Shared Ground - Programme

CHAMBE∏ CHOI∏ I∏ELAND

SHA∏ED G∏OUND Sunday 27 June 2021 Streamed Performance —1—

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Guest Conductor Bernie Sherlock

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Programme Deep River (from A Child of our Time) Spiritual arr. Michael Tippett (UK, 1905–1998)

Uprooted IRISH PREMIERE Sarah Rimkus (USA, B. 1990)

Shared Ground IRISH PREMIERE Alec Roth (UK, B. 1948)

Rotaļa (from Neslēgtais Gredzens) Juris Karlsons (LATVIA, B. 1948)

Bealach Conglais (Baltinglas) Ian Wilson (IRELAND, B. 1964)

Sügismaastikud (Autumn Landscapes) Veljo Tormis (ESTONIA, 1930–2017)

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Spiritual arr. Keith Roberts THE PROGRAMME WILL RUN FOR C. 1 HOUR

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IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE for me to conduct Chamber Choir Ireland in a wide-ranging programme which I have called “Shared Ground.”

The title comes from the concert’s centrepiece, Shared Ground by the English composer Alec Roth. It’s a setting of six poems by Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy; An Equal Music) who, when in England, lives in a very old house that in turn once belonged to the 16th century poet George Herbert. Roth composed the piece while house-sitting for Seth. This performance will be the Irish premiere.

The concert is bookended by spirituals, a tradition that has long imagined a shared ground as the object of human hope. In between there is a response to enforced shared ground in Sarah Rimkus’s Uprooted, a setting of interviews with two Japanese-American women who were re-located as part of America’s internment policy during World War II. There can also be a defiant response when ground is violated, such as Rotaļa by Juris Karlsons, joyfully celebrating Latvian tradition in defiance of Soviet annexation.

Ground transcends time in Ian Wilson’s setting of Deirdre Brennan’s beautiful poem Bealach Conglais – Baltinglass, the small Wicklow town where the present shares ground with an historically and archaelogically rich past.

Discovering new places and the people who live there creates another kind of shared ground. Estonia’s Veljo Tormis composed Sügismaastikud (“Autumn Landscapes”) after visiting Hungary in 1960 and meeting Zoltan Kodály. Seven gorgeous autumn miniatures, reflecting the two composers’ shared love of nature and of country.

Bernie Sherlock —6—

Deep River (from A Child of our Time) Spiritual arr. Michael Tippett (UK, 1905–1998) Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp-ground.

Oh chillun! O don’t you want to go to that gospel feast, That promised land, that land where all is peace.

Walk into heaven, and take my seat, And cast my crown at Jesus’ feet.

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Uprooted IRISH PREMIERE Sarah Rimkus (USA, b. 1990) Shikata ga nai...

[It cannot be helped]

They didn’t tell us where we were going, How long we would be gone.

There was nothing we could do.

You are uprooted, Suddenly from your home.

You’re up in air And can’t come down.

We’re on this train, This train three days and two nights.

At the Mojave, no more train tracks.

We can see the heatwaves shimmering.

There was nothing we could do.

When you’re used to all this greenery, All this water, And then you go to a vast, flat dessert, No green, no water, Sagebrush and tumbleweeds– you’re uprooted in air and can’t come down.

I am the only one, I am the only one left who can speak.

I will speak.

Nidoto nai yoni…

[Let it not happen again.]

Text compiled from interviews with Kay Sakai Nakao and Lilly Kitamoto Kodama, two Bainbridge Islanders who were incarcerated in Manzanar and Minidoka concentration camps.

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Shared Ground IRISH PREMIERE Alec Roth (UK, b. 1948) 1. LOST Lost in a world of dust and spray.

We turn, we learn, we twist, we pray For word or tune or touch or ray: Some tune of hope, some word of grace, Some ray of joy to guide our race, Some touch of love to deuce our ace.

In vain the ace seeks out its twin.

The race is long, too short to win.

The tune is out, the word not in.

Our limbs, our hearts turn all to stone.

Our spring, our step lose aim and tone.

We are no more — and less than one.

There is no soul in which to blend, No life to leave, no light to lend, No shape, no chance, no drift, no end.

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2. OAK Last night a storm raged round the bare oak tree.

A cold, sharp rain fell; wild in pace The ice-fed air swirled free.

Now in this place I see No trace Of wind or lee, No grass, no earth — the space Is a clear lake, deep as my knee.

I reach its edge and view, far down, my face.

I wade out to the bench, set down my wine, My bread and cheese, and like some sage Of old, sit down to dine.

I do not rage Or pine At age, For youth once mine.

This pool, this plate, this page, This tree whose roots are branch and tine Holds me in its still hourglass, its free cage.

3. AND And then I woke.

I tried, once more, to sleep, But could not coax or keep The thought of you, your laugh, your hands, your eyes, Blanked by the sun’s calm rise.

The dream was done; your voice was gone; the day That rose now, pink and grey, Was there to work through, till the dark hours came, And you, your voice, your name.

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4. HOST I heard it was for sale and thought I’d go To see the old house where He lived three years, and died. How could I know Its stones, its trees, its air, The stream, the small church, the dark rain would say: “You’ve come; you’ve seen; now stay.”

“A guest?” I asked. “Yes, as you are on earth.”

“The means?” “…will come, don’t fear.”

“What of the risk?” “Our lives are that from birth.”

“His ghost?” “His soul is here.”

“He’ll change my style.” “Well, but you could do worse Than rent his rooms of verse.”

Joy came, and grief; love came, and loss; three years — Tiles down; moles up; drought; flood.

Though far in time and faith, I share his tears, His hearth, his ground his mud; Yet my host stands just out of mind and sight, That I may sit and write.

4a. {INSCRIPTION}* (George Herbert) If though chance for to find A new house to thy mind And built without thy cost Be good to the poor As God gives thee store And then my labour’s not lost. *This inscription carved in stone is set into the north wall of the Old Rectory, Bemerton, which was George Herbert’s home from 1630 to his death in 1633 and where he wrote much of his poetry.

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5. FLASH Bright bird, whose swift blue wings gleam out As on the stream you dip and rise, You, as you scan for parr and trout, Flash past my eyes.

Bright trout, who glints in fin and scale, Whose whim is grubs, whose dream is flies, You, with one whisk of your quick tail, Flick past my eyes.

Bright stream, home to bright fish and birds, A gold glow as the gold sun dies, You too, too fast for these poor words, Flow past my eyes.

But such drab words, ah, sad to say, When all that’s bright has fled and gone, Praised by dull folk, dressed all in grey, Live on and on.

6. THIS Hearts-ease, hearts-bane; a balm that chafes one raw; The soul in splints; graph with no grid or gauge; A fort, a house on stilts, a hut of straw; A tic, a weal, the flu, the plague, the rage; Bug swept in through the net; moth with a sting; Two planes in fog jammed blind; a mailed kid glove; A dance on coals that makes us yelp and sing A rook, or roc or swan or goose or dove.

A beast of light; a blaze to quench or stoke; Bread burst and burnt; sweet wind-fall; storm-cloud milk; Hope raised and razed; skin-ploy, sleep-foil, steel-silk; Hands held in lieu of breath; our genes’ sick joke; The sea to drink or sink in; the gods’ sty; What we must have or die; or have and die.

TEXT by Vikram Seth

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Rotaļa (Round Dance) from Neslēgtais Gredzens Juris Karlsons (Latvia, b. 1948) Rotaļa

Round Dance

Vidu!

Vidu! To the middle!

Viena naca otra gaja, Viena laida, cita maja, Vidu!

One came, the other went, One lets go, another waves, vidu!

Nav vel tverta sniegta roka Jau tu ligo, lidz ieks loka, Vidu!

The outstretched hand is not yet grabbed, You already swing along in a circle, vidu!

Vala, vala, rota dienas,

Freely, freely the days spin.

Surpu, turpu, irst un sienas, di, vidu!

Irst un sienas tevi rokas talak sienas

Hither, thither, part and join your hands, further joining, further swaying, vidu!

Talak lokas, vidu!

Freely, freely swirl around!

TEXT by Janis Rainisb

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Bealach Conglais (Baltinglas) Ian Wilson (Ireland, b. 1964) Bealach Conglais Gríosach ár dtinte buacana Múchta faoi chois fadó caite siar I smior is smúsach na tíre seo Brúchtann siad amach arís, ag séideadh Thar do bhealach, ar foluain I néalta dubha os na cnoic coirneacha, Ag moilliú san achar ciúin idir canadh na néan Ó gharráin chaorthainn, choill is iúir.

Níor fhágamar riamh na gleannta seo Mar a dheineamar iniúchadh tráth ar spéartha reatha, Mar a mhíníomar grág an fhiaigh dhuibh is na baidhbhe Mar a luíomar ar leapacha de chleitheanna coisrichte D’fhonn fáistine níos fire a dhéanamh ar ár ndomhan.

Is linne an chantaireacht a airíonn tú anois San aer ag dul i dtiús is ag casadh go stoirm.

Is linne Cúr Chlaoin-Ó ina chrann iúir É pulctha le feoil a chreice.

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Baltinglass The embers of our proud fires stamped out long ago - digested into the pith and marrow of this land spew up again, blow across your path, hover in low-slung clouds over the tonsured hills, pause in stillness between birdsong from groves of rowan, hazel and yew.

We have never left these valleys where once we studied shifting skies, deciphered croak of raven and scald crow, lay down on beds of sacred wattles the better to divine our world.

Ours is the chanting you hear now where the air thickens and braids to a storm.

Ours is the Kite of Claon-O on his yew tree gorged with his victim’s flesh.

Commissioned by New Dublin Voices, conductor Bernie Sherlock, with the generous support of Foras na Gaeilge TEXT Irish translation by Deirdre Brennan, of her original English language poem from Swimming with Pelicans / Ag Eitilt farm Condair (Arlen House)

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Sügismaastikud (Autumn Landscapes) Veljo Tormis (Estonia, 1930–2017) Sügismaastikud

Autumn Landscapes

1. ON HILISSUVI Ja lõhnab angervaks ja tulilill ja ohakas.

On hilissuvi, on hilissuvi.

Ja pihlapuus on marjakobar, ja männikus on kanarbik.

Ja seda suve ei tule enam ei tule enam seda suve.

1. IT IS LATE SUMMER And smells of dropwort and buttercup and thistledown.

It is late summer.

And on the rowan tree there are clusters of berries and in the pine tree grove there is heather.

And this summer will not come anymore, will not come anymore this summer.

2. ÜLE TAEVA JOOKSEVAD PILVED Üle taeva jooksevad pilved, vihmajärgse hommiku lillad pilved See on järvelt lõõtsuv tuul, see on kartulivagude muld, millest su käed külmetavad.

2. CLOUDS ARE RACING Over the heavens clouds are racing; Morning clouds now lavender after rainfall.

This is wind from lakeside blown, this the soil of potato’s low field, chilling your hands.

3. KAHVATU VALGAS Kahvatu valgus sügismaastike kohal.

Valgeid tutte ohakad külvavad tuulde.

Kahvatu valgus...

All ribadeks rebitud taeva.

3. PALE LIGHT Colourless sun rays over autumnal regions.

Whitish tassels thistledown scattering windwards…

Beneath the sky torn to shreds long and muddy roads.

4. VALUSALT PUNASED LEHED Valusalt punased lehed poriseks sõtkutud teel.

Imetlen neid ma ja tallan poriseks sõtkutud lehti valusalt punasel teel.

4. PAINFULLY RED LEAVES Painfully red leaves on muddy trampled road.

I marvel at them and tread muddy trampled leaves on painfully red road.

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5. TUUL KÕNNUMAA KOHAL Tuul kõnnumaa kohal.

Tuul koolnukollase kõnnumaa kohal.

Teekäänul kõhinal naeris paar surnud puud.

5. WIND OVER THE WASTELAND Wind over the wasteland.

Wind over the corpse-like yellow wasteland.

On the bend of the road a couple of dead trees laughed hissingly

6. KÜLM SÜGISÖÖ Külm sügisöö kuu nagu kummaline münt läigatas merre.

6. COLD AUTUMN NIGHT Cold autumn night’s moon like a bizarre coin Tossed into the sea.

7. KANARBIK Kurblilla kanarbik meeletult lõõskab, päikese viimane virvendus silmis.

Muidu kõik on kui ikka, needsamad on nurmed, needsamad on teed, ainult nende peal põleb maailmasuurune leek.

7. HEATHER Sad lilac heather wildly blazes, the last ripple of the sun in the eyes.

Otherwise everything is as ever, the same are the meadows, the same are the roads, only on them burns the flame as big as the world.

TEXT by Viivi Luik

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Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Spiritual arr. Keith Roberts (UK, b. 1971) Swing low, sweet chariot Comin’ for to carry me home I look’d over Jordan, an’ what did I see Comin’ for to carry me home A band of angels coming after me Comin’ for to carry me home An’ if you get there before I do Coming for to carry me home Tell all my friends I’m a-comin’ too Comin’ for to carry me home

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People Artistic Director Paul Hillier Guest Conductor Bernie Sherlock Patron Michael D Higgins President of Ireland

Sopranos Abbi Temple Fiona Flynn* Sarah Keating* Méav Ní Mhaolchatha* Altos Christina Whyte Leanne Fitzgerald Stephen Wallace Eoin Conway* Tenors Alan Leech Stuart Kinsella Shane Barriscale Rory Lynch* Basses Jeffrey Ledwidge Paul McGough Eoghan Desmond William Gaunt *Deputy

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Chief Executive Majella Hollywood Concerts’ Manager David Darcy Marketing and Development Manager Aoife Cuthbert Board of Directors Olga Barry Bea Kelleher Susan Lannigan Alastair Rankin Brian Walsh (Chair) Richard Twomey

Bernie Sherlock Guest Director

BERNIE SHERLOCK IS A leading choral conductor.

She is the founderconductor of the international awardwinning chamber choir New Dublin Voices, Artistic Director of the Irish Youth Choir, and second conductor of EuroChoir 2021. Bernie has won international conducting prizes in Finland, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia and Ireland. Her ongoing work as an international adjudicator and director of choral workshops has taken her around Europe and to the US, Canada and China. She is a founding member of the International Choral Conductors Federation based in Rome, and the representative for Ireland on the World Choir Council.

Concoroso Polifonico in Arezzo (Grand Prix 2013), International Choir Contest of Maasmechelen, Belgium (all 6 prizes 2011) and Budapest International Choir Competition (Grand Prix 2009). In 2017 New Dublin Voices was the first Irish choir invited to perform at the triennial World Symposium on Choral Music.

New Dublin Voices is acclaimed for its innovative concert programming and has a strong record at Europe’s leading competitions, recently winning first prize at the International Competition of the 2019 Derry International Choir Festival, first prize in the mixed choir competition at the 2018 Béla Bartók International Choir Competition in Hungary, and the Grand Prix at the 2017 International Baltic Sea Choir Competition in Latvia. Among many other prizes, New Dublin Voices has previously come first at the Cork International Choral Festival (2015),

Bernie has extensive experience directing a wide range of choirs, including the Culwick Choral Society and the Choral Society of Trinity College Dublin. She is a Lecturer in Music at the TU Dublin Conservatoire where she is conductor of the TU Chamber Choir and Youth Choir.

Bernie is a former Artistic Director of the annual International Choral Conducting Summer School run by Sing Ireland at the University of Limerick.

Bernie studied conducting with Ildiko Herboly-Kocsar and Peter Erdei at the Liszt Academy in Hungary, and with Gerhard Markson in Dublin. Following her BA in music from Trinity College Dublin she earned Masters and Doctorate degrees in conducting from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music/DCU respectively.

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Chamber Choir Ireland ‘It was at once a sheerly beautiful immersion in choral sonority’ IRISH TIMES, MARCH 2019 GARNERING A STRONG reputation for its unique approach to creative commissioning, recording and programming, Chamber Choir Ireland is the country’s flagship choral ensemble and national chamber choir under the Artistic Direction of the multiaward- winning conductor, Paul Hillier.

The Choir’s programmes span from early renaissance to the present day, incorporating established choral classics with cutting edge commissions, and a style of performance that incorporates versatility, dynamism and often vocal pyrotechnics.

Chamber Choir Ireland performances have been described as having a tone which is ‘liquid in its power and purity’ with a ‘strong vocal flexibility of style’ (Belfast Telegraph). The Choir has a strong commitment to touring in Ireland and continues to develop its touring network in order to present high quality choral concerts to audiences around the country. International touring has included the USA, UK, Belgium, Russia, Germany and South America.

Beethoven, featuring the Crash Ensemble and Stephen Richardson on the Orchid Classics label. The most recent release garnering a 5-star review in the Irish Times was Letters which included the CCI commission Triptych

by David Fennessy and A Letter of Rights

by Tarik O’Regan & Alice Goodman on the Naxos label (November 2020).

Chamber Choir Ireland has a strong Learning and Participation programme, including in Composers in the Classroom, Choral Sketches, Sing! at Axis:Ballymun and a lecture series on the history of choral music in Ireland.

Chamber Choir Ireland receives principal funding & support from the Arts Council/ an Chomhairle Ealaíon, is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall of Ireland, Associate Artists to Dublin City University, and a member of TENSO – the network of professional chamber choirs in Europe.

The choir has previously recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, RTE Lyric FM labels including the world premiere recording of works by Gerald Barry, Barry meets — 22 —

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Chamber Choir Ireland National Concert Hall Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 telephone +353 (0) 1 554 5210 email admin@chamberchoirireland.com www.chamberchoirireland.com — 24 —