The Dancers Inherit the Party

Chamber Choir Ireland returns to New Music Dublin and Cork International Choral Festival with a programme of contemporary choral works, including two by living Irish composers: David Fennessy's eccentric chOirland, made up of nonsense lyrics taken from the choruses of traditional Irish songs and ballads; and Eoghan Desmond's I am, interacting with and reflecting on the work of the medieval composer and saint, Hildegard of Bingen.

In Cassandra Miller’s The City, Full of People, the audience eavesdrops on 'a cacophony of private secrets,' immersed in the meditative echoes of Tallis' sixteenth-century lamentations.

The programme features the world premiere of a new commission, Gabriel Jackson's The Dancers Inherit the Party—based on Ian Hamilton Finlay's poem of the same title:

 When I have talked for an hour I feel lousy –
Not so when I have danced for an hour:
The dancers inherit the party
While the talkers wear themselves out and
sit in corners alone, and glower.

The Cork performance will also feature the world premiere of Anselm McDonnell's Gallagher, the winning entry in this year's Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition. McDonnell collaborated with author Tim MacGhabhann on the piece, inspired by a mutual love of the famous guitarist, during their time as resident artists at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. The piece weaves several quotations from Gallagher’s work into a musical texture that plays off the rich imagery in Tim's poems.

The City, Full of People was commissioned by Eamonn Quinn of Louth Contemporary Music Society with funding provided by the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon and Robert D. Bielecki Foundation. 

The Dancers Inherit the Party was commissioned by Chamber Choir Ireland and New Music Dublin with funding from the Arts Council/an Chomhairle Ealaíon.