Choirland Revisited

In 2018, Chamber Choir Ireland tour nationally and internationally with Choirland Revisited, conducted by Artistic Director Paul Hillier. Focussing on two triptych commissions by composers, David Fennessy and Andrew Hamilton, audiences will hear Hamilton’s complete 3-part work music for thomas bernhard co-commissioned with the Cork International Choral Festival, which includes the 2010 Everything is Ridiculous, and the first two movements of Fennessy’s triptych, Letter to Michael and Ne reminiscaris.  The final part of Fennessy’s triptych will be completed and premiered in the Autumn of 2018. Other musical treats include a delightful arrangement by Paul Hillier of Raglan Road,  James Macmillan’s The Gallant Weaver, and Tarik O’Regan’s Turn. This tour will visit the Cork International Choral Festival, The Sonorities Festival in Belfast in association with Moving on Music, St Ann’s Church in Dublin, The Lunalia Festival in Belgium in association with TENSO and supported by Culture Ireland, and the Fishguard International Music Festival in Wales with the support of Culture Ireland GB 18. Andrew Hamilton's new work is entitled "music for thomas bernhard" and is in three movements, all from acceptance speeches given by Thomas Bernhard.

Movement One:  "I don't want to tell a story; I don't want to sing; I don't want to preach" Movement Two:  "The problem is to get work done.......it is a question of one's spiritual constitution and one's spiritual concentration, of isolation and distance...of monotony...of utopia...of idiocy..." Movement Three (pre-existing work): "Everything is ridiculous when one thinks of death"