AUTUMN/WINTER 2017 Artistic Director: Paul Hillier —1—
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CONTENTS Visions
page 11 Dublin 22 September
Pigeons on the Grass Alas page 13 Belfast 4 November Dublin 5 November
An Irish Carol, Christmas Trees, and a Rose page 15 Kilkenny 8 December Dublin 9 December
Learning & Participation pages 16 – 19 September – December
Support
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All booking details and further information can be found on www.chamberchoirireland.com or by calling +353 (1) 554 5210 —3—
WELCOME As summer now draws to a close, and we try not to dread the shorter days of winter, Chamber Choir Ireland’s new season’s offerings will surely offer some wonderful ways to ease into the autumn. While we can’t promise to fully bring about the true sense of Hygge during our performances, we start the season with one foot firmly in Scandinavia as we welcome Nils Schweckendiek to Ireland to direct Chamber Choir Ireland for the first time. Nils is director of the Helsinki Chamber Choir and Professor of Choral Conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and, as our offering for Culture Night 2017, will pay tribute to one of Finland’s most notable composers, Einojuhani Rautavaara, who died in 2016, and will hop down to Denmark to experience some fantastic visions in Per Norgard’s Wie in Kind. Back to mainland Europe for a selection of Beat Furrer’s Enigmas and a beautiful love song by Messiaen. Paul Hillier stays with a French influence in November with a common theme of the influence of Erik Satie. With a selection of works from Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts bookending a programme that also includes works by Paul Hillier and Gavin Bryars, we also delve into some piano miniatures by Howard Skempton (performed by our own Miles Lallemant). And so to Christmas. We’re blessed with a myriad of wonderful native Irish composers and we’re delighted, at Christmas to share the works of some of these with you together with Hugo Distler’s most beautiful The Christmas —4—
Story. An Irish Carol, Christmas Trees, and a Rose round off our Autumn/Winter offering in 2017 – sure to send you out into the hopefully mild winter nights with cheer! The Autumn also sees us develop further our Learning & Participation programme with Composers in the Classroom, Choral Sketches, Axis SING!, and our brand new countrywide programme for adult choirs, An Island Sings. Full information on all our performances and Learning & Participation programmes is available throughout this brochure. We are indebted to the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon for their continued financial support, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery Fund, 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 to the lengths and breadths of the country. I look forward to welcoming you to one or all of our autumnal feasts, with even more treats in store as we look forward to 2018. Majella Hollywood ceo, chamber choir ireland Connect with us online
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PAUL HILLIER Artistic Director 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 —6—
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.
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CHAMBER CHOIR IRELAND
“Shaped and guided by the sensitive hands of conductor Paul Hillier, Chamber Choir Ireland continue to be sonically and musically adventurous.” Journal of Music Ireland, August 2017
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, including established choral classics with cutting edge commissions, and a style of performance that incorporates versatility, dynamism and often vocal pyrotechnics. —8—
Chamber Choir Ireland performances have been described as having a tone which is ‘liquid in its power and purity’ with a ‘strong vocal flexibility of style’ (Belfast Telegraph). 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, Russia, South America and Germany. Barry meets Beethoven, a world premiere recording of works by Gerald Barry featuring the Crash Ensemble and conducted by Paul Hillier, was released in 2016 to high acclaim. The Choir has previously recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, Orchid Classics and RTÉ Lyric FM labels. Chamber Choir Ireland has a strong Learning and Participation programme, including Composers in the Classroom, Choral Sketches, Sing! at Axis Ballymun and Choral lectures. 2017– 2019 will see the Choir develop a large-scale community choirs commissioning project in collaboration with the Association of Irish Choirs and Poetry Ireland. Chamber Choir Ireland receives principal funding & support from the Arts Council/ an Chomhairle Ealaíon with additional support from Dublin City Council and support from The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Chamber Choir Ireland is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall of Ireland and Associate Artists to Dublin City University —9—
SEPTEMBER
visions
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visions
Chamber Choir Ireland is joined by guest conductor Nils Schweckendiek, for a concert inspired by the deepest reaches of the human imagination. Messiaen’s passionate love song Cinq Rechants meets the soaring evocative lines of Rautavaara’s Lorca Suite while the dark prophecies of Leonardo da Vinci in Beat Furrer’s Enigmas are joined by the fantastic visions of a 19th century Swiss psychiatric patient in Per Nørgård’s Wie ein Kind. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear a selection of 20th and 21st-century choral works in the beautiful surrounds of St Ann’s Church. Culture Night, Friday 22 September 2017 St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 6.30pm | Free admission but booking required Messiaen—Cinq rechants Beat Furrer—Enigmas I-IV and VI Per Nørgård—Wie ein Kind Rautavaara—Lorca Suite Guest Conductor Nils Schweckendiek
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NOVEMBER
pigeons on the grass alas
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pigeons on the grass alas
Pigeons on the Grass Alas is, amongst other things, a celebration of Gertrude Stein and her way with words. The concert opens and closes with extracts from Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein’s opera Four Saints In Three Acts — from which comes the line that gives the concert its title. The ‘other things’ include music by composers who, like Gertrude Stein, are very fond of the music of Erik Satie: some lovely piano miniatures by Howard Skempton, and Thomas de Quincy’s eloquent meditation on Kant’s passing, memorably set to music by Gavin Bryars. Satie is not featured in the concert, but his spirit certainly is. Saturday, 4 November St Thomas’ Parish Church, Eglantine Ave, Belfast 7.30pm | £13/10 Presented in association with Moving on Music Sunday 5 November Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane 12pm | Free admission Thompson (text Stein)—Four Saints In Three Acts (selection) Paul Hillier (text Stein)—Tea Time Howard Skempton—The Durham Strike Cage (text Stein)—Story(from Living Room Music) Howard Skempton—Three piano pieces Gavin Bryars—And so ended Kant’s travelling in this world Thompson (text Stein)—Four Saints In Three Acts (selection) Conductor Paul Hillier Piano Miles Lallemant — 13 —
DECEMBER
an irish carol, christmas trees, and a rose
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an irish carol, christmas trees, and a rose
Chamber Choir Ireland’s Christmas concert is an annual Festive highlight and this year we present the wonderful Christmas Story by German composer Hugo Distler wherein the Christmas narrative is told in chant-like solos with choral interventions, while threaded through the whole work are a series of choral variations on the lovely Christmas hymn Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. This work is joined by a beautiful grouping of carols by contemporary Irish composers; Rhona Clarke, Gerald Barry, Frank Corcoran, Eoghan Desmond and Eric Sweeney. Friday 8 December St Canice’s RC Church, Kilkenny 7.30pm | €15/10 Presented in association with Music in Kilkenny Saturday 9 December Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin 8pm | €25/20/15
Hugo Distler—The Christmas Story A selection of carols by Gerald Barry, Eric Sweeney, Rhona Clarke, Eoghan Desmond and Frank Corcoran.
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learning & participation
choral sketches a performance reading Thursday 21 September Venue information through www.chamberchoirireland.com
6.30pm | Free but ticketed Choral Sketches is a partnership project established in 2016 between Chamber Choir Ireland & Contemporary Music Centre, which provided a unique professional development opportunity for composers wishing to develop their skills in writing choral music with mentoring from renowned composer Tarik O’Regan. In a highly competitive process, composers Amanda Feery, Michael Gallen and Seán Doherty were selected to participate in the 2016/2017 Choral Sketches project and received mentoring from Tarik O’Regan leading to the development of a series of compositional sketches for a new choral work. These sketches were the focus of a public workshop led by Tarik O’Regan with Chamber Choir Ireland and Artistic Director, Paul Hillier in February 2017. Following a public performance of Seán Doherty’s new work earlier in 2017, the final works from Michael Gallen and Amanda Feery will now receive a public performance reading by Chamber Choir Ireland led by guest conductor Nils Schweckendiek. — 16 —
learning & participation
sing! Thursday 7 December Axis Ballymun 8pm | Free but ticketed
Celebrating 10 years of Sing, Axis Ballymun and Chamber Choir Ireland join forces once again in this wonderful collaboration. In October and November, singers from Ballymun and surrounding areas will work with singers from Chamber Choir Ireland, resulting in a gloriously festive Gala Concert in December.
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learning & participation
composers in the classroom In 2016/2017 over 40 young composers from schools throughout Ireland came together to create a brand new canon of choral music as Composers in the Classroom. Chamber Choir Ireland and the Contemporary Music Centre are delighted to commence the 2017/2018 programme in September 2017. Composers in the Classroom is an education project that brings established Irish composers into second-level schools throughout the island to coach students in the creative process of composing an original piece for SATB choir. The project runs from September to March with all compositions recorded and a selection performed by Chamber Choir Ireland in a gala concert at the National Concert Hall. Testament to the success of this programme in the past is its previous participants and now established Irish composers; Andrew Hamilton, Garrett Sholdice, and Eoghan Desmond.
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learning & participation
an island sings community choirs project In partnership with the Association of Irish Choirs and Poetry Ireland, we’re delighted to announce a new, largescale community choirs project. The project involves four provincial choirs who will work on the creation of a newly commissioned work (made possible through generous funding from the Arts Council of Ireland) by Elaine Agnew to texts from An Island Sings curated by Marie Heaney as well as newly created texts by an Irish poet. There will be a later call for a massed choir of singers to rehearse and be part of the final choral performance in March 2019. Should your choir be interested in taking part please keep an eye on our website, where opportunities will be announced.
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CULTUREFOX.IE
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COMING UP IN 2018
January/February Choral Lecture Series March Poulenc’s Mass and Howell’s Requiem April/May New Music from Ireland June Guest Conductor Nicolas Fink — 22 —
RECORDINGS FROM CHAMBER CHOIR IRELAND Available at all CCI concerts and online at Amazon / iTunes Further information from www.chamberchoirireland.com
Barry meets Beethoven
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Acallam na Senórach (An Irish Colloquy)
Carols from the Old and New Worlds Vol.3
The Irish Times
One Day Fine
Choirland (Book & CD) — 23 —
BECOME A SUPPORTER By becoming a Friend or Chamber Choir Ireland Society member, you are helping us to continue the beautiful work that we do as Ireland’s flagship choral ensemble. Contributions from Chamber Choir Ireland supporters help us continue the brave, exciting and innovative nature of our programming as well as providing necessary funding to grow and develop our Learning and Participation programmes which benefit participants of all ages across Ireland. The Chamber Choir Ireland Society is specifically for people who want to ensure that the tax on their donation comes directly to Chamber Choir Ireland. Members donate €250 or more a year. They waive any thank-you benefits and give us permission as a registered charity to claim the tax on their donation.
1 YEAR OF SUPPORT Individual Friend
€100
Ensemble Friend (couple)
€175
Student Friend includes 4 tickets to Chamber Choir Ireland concerts, an invitation to attend an annual open rehearsal and a special thank-you in our concert programmes
€35
Chamber Choir Ireland Society
€250+
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There are unique benefits open to you as a Friend of Chamber Choir Ireland, and these include: 2 COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS to a concert of your choice from our annual programme An invitation for you and a friend to attend AN ANNUAL OPEN REHEARSAL with Paul Hillier and the Singers An invitation for you and your guests to our ANNUAL CHRISTMAS FRIENDS GATHERING A SPECIAL THANK-YOU in our concert programmes and on our website ADVANCE MAILING of the season brochure
To become either a Friend of Chamber Choir Ireland or a member of the Chamber Choir Ireland Society, or to enquire about other options for support, please contact Beccy Fitzpatrick on + 353 (1) 554 5210 or beccy@chamberchoirireland.com — 25 —
Artistic Director Paul Hillier Chief Executive Majella Hollywood Concerts’ Manager David Darcy
Olga Barry Eamonn Eaton (chair) Brid Horan Prof. Brian MacCraith Larry O’Connor Brian Walshe Richard Twomey
Marketing & PR Executive Beccy Fitzpatrick Board of Directors FUNDERS
SUPPORTERS
PARTNERS
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Design: Gareth Jones (gazjonesdesign.com)
Chamber Choir Ireland National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 telephone +353 (0)1 554 5210 email admin@chamberchoirireland.com Full booking details for all concerts available at www.chamberchoirireland.com — 28 —