We have a sensational few months of performances ahead, with everything from early oratorio to the world premiere of a brand new commission.
Audiences that missed our recent Irish premiere of Rhona Clarke’s beautiful Requiem will get a second chance to hear it this September, as we take In Paradisum on the road to Cork, Dublin, and Belfast.
Led by Grammy award-winning conductor, Paul Hillier, In Paradisum also features the origami-inspired How to fold the wind by Pulitzer-winning composer, Caroline Shaw, and Arvo Pärt’s O Holy Father Nicholas—composed for the re-opening of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed during the September 11th terrorist attacks, and has now been reborn as a shrine for pilgrims of all religions from all over the world.
In November, we bring Two Stories to Dublin and Belfast. This dramatic evening of choral storytelling features oratorios old and new, with Jephte by Baroque master of the oratorio Giacomo Carissimi, and the world premiere of a new Chamber Choir Ireland commission, Dives and Lazarus by Belfast-born composer Stephen McNeff.
In December, we team up with the Irish Baroque Orchestra for our annual production of Handel’s Messiah, led by IBO Artistic Director, Peter Whelan, and featuring step-out solos by Chamber Choir Ireland.
Lighting the way to Christmas, we will finish the year with Seeing the Star, an evening of seasonal works from the last 100 years in Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral. Led by guest director Andrew Synnott, this festive programme includes works by Olivier Messiaen, James MacMillan, Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc, and contemporary Irish composers Eoin Conway and Eoghan Desmond.