January – June 2020 Artistic Director Paul Hillier
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January – June 2020 Artistic Director Paul Hillier — 1 — All booking details and further information can be found on www.chamberchoirireland.com or by calling +353 (1) 554 5210 Chamber Choir Ireland receives principal funding and support from the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon with additional support from Dublin City Council. Chamber Choir Ireland is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall and Associate Artists to Dublin City University. Chamber Choir Ireland is a member of Tenso; the network of professional chamber choirs in Europe. www.chamberchoirireland.com Connect with us online — 2 — Contents P 11 Arvo Pärt, David Lang, Louis Andriessen January – Carlingford, Dublin P 13 New Music Dublin I will sing away the despair of the old universe March – Dublin P 15 Good Friday: Bach St John Passion April – Dublin P 17 Like As The Waves April/May – Dublin, Cork P 19 Masters of the Baroque 1 June – Wexford, Dublin LEARNING & PARTICIPATION EVENTS P 20 Choral Sketches 2019/2020 P 21 Choral Sketches 2019/2020 P 22 Composers in the Classroom P 23 Cork International Choral Festival P 24 / 25 Commissions — 3 — Welcome Throughout the last few years, we have been heartened by the audience reaction to Chamber Choir Ireland’s programming – encapsulating everything from early music to brand new commissions. Our 2020 year will see an increased number of performances including extended national touring in the latter part of the year, five newly commissioned works by both Irish and international composers, more collaborations with our fellow Irish performing groups and Festivals, more guest directors, and the beginning of a new series entitled Masters of the Baroque following on from our hugely successful Before Bach and After series in 2018/2019. But, to the first half of 2020. We begin in January with three titans of contemporary music: Arvo Pärt | David Lang | Louis Andriessen including Pärt’s deeply moving setting of the incantation attributed to St. Patrick, The Deer’s Cry in Carlingford and Dublin. We return to New Music Dublin in March and welcome back to Dublin Guest Director, Nils Schweckendiek (Finland) in a programme which will include two new commissions by young prize-winning composers: Aftab Darvishi (Iran) and Jug Marković (Serbia). We are delighted to partner with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra for their Good Friday performance in April of Bach’s St John Passion under the direction of David Hill (UK), and return for our annual residency at Cork International Choral Festival in May which will include a newly commissioned work by Irish composer, Amanda Feery. To close out the first half of the year, we begin our exploration of Masters of the Baroque with works by Schütz and Monteverdi in Wexford and Dublin. — 4 — Continuing our commitment to Learning and Participation, we close off the 2018/2019 Choral Sketches programme in January with a performance reading of works by participant composers Eoin Mulvany, Sinéad Finegan, and Anselm McDonnell in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre as well as commence year 4 of the project in June. And we continue our work with Composers in the Classroom as we visit schools throughout Ireland mentoring students writing new choral works. As always we are indebted to the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon for their continued support, and Dublin City Council, together with all our Friends and Chamber Choir Ireland Society members. Thanks too, to our partner promoters throughout the island enabling us to take our work around the country. We are also very grateful to you for your support throughout the year as our audience and friends. Please do digest the contents of our season – there’s lots to whet your choral appetite – mark your diaries, and join us for another wonderful choral music journey. Majella Hollywood CEO CHAMBER CHOIR IRELAND — 5 — Chamber Choir Ireland — 6 — Paul Hillier Paul Hillier is from Dorset in England and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His career has embraced singing, conducting, composing, and writing about music. He formed the Hilliard Ensemble in 1973 and was its musical director for 17 years. In 1990 he created a new group called Theatre of Voices, which he continues to direct today. He has taught in the USA at the University of California campuses of Santa Cruz and Davis, and from 1996-2003 was Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University, Bloomington. He was Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (2001–2007) and has been Chief Conductor of Ars Nova Copenhagen since 2003. His books about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich are published by Oxford University Press. In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for services to choral music. In 2007 he received the Order of the White Star of Estonia, and was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording. In 2008 he became Chief Conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland and was appointed artistic director of the newly formed Coro Casa da Musica in Porto. That same year he also created his own music publishing company, Theatre of Voices Edition (www.tov-edition.com). During 2009 he was artist in residence at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music. In 2010 he was awarded his second Grammy – for David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion. In 2013 he was awarded the Order of Dannebrog (the Danish knighthood) by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Paul is represented worldwide by Konzertdirektion Hörtnagel, Berlin. — 7 — “a sheerly beautiful immersion in choral sonority” Irish Times, March 2019 — 8 — Chamber Choir Ireland Garnering a strong reputation for its unique approach to creative commissioning, recording and programming, Chamber Choir Ireland is the country’s flagship choral ensemble and national chamber choir under the Artistic Direction of the multi-award-winning conductor, Paul Hillier. The Choir’s programmes span from early renaissance to the present day, incorporating established choral classics with cutting edge commissions, and a style of performance that incorporates versatility, dynamism and often vocal pyrotechnics. The Choir has a strong commitment to touring in Ireland and continues to develop its touring network in order to present high quality choral concerts to audiences around the country. International touring has included the USA, UK, Belgium, Russia, Germany and South America. Chamber Choir Ireland has a strong Learning and Participation programme, including in Composers in the Classroom, Choral Sketches, and Sing! at Axis: Ballymun. Forthcoming recording releases will include the premiere recording of Tarik O’Regan and Alice Goodman’s cantata, A Letter of Rights, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The choir has previously recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, RTÉ lyric fm labels including the world premiere recording of works by Gerald Barry, Barry meets Beethoven, featuring the Crash Ensemble and Stephen Richardson on the Orchid Classics label. — 9 — A∏VO DAVID LOUISLANG AND∏IESSEN — 10 — Arvo Pärt, David Lang, A∏VO Louis Andriessen In our opening programme of 2020, Chamber Choir Ireland presents three titans of 20th/21st century composi- tion, Pärt, Lang, Andriessen, with ancient texts presented in a contemporary context and contemporary texts telling ancient stories. We mark Arvo Pärt’s 85th birthday year with a selection of his choral works including his deeply moving setting of The Deer’s Cry. We Return to David Lang performing DAVID a selection of songs from love, fail - a meditation on the timelessness of love. And we close the programme with Louis Andriessen’s Flora Tristan; a multi-lingual text about the French/Peruvian social activist Flora Tristan. Saturday 25 January. Carlingford Heritage Centre LANG 7.30pm | €15/10/5 LOUIS 26 January. St Ann’s Church, Dawson St, Dublin 3.30pm | €20/15/5 Conductor Paul Hillier AND∏IESSEN Programme Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) Morning Star The Deer’s Cry Dopo la vittoria David Lang (b.1957) a selection of songs from love, fail Louis Andriessen (b.1939) Flora Tristan — 11 — — 12 — I will sing away the despair of the old universe The cathartic power of music comes to the fore in Chamber Choir Ireland’s programme for New Music Dublin 2020. Canadian-Finnish composer Matthew Whittall’s ad puram annihilationem meam is an intense, introspective ritual of spiritual cleansing, while the American-Finnish composer Alex Freeman is represented by excerpts from his deeply moving Requiem to the memory of the victims of the 1918 Finnish Civil War. Crossing to the opposite shore of the Baltic Sea, the music of the Estonian composer Helena Tulve combines delicate fragility with an indestructible primal intensity. Newly commissioned works from two award-winners of the Tenso young composers’ scheme complete the programme: Serbian Jug Marković and Iranian Aftab Darwishi. Sunday 1 March St Stephen’s Church (Pepper Canister), Dublin 6pm | €10 Conductor Nils Schweckendiek Programme Helena Tulve (b. 1972, Estonia) Zärtliche Nacht (from Nächtliche Gesänge) Alex Freeman (b. 1972, USA) Requiem aeternam (from Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem) Jug K Marković (b. 1987, Serbia) Traces – COMMISSIONED WORK Alex Freeman (b. 1972, USA) Sanctus (from Under the Arching Heavens) Aftab Darwishi (b. 1987, Iran) Without the words – COMMISSIONED WORK Matthew Whittall (b. 1975, Canada/Finland) ad puram annihilationem meam Alex Freeman (b. 1972, USA) O years and graves! (from Under the Arching Heavens) Commissions from Jug K Marković and Aftab Darwishi are funded by New Music Dublin and Tenso – the network of professional chamber choirs in Europe. — 13 — — 14 — St. John Passion Chamber Choir Ireland joins forces with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conductor David Hill and five internationally acclaimed soloists for a work as monumental as it is moving. One of the most magnificent and moving of all choral works, Bach’s St John Passion is a compelling re-telling of the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion on Good Friday.