This Spring, we are delighted to announce an exciting season of performances ahead, as we welcome audiences for an eclectic mix of music old and new.
We start 2022 with a visit from Guest Director Sofi Jeannin, Chief Conductor of the BBC singers, for an evening of Scandinavian song at the Pepper Canister Church, Dublin. Northern Lights will transport audiences to the Nordic countries, with works by Hugo Alfvén, Karin Rehnqvist, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Håkan Parkman, and Jean Sibelius, celebrating the beauty of the region as night begins to fall.
In March, we begin our retrospective on the contemporary choral works of British composer, Steve Martland, who left this world too soon in 2013. Paul Hillier leads Chamber Choir Ireland for Skywalk, a concert which juxtaposes the works of the late composer with those of Renaissance composer Clément Janequin. Centuries apart, both seek to reflect the sounds of our world—in battle, on the playground, and from above.
In April, we return to Cork International Choral Festival. Here, we will also look back on the work of Steve Martland, placing it in the context of his contemporaries: John Frandsen’s weather4casts: 4 seasons in 4 movements, newly translated into English by Paul Hillier, and the Irish premiere of a newly co-commissioned work by US composer John Luther Adams, A Brief Descent into Deep Time. As Choir-in-Residence at the festival, we will also perform the winning entry of this year’s Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition, Daragh Black Hynes’ Behind This Light, which “skilfully exploits the choral texture to illustrate Joyce’s text, and the adventurous harmonic language mirrors the famous stream of consciousness.”
In May, we welcome Guest Director Grete Pedersen, Artistic Director of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir for Orpheus, a concert of works inspired by the story of Orpheus—musician, poet, and prophet of Greek mythology. Through works by Hans Werner Henze, Ørjan Matre, and Henry Purcell, we explore musical perspectives on the Orpheus myth through time.
In June, we return once more to the recording studio, with details of our many other plans to come later this year. We look forward to seeing our audiences on a much more frequent basis in 2022!
We would like to thank the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon for their continued support in all of our programming, as well as Dublin City Council Arts Office funding, and the friendship and generosity extended by our Friend and Patron members, all of which make our work possible.