Composed by Evan Williams, the release is a poignant response commissioned for the With Every Fiber exhibit at Grace Farms
Photo by Andrew Werner
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) released Woven in Tears digitally on the LPO label today. Performed by LPO musicians and composed by American composer Evan Williams, the piece was commissioned by Grace Farms for its With Every Fiber exhibit, dedicated to the Design for Freedom movement to eradicate forced labor in the building materials supply chain.
Woven in Tears was inspired by Nasreen, a portrait by artist Hannah Rose Thomas, PhD. depicting Nepali human rights activist and survivor Nasreen Sheikh. The music mirrors the stark contrast between the confinement of Sheikh’s past and the freedom she achieved through her activism and her work empowering other women. The title draws directly from Sheikh’s own words, reflecting her experience in a sweatshop where she felt the clothes she made were “woven with the energy of my suffering” and her hope that those who wore them could “see my tears.”
Musically, the composition bridges the historical and the contemporary by utilizing material from ‘Flow, My Tears’ by English Renaissance composer John Dowland. The recording features a dedicated ensemble of London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians: Kate Oswin and Claudia Tarrant-Matthews (violins), Martin Wrap (viola), Kristina Blaumane (cello), and Clíodna Shanahan (piano).
This project highlights a deep partnership between the LPO and Grace Farms, both of which share a commitment to human connection and social justice, including Design for Freedom.
Recorded at London’s World Heart Beat Studios in August 2025, Woven in Tears serves as a gateway to deeply human conversations, encouraging audiences to reflect on the individual lives behind the global supply chain.
LPO previously collaborated with Evan Williams in January 2025, in a performance of his concerto for harpsichord and chamber ensemble, Dead White Man Music. A more intimate side of Williams’ catalog is presented in this digital-only release, providing the unique opportunity to hear a quintet of LPO musicians up close.
London Philharmonic and Grace Farms
The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Grace Farms Foundation enjoy a meaningful and impactful partnership delivered through projects that celebrate and showcase their shared mission, values and purpose. The Orchestra’s reputation for prioritizing human connection alongside its onstage artistry fits closely with the ethos of Grace Farms, which, through its Design for Freedom movement, is leading the campaign to eradicate forced labor in the building materials supply chain.
The LPO first collaborated with Grace Farms at the opening of Theaster Gates’s Black Chapel (the Serpentine Pavilion for 2022 and Design for Freedom’s first international project), giving a string quartet performance on the UN’s World Day Against Child Labor. Recordings by LPO players of the music from this occasion can be heard alongside Woven in Tears within the permanent With Every Fiber exhibit on Grace Farms’s New Canaan site, encouraging audiences to think and reflect.
The Orchestra appeared in Grace Farms’s stunning River building as part of its 2024 US Tour, and a group of players will return there in 2027 to give a program showcasing Woven in Tears alongside a range of complementary works. The Orchestra looks forward to continuing this important partnership in which art and music of the very highest quality are the gateway to deeply human conversations.
