Chamber Choir Ireland at Norfolk & Norwich Festival


Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich

22 May 2024


Programme

David Fennessy (Ireland, b. 1976)chOirland
Eoghan Desmond (Ireland, b. 1989)I am
Arvo Pärt (Estonia, b. 1935)O Holy Father Nicholas
Thomas Tallis (England, 1505-1585)Lamentations of Jeremiah I
Cassandra Miller (Canada, b. 1976)The City, Full of People Commissioned by Louth Contemporary Music Society
Caroline Shaw (USA, b. 1982)How to fold the wind

Performers

Chamber Choir Ireland
Eamonn DouganConductor

Ireland's national chamber choir brings a selection of captivating contemporary choral music to Norfolk & Norwich Festival.

Featuring works by living Irish composers, David Fennessy’s eccentric chOirlandmade up of nonsense lyrics taken from the choruses of traditional Irish songs and ballads—and Eoghan Desmond’s I am. 

In Cassandra Miller’s The City, Full of People, the audience eavesdrops on ‘a cacophony of private secrets,’ immersed in the meditative echoes of Tallis’ sixteenth-century lamentations.  

Mesmerising to behold, Caroline Shaw’s origami-inspired How to fold the wind uses speech, inhaled notes, and innovative vocal effects to fold individual voices together into a complex whole. 

Arvo Pärt’s sublime O Holy Father Nicholas—composed for the re-opening of St Nicholas’ church as a pilgrimage for all faiths at New York’s Ground Zero—unfolds subtly.

This performance is made possible by support from Culture Ireland / Cultúr Éireann.