Ireland's national chamber choir presents a tapestry of American choral music, this February at St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick.

From the lively 18th-century anthems of a newly-formed nation, to mid-century minimalism and the pioneering composers of the New York School and Bang on a Can.

Chamber Choir Ireland and conductor Paul Hillier explore the early choral heritage of the United States of America, with the psalms and anthems that flourished in New England during the American Revolution.

These include 'Old North' by William Billings, 'Montgomery' by Justin Morgan, and 'Brevity' by Abraham Wood—a former drummer boy in the Revolutionary War.

In 1976, avant-garde composer John Cage was commissioned to compose a work for the American Bicentennial. This new work took inspiration from Billings' 'Old North', using a technique of “harmonic subtraction” to produce a sublimely beautiful series of long overlapping tones and empty spaces. Both appear side by side in this concert.

The programme also features Paul Hillier's own setting of To see a World in a Grain of Sand , written by William Blake around the same time as those New England psalmodists, and composed by the conductor himself during his time in California in the 1990s.

The final group of pieces focuses on three generations of New York composers: Cage's fellow members of the 'New York School', Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff; the minimalist Steve Reich; and Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe of the contemporary music collective Bang on a Can.

The concert concludes with another psalm—this time, a contemporary one—in Wolfe's Guard my tongue.

Programme:
John Cage (USA, 1912-1992)—ear for EAR
William Billings (1746-1800)—O praise the Lord of heaven: An Anthem for Thanksgiving
Abraham Wood (1752-1804)—Brevity
John Cage—Hymn A (after W. Billings' 'Old North') from Hymns and Variations
William Billings —Old North
Justin Morgan (1747-1798)—Montgomery
Jeremiah Ingalls (1764-1828)—Evening Shade
Paul Hillier (England, b.1949)—To see a world
Christian Wolff (USA, b. 1934)—Evening Shade, Wake up
Morton Feldman (USA, 1926-1987)—Alone
Steve Reich (USA, b. 1936)—Clapping Music (arr. Paul Hillier)
Michael Gordon (USA, b. 1956)—He saw a skull
Julia Wolfe (USA, b. 1958)—Guard my tongue