Imaginary Landscapes, painted in sound

On Saturday 17 May, WILL hosted Imaginary Landscapes at St John’s, Devizes — an evening of rare beauty that brought together poetry and harp in spellbinding harmony.

The event featured celebrated poet Chris Tutton, hailed as a “master of the short poem”, and acclaimed harpist Lise Vandersmissen, winner of the Guildhall Harp Prize. Together, they led the audience on a journey through lyrical and sonic landscapes — part performance, part meditation, and entirely captivating.

The deeply personal poems, introduced with a true raconteur's flair, and delivered with a sonorous, growling bark to surprising cadences, reached the audience through an atmosphere dense with the mellifluous texture of the harp. The overall effect of Chris's voice, Lise's plucked strings, and the church's magnificent stone acoustics was, to this spectator at least, positively Homeric.

Lise Vandersmissen also shared the history and hidden mechanisms of the harp.

Proceeds from the evening support WILL’s ongoing Educational Programme, helping us bring creative, hands-on workshops to more children across the Wessex region.