Uplift Yourself

The Song Company 2013 Concert Season

The Song Company’s 2013 Season turns to the element of ‘Air’ for inspiration as part of a four year cycle investigating Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

The Prophet will feature voices and oud in music composed by Joseph Tawadros and influenced by both Eastern and Western traditions.

Our tribute to John Dowland features the lute, that most intimate of instruments, bringing together the greatest living lutenist of our times, Nigel North, and performing John Downland’s exquisite and moving music written for the lute.

The Season concludes with a return to the extensive repertoire of Christmas music featuring a selection of angelic music from Germany, Italy and France and, of course from Australia. Of Birds and Angels will include Isaac’s Christmas Motets, Monteverdi’s Sacred Psalms and Edward’s Kingfisher Psalms.

BOOK ONLINE:

Wollongong – Three Concert Package

Canberra – Three Concert Package

Sydney – Three Concert Package

Newcastle – Three Concert Package

Melbourne – Three Concert Package

*Booking fee applies

OR BOOK BY PHONE:

THE PROPHET

a collaboration with Joseph Tawadros

with Joseph Tawadros, oud

Few books have left such a profound impression on so many people in East and West. The Prophet, the best known book by the Lebanese poet, philosopher and artist Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), is one of the most widely read books around the world and still touches the hearts of young and old. Millions of Arabic-speaking people consider him one of the greatest thinkers of his age, yet his influence has spread far beyond the Middle East. Living in Boston and New York for a major part of his life, his reputation and his unique quasi-Biblical style is now an intrinsic part of Western spirituality.

Joseph Tawadros has risen to prominence in Australia by succesfully developing the ancient traditions of Arabic music in a western environment. His engagement with the writings of Gibran has resulted in one solo disc for oud (The Prophet, 2009), as well as a number of works recorded for ‘Concerto of The Greater Sea’, recently released to great acclaim. This new collaboration with the singers of The Song Company delves into the origins of musical expression, guided by the writings of Gibran.

Program

Joseph Tawadros, settings of The Prophet

Hildegard von Bingen, selected chants

Fyodor Krestyanin, Gospel Sticheron

Coptic Hymn Golgotha

And other ancient chants and early organum

Duration: 75 minutes no interval.

Performance Schedule:

DOWLAND’S LUTE

with Nigel North, lute

One of the great delights of musical discovery in the last century has been the steady revival of John Dowland (1563-1626) by artists as diverse as Percy Grainger or, more recently, Emma Kirkby or Sting. As a way of celebrating Dowland’s 450th anniversary in 2013, the Song Company has invited the greatest English lutenist of our time, Nigel North for an all-out tribute to the elusive English master and his time. Dowland spent the peak of his career as private lutenist to the Danish king, Christian IV, but yearned for London and a posting at the English court. His work owes as much to the changing personal patronage he depended upon as to the subtle meanings and allusions of Elizabethan English. Whilst Shakespeare himself tred the boards, Dowland’s lute and pen produced some of the most heart-breaking music of all times. Who could not be moved by ‘In darkness let me dwell’ or ‘Come away come sweet love’ or ‘Time stands still’ ?

PROGRAM

John Dowland (1563-1626) solo songs, ensembles and lute pieces

John Ward (1571-1638) madrigals

Thomas Ravenscroft (1582/92-1635) songs, rounds and catches

Performance Schedule:

OF BIRDS AND ANGELS

angelic, magical Christmas music from Australia and the world

Mirth and magic from all creatures celestial provide the substance of this trademark Song Company Christmas program. Angels and birds intertwine in a concert that blends the best of pagan and Christian traditions in Australia and in the world. Carols in Catalan, in Ukranian and in Spanish, but also beautiful pieces by composers living in our midst: Ross Edwards and Christopher Willcock. With a twinkle in the eye and a smile from the heart, these songs connect us to the great mystery of life.

PROGRAM

Clement Janequin, Le chant des oiseaux

Thomas Ravenscroft, There were three ravens

Claudio Monteverdi, Psalm 113 Laudate pueri

Heinrich Isaac, Puer natus est – Ecce Virgo Concipies

Ross Edwards, Sacred Kingfisher Psalms

Christopher Willcock sj., Etiquette with Angels

Selection of stories and popular carols from around the world including Britten’s Corpus Christi carol and William James’ Carol of the Birds

Performance Schedule:

Past Subscription Series

SHIP TO SHORE (2-14 November 2012)

The Song Company with guest artists Slava and Leonard Grigoryan (Guitar)

Ship to Shore features the extraordinary talents of the Grigoryan Brothers in a spirited performance for the end of the year.

The brothers Grigoryan are stellar performers. Seamlessly crossing the boundaries of classical and popular guitar styles, they are the perfect collaborators for this rollicking, swashbuckling program of shanties and songs about the sea.

From the coast of Newfoundland to the shores of Ireland and from the ports of Portugal to the sundrenched beaches of Brazil, the men that laboured on the tall ships were expected to sing. Back home, the women left behind found their own expression for loss and longing.

This concert contains some of the most memorable sea shanties written as well as adaptations of classic sea songs and a variety of music from around the seafaring world.

SUNKEN DREAMS (5-15 August 2012)

The Song Company with guest artist Claire Edwardes* (vibraphone/water percussion)

Two halves, two very unique and contrasting performances that fuse contemporary and classical music influences, prepare to drift away.

Monet’s paintings of waterlilies are as iconic as Debussy’s delicately traced musical miniatures. In Sunken Dreams we delve into the heart of European impressionism using six voices and the liquid sounds of the vibraphone played by Claire Edwardes.

Genuine water percussion, including the rare waterphone and submerged gongs, form the context for a classic work by New Zealander Jack Body. His beautifully balanced sequence of lullabies and dreams breathes the wind of the Pacific and was specially conceived for the Song Company.

Love in Venice

The Song Company with guest artists Tommie Anderson (Lute/Theorbo/Guitar) and Laura Vaughan (Lirone/Gamba)

A hilarious comedy set in the waters of Venice which tells the story of an unlikely encounter — complemented by nine mind blowing madrigals. Prepare to laugh and fall in love.

Venice’s power at sea once seemed indestructible. For centuries, the city’s economic super status was reflected through an incredible flowering of the arts, demonstrated in painting and in music. The palaces and churches alongside its famous canals became the repositories of extraordinary work; to this day the envy of the world.

For this all-Venetian extravaganza, Roland Peelman has selected nine beautiful madrigals by Monteverdi as counterpart to Banchieri’s 1623 ‘Boat from Venice to Padua’. This hilarious and early musical comedy sees the Song Company expertly flit between a set of dubious commedia characters who share an encounter on a small boat.

Tears of Peter (St Mary’s Cathedral Crypt, Sydney only)

The Song Company with guest artist Satsuki Odamura (koto)

“This very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times”

Matthew 26: 34

This Easter, witness one of the greatest musical achievements of the 16th century fully re-imagined featuring the evocative sounds of the Japanese koto.

A new Easter project presented in the superb vaults of St Mary’s crypt is this production of Lassus’ last opus, an intricate cycle of twenty-one spiritual madrigals and one of the greatest musical achievements of all times. Written for seven voices and dedicated to Pope Clement VIII, three weeks before the composer’s death in 1594, the work depicts the stages of grief experienced by Peter after his denial of Christ.

Traditional koto music from Japan, as played by Satsuki Odamura, adds a contemporary human counterpoint to this masterpiece of the past.

Subscribers from around Australia are invited to select this concert as a fourth concert in their 2012 package. Please note this concert can only be selected as part of a four concert package. Seating is limited and single tickets to this event may not be available

Waltzing Matilda

A collection of traditional and contemporary music which pays homage to Australia’s colonial heritage. Presented by Blue Mountains Concert Society. For tickets visit www.bmconcerts.com.au or phone 1800 984 460.

Saturday 27th August 2011 at 8pm

Springwood Civic Theatre

Time Traveller – A musical map of the world

A musical map of the world

Pack your bags and head to the departure lounge, the Song Company is taking you on a journey of musical exploration and discovery. Time Traveller creates a musical map of the world with a collection of stories and songs from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, by composers who chronicled the changing view of the world. Celebrating music from around the globe and across the ages, Time Traveller transports you to musical destinations in time and space.

Program
Ayo visto mappamundi (Sicilian folksong, anonymous)
Gloria from Missa ‘ayo vista mappamundi’, Johannes Cornago (ca 1470)
Asia-Africa-Europa, Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586)
Thule, the period of cosmography, John Weelkes (1576-1623)
Selection of songs, Francesco Guerrero (1528-1599)
Voltaire from ‘The Dream of Plato’ Airs a gogo, Frank Nuyts (1994, revised 2009)
Going to Sichuan Province, trad. Chinese arr. Na Lin Shen Feng Yang Flower Drum, trad. Chinese arr. Julian Yu Songs from the Torres Strait Islands, arr. Roland Peelman Two Peter Sculthorpe songs Selection of songs from the Americas and Australasia.