Perpetual Twilight
A spring concert of new Irish choral music by:
The Choral Scholars
of University College Dublin
and Special Guests
Desmond Early, Artistic Director
Join the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin with Artistic Director and Conductor Desmond Earley as they perform a programme of new choral music inspired by the evocative imagery of the natural world in traditional Irish and Scottish folksong and poetry. The concert will feature several world premiere compositions and arrangements, and the choir will be joined by a host of Ireland’s leading instrumentalists, from bodhran to harp to clarinet. Programme and special guest information to be announced shortly.
The programme includes a new work for choir and harp with music by Bill Whelan on an original text by Frank McGuinness: this piece – Elegy – reflects on the Buncrana pier tragedy, where five people lost their lives as their car slipped into Loch Swilly on 20th March 2016. Rionaghac-Ann McGrotty, an infant, was rescued from the sinking car by an onlooker.
Programme
Dúlamán* – Arr. Desmond Earley (bodhrán Conor Lyons)
Oxen of the Sun* – Eoghan Desmond (text from Joyce’s Ulysses, French horn Cormac Ó hAodáin)
Bright Cap and Streamers+ – Colin Mawby (text from Joyce’s Chamber Music, clarinet Michael Seaver)
Strings in the Earth and Air*+ – Colin Mawby (text from Joyce’s Chamber Music, with clarinet and harp, Michael Seaver and Geraldine O’Doherty)
When All Things Have Repose*+ – Timothy Stephens (text from James Joyce’s Chamber Music, with harp, Geraldine O’Doherty)
Body of the Moon – Desmond Earley (text Galileo, with cello and bass drum)
Wild Mountain Thyme* – Arr. Eoin Conway (trad Scot)
My love is like a Red Red Rose – Arr. Ēriks Ešenvalds (trad Scot, text Robert Burns)
Herr, nun lässest du deinen Deiner in Friede fahren SWV 432 – Heinrich Schütz (annual presentation of Schütz award to a Scholar for outstanding performance and contribution to the ensemble)
Elegy* – Bill Whelan (text Frank McGuinness, harp Geraldine O’Doherty)
Mo Ghille Mear – Arr. Desmond Earley (trad Irish, bodhrán Conor Lyons)
The Maid of Culmore* – Arr. Kevin Whyms (trad Irish, guitar Kevin Whyms)
Bó na Leathadhairce* – Arr. Desmond Earley (trad Irish)
*world premiere performance
+commission supported by the Arts Council
%commissioned by All Classical Portland to accompany the 2017 total solar eclipse