The Cecilian Choir has always been something of a playground for experimenting with contemporary choral music, and this term we’ve been finding our feet with a selection of modern pieces that really challenges us.<\/p>\n
Ubi caritas, <\/em>in\u00a0a setting by Norwegian composer\u00a0Ola Gjeilo, is full of exotic harmonies, still retaining something of\u00a0its original plainchant ancestry at the start before blossoming into luminous colours as the piece begins to unfold;<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n Alongside this, the Choir is drawing out the rich dissonances in Latvian composer Arturs Maskat’s Lugums Naktij (Prayer to the Night<\/em>); additionally, we’ve recently begun working on Indian Prayer at Evening<\/em>, the third of ‘Three Native American Songs’ by the young British composer, Toby Nelms, with swinging, prairie-filled\u00a0open-fifths and\u00a0a suitably dusky\u00a0tonal palette.\u00a0We started our contemporary odyssey with the Hymn to the Dormition of the Mother of God<\/em> by the late Sir John Tavener back in October, which will add an element of tribute to the choir’s concert in April.<\/p>\n This choir excels at picking up new music, and for next term I’ve lined up some pieces by Howard Skempton as well. The backbone of the programme is something rather less modern – movements from Hassler’s Missa super Dixit Maria<\/em>, written somewhat earlier in 1599, and a piece I’ve wanted to do for a long while; the intention is to weave the contemporary pieces amongst the movements of the mass.<\/p>\n Before then, the Choir will be performing a clutch of carols at next Wednesday’s end of term, festive ‘Watch This Space’ event on the foyer-stage. But it’s in the contemporary music that the choir is\u00a0particularly strong; next term’s concert will be a treat.<\/p>\n Follow the Cecilian Choir on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n