Max Ritcher and Yulia Mahr performance

Max Richter’s ‘Voices’ to Unite Global Audiences on Human Rights Day

Events 10 December 2020 By

To mark Human Rights Day today (Thursday 10th December), composer Max Richter’s groundbreaking recording project Voices, inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will be broadcast for the first time at 7:30 pm on BBC Radio 3 and 37+ international radio stations in Europe, the US, Australia and beyond, in collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union.

Max Richter and creative partner Yulia Mahr will take part in the United Nations Human Rights live event

As part of Human Rights Day, Max Richter and creative partner, BAFTA award-winning Yulia Mahr will collaborate with the UN to amplify the message of the Declaration of Human Rights. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will host a Q&A with Richter and Mahr to discuss Voices, as part of their digital Human Rights Day event starting from 2:00 pm GMT (3:00 pm CET) and showcase Mahr’s breathtaking film of All Human Beings.

Decca Records releases new Voices EP All Human Beings with international narrators  

Today, Decca Records have also released an exclusive EP of five new versions of All Human Beings featuring multiple language narrations performed by acclaimed global artists. Actor Nina Hoss (Yella, Homeland) reads in German, Iranian-born actor Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction, Paterson, About Elly) in French, author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (winner of the 2020 International Booker prize or The Discomfort of Evening) in Dutch and María Valverde (Cracks, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Broken Horses) in Spanish.

At the heart of Voices is a profound sense of global community, born out of Richter and Mahr’s career-long stance that creativity can play an activist role in our world.

Voices include passages adapted from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was inspired by the document’s opening statement: ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’ These words provide the starting point for a musical reflection on the state of the world today.

A decade in the making, the piece received its world premiere at the Barbican in London in February – just weeks before the pandemic sent the world into lockdown. Its uplifting message of community resonates as the world faces further months of uncertainty.