Wednesday 23 September 2020

Just before the pandemic broke out, VOCES8 and Edvard Grieg Kor were entering into a new collaboration. The physical meeting will now have to wait, but Autunnalen is happy to still have VOCES8 on the programme, with a digital opening concert from London!

The music has been composed especially with the festival theme Bedehus in mind, and consists of expressive vocal works by, among others, Pärt, Gibbons and Rachmaninov, intertwined with selected hymns and hymns.

The title "After Silence" is taken from an essay by Aldous Huxley about the power of music:

Second to silence
the music is the closest thing
expressing the unspeakable.

Singing and music have traditionally been a large part of the house of prayer culture, and in these difficult times the value in coming together and singing, and the experience of community and togetherness, has become even more important.

VOCES8 is one of the world's most famous vocal ensembles. They tour the world, both as an acappella ensemble, and in collaboration with leading orchestras, conductors and soloists, with a very varied repertoire.

PROGRAM:

Orlando Gibbons:
Drop, Drop, Slow Tears

Arvo Pärt:
The Deer's Cry

Sir Charles Hubert Parry:
The Songs of Farewell
1 – My Soul there is a Country
2 – Never Weather Beaten Sail
3 – There is an Old Belief

Jean Sibelius:
Be Still My Soul (Finland)

Jonathan Dove:
Virtue

Stephen Paulus:
The Road Home

Sergei Rachmaninoff:
Bogoroditse Devo

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Photo: Kaupo Kikkas