Choral Symposium Choral Symposium The idea of a Choral Symposium was introduced in 2016 to better reflect, and enhance, the present development of choral music and its composition and practice in Ireland. It offers a wider vision, and a more interactive platform, for composers, conductors, singers, practitioners, and students to meet, experience, and discuss. All featured presenters have a shared commitment to its central purpose. To place no restrictions of access and cost to participants, the symposium is offered over three days and is free of charge to attendees. The Festival thanks CIT School of Music for its collaborative support in making the facilities of the school available to us. The Festival has been committed to fostering awareness and appreciation of new choral music since the late Aloys Fleischmann initiated the commission of new works to form part of a seminar in 1962. This year is the 49th occasion that the Festival has presented such a forum to present, discuss, and enrich our knowledge of the process of composition. To date over 150 works from 128 Irish and international composers have been commissioned. The full collection of these scores is now housed in the Cork City Music Library and is available for consultation. Digitised pages of scores are now also available for perusal on the Library website. Maintaining this initial vision as an important and central part of the Festival programme, the Festival again welcomes Paul Hillier, one of the world’s leading specialists on choral music, and the Festival’s choir-in-residence, Chamber Choir Ireland to present a seminar on new choral music, and its performance, as part of the Choral Symposium. The style of presentation will offer symposium attendees a more relevant and engaging approach to how texts are selected, the related process of composing music appropriate to the text, and the input of the singers as to its accessibility. Two new works will be featured, and given their world premières in Cork - a new composition by David Fennessy - Ne Reminicaris - (jointly commissioned by CICF and CCI), and City Shower by the winner of this year’s Seán 42
Ó Riada Composition Competition, John Lonergan (supported by the Ó Riada family). The Seán Ó Riada Competition is a composition competition which invites the submission, under pseudonym, of new works from Irish composers and is a collaboration between the Cork International Choral Festival and Chamber Choir Ireland. The première performances of both works are integrated into CCI’s Friday evening’s concert programme. In addition, the seminar presentation will also feature a performance reading of Scél Lemm Dúib, by Criostóir Ó Loingsigh, one of two runner ups in the Seán Ó Riada Competition. All the named composers and writers will be present and play an active part in the symposium. The Festival, in collaboration with CIT Cork School of Music, is delighted to welcome our guest ensemble, the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble The Swingles, to host an interactive workshop based around a cappella singing and performance. The masterclass session will include warm ups, practical workshop with two selected corkbased ensembles, vocal improvisation, and an inter-active, open session incorporating performance style, repertoire selection, arrangements, and the voice as a percussive instrument. This Grammy® award-winning vocal ensemble will also offer insight into their individual career paths and the development of the ensemble over the years and will involve all attendees in the practical aspects of the session. As an integral part of the Choral Symposium we also offer a related range of interesting talks and practical sessions on choral practice over three days. Practical sessions in the Alexander Technique, Voice Production, Choir Voicing, and an introduction to the relatively new holistic performance pedagogy, Core Singing™ will offer attendees a wide-ranging opportunity of learning and upskilling. The Composer Speaks Session will also see renowned composer Rhona Clarke explore new choral compositions and the Irish context. Full information is available in the following pages. Attendees are very welcome to attend, at no charge.