisation that enables Black, Asian and ethnically diverse people to tell their stories through writing and the creative arts.

A community grants panel made the decision on the bids, which had to focus on projects that explored the history of Brighton Dome and its culturally diverse heritage.

The resulting successful project from The Mixed Museum - "A tremendous ovation": Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at the Brighton Dome - is a full team effort, drawing on research by museum Director Dr Chamion Caballero, storyboarding by Associate Editorial Director, Laura Smith, and video editing by Associate Creative Director, Warren Reilly. It will also feature original artwork by Kinga Markus, one of the museum’s Artists in Residence.

Charcoal portrait of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Charcoal portrait of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor drawn by Kinga Markus for our Brighton Dome Project. © Kinga Markus.

You may remember Kinga from her contribution to our By The Cut of Their Cloth project, exploring Brent's multiracial history.

Kinga's intricate charcoal animations featured in a recent project inspired by the collection at Brent Museum and Archives in Willesden.

Kinga painting

Laura Smith, who is leading on the project said: “We couldn’t be more pleased to have been awarded this grant to tell the story of this remarkable composer and his connection to Brighton.

“Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was, by all accounts, a huge talent and a kind and generous man, whose musical legacy was continued by his daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor, a composer in her own right.

“It’s very sad that, given the astonishing popularity he enjoyed less than 100 years ago, he isn’t better known. We hope our film and the accompanying digital mini exhibition will be a beautiful and lasting way of helping mark that he was here and that he was important.”

Kyla Booth-Lucking, Director of Programming and Participation, Brighton Dome, said: “We are delighted to be able to commission The Mixed Museum to explore the fantastic contribution of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to music in England and his connection to Brighton Dome’s history.

“We can’t wait to see what they can uncover and explore as part of their REVEAL commission, thanks to our funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund.”

Learn more

Learn more about Samuel Coleridge-Taylor from the historian Jeffrey Green.

Listen to a restored version of a 1930 performance of The Song of Hiawatha, his most famous work.

Find out more about the Heritage Takes Centre Stage Project

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