A meditation on grief, connection, and the healing power of music.
Solitude with Schubert is a 30 minute documentary by Matilda Hay and Rachel Clara Reed. It follows internationally acclaimed pianist, George Xiaoyuan Fu, as he navigates the loss of his father through Franz Schubert’s late music.
Seeking to extend this exploration beyond himself, he connects with a bereavement group from the St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich and performs an intimate recital for them – revealing how music can offer connection, catharsis, and a source of comfort in times of grief. He then collaborates with renowned mezzo-soprano, Lotte Betts-Dean, to record an album of this music, reflecting on how it will always be imbued with a sense of his father.
It’s an intimate portrait of how art can help us find meaning in loss, and how the echoes of those we have loved and lost stay with us, and ultimately live through us.
"At its core, the piece is a tribute to the universal, often unspoken experience of loss. It invites audiences not only to witness but to feel; to find solace in sound, and connection in silence. At its premiere, audience members were visibly moved, many describing a sense of comfort, catharsis, and quiet communion."
Angela Lee-Foster
Creative Program Manager, Britten Pears Arts
"At St. Elizabeth Hospice, we cherish opportunities to discuss what it means to be dying and to grieve. The arts have a profound role to play in encouraging these tender conversations. The Solitude with Schubert film explores new ways, through music, of what it means to live with grief. Months later, we are still reflecting and talking about the impact it had on us and those we support."
Judi Newman
CEO, St Elizabeth Hospice
“The film established grief as a shared experience, as something that connects us. It also underlined the ever-present need to demystify it. Music doesn't simply help us understand the grief, but helps us connect on a fundamental level with those around us who have experienced it too.”
Jon Jacob
Editor, Thoroughly Good Classical Music
