Sestina presents
Supported by
Chair’s welcome Sestina exists to nurture the talents of our young musicians by presenting wonderful performances of major works in superb venues, supported and informed by some of the world’s finest musicians. Tonight’s performance is a fine example of the organisation’s work: the amazing Johannes Leertouwer and distinguished countertenor Mark Chambers leading a large group of talented youngsters after a week’s tuition in Belfast’s Ulster Museum. James Kelley Chair
I would like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors, Mark and Oonagh Allport of Exitex Ltd. for their continued and generous support for all our work and for funding this mentoring course and concert tour. Thank you also to the Arts Council NI, which has supported our season and core costs, and enabled us to grow our concert programme significantly this year. Grateful thanks also go to Les McClean and the staff of the Ulster Museum for their continued support and for allowing us to rehearse in their wonderful building. The future is bright for Sestina, and bright for all who love fine music in live performance. Thanks for coming to see, hear and support us! James Kelley, Chair
Cover portraits by Carrie Davenport
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Musical Director’s welcome It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to tonight’s performance. This evening, you will see and hear the results of a week-long mentoring course for our singers and musicians. Sestina is now in its sixth year, a growing and thriving organisation, and it is important to acknowledge its contribution to the development of our young singers and players.
Mark Chambers Musical Director
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There is no doubt there are many excellent young voices in Ireland, but equally it is no secret that young musicians are entering a profession of dwindling opportunities, with government funding for artistic endeavour diminishing. One of the few avenues open for a young singer to earn money while studying is professional choral singing, and in the last few years, a plethora of young artist choral schemes have taken root: Genesis 16, Monteverdi Choir Apprentices, Tenebrae Choral Fellowships among them. But in order to be taken seriously in the choral world and the world of early music, musical forms, styles and functions must be closely informed and understood. No one would suggest an aspiring orchestral musician play an Elgar Symphony in a Mozartian manner and the same is true in the singing of pieces by such diverse voices as Handel and Monteverdi (as, I hope, we will demonstrate tonight). The work done by Sestina during the rehearsal week concentrates on this detail: finding the internal phrasing to bring a piece to life, shaping the fugal entries in Handel’s Dixit Dominus to sound the same across every part, and on this occasion, ornamenting the Monteverdi settings of Dixit Dominus in an informed and authentic manner. During this week, Johannes Leertouwer and I have worked in detail with the string players and the singers, an open collaboration which I love and which services our final performances, I hope bringing an unique view on the pieces you will hear tonight. But Sestina’s primary function is for this learning to be integrated into the solo repertoires of our young charges, that they may, themselves, be fired with the fuel of authenticity and excellence which is our goal.
I am delighted to welcome eight new singers (aged from 14 upwards) and two new players to the Sestina family, as well as welcoming back my friend and colleague Johannes Leertouwer once again. It is essential to the future of Sestina that we continue to seek out and find new talent, and to expose them to excellence. The workshops Lucia Vernon Long has been leading this week with young children in the Ulster Museum is targeting the next generation of performers. Who knows, one day maybe one of them will be performing with us!
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Claudio Monteverdi
Antonio Vivaldi
Dixit Dominus settings
The Four Seasons
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni ) were first published in 1725 in Amsterdam in a set of 12 concertos under the title Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention ), and what a fascinating contest this has proven to be. Today, some 300 years after the date of publication, the concertos are undoubtedly among the best known and most loved pieces ever written.
Tonight we mark the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s birth by presenting two sublime settings of the psalm text Dixit Dominus. To open our concert, we perform the setting found in the posthumous publication of 1650, Messa a quattro voci et Salmi. Published seven years after his death, the collection is a testament to Monteverdi’s legacy as a composer in Venice at the time. This setting is for eight voice parts in two choirs and continuo: contrasting solo sections and full choir, it delivers dramatically the psalm text. For this performance, I asked cornettist Conor Hastings to write some ornamentation for the singers based on contemporary treatises of the day.
Claudio Monteverdi 1567 - 1643
To open the second half, we take the second setting of Dixit Dominus from the monumental collection Selve morale et Spirituale (1640-1641). This setting is once again scored for two choirs of four voices each, two violins and then a choir of “Viole o trombone” which doubles the voices in the full sections. We are using a slightly mixed ensemble consisting of tenor cornett, two violas and cello.
Antonio Vivaldi 1678 - 1741
With his concertos, Vivaldi published a set of four sonnets that have a close relation to the music, not in the sense of a general source of inspiration, but extraordinarily precisely connected to specific ideas and sections in the score. In the first edition, the sonnets are printed in the parts, thus specifying the connection between text and music, so we know exactly when the music portrays birdsong, mosquitos, a drunk, stamping feet in the cold, to name just a few. All this needn’t limit the freedom of the musicians performing the concertos, as programme music sometimes seems to do; on the contrary, it can be an encouragement to come to a vivid and colourful performance.
I chose to perform these settings as part of tonight’s programme since it was music of this nature that brought the young Handel to Italy: thrilling, visceral and flamboyant music which sums up the architecture and grandeur of La Serenissima.
Even in these times of climate change and extreme weather, it is a wonderful thought that we can relate to the people of hundreds of years ago through the physical and mental sensations that the changing of seasons give us.
Mark Chambers
From the joy of the first feeling of spring in the air to the teeth chattering on a cold winter’s day, it is all so human and so close to us, as is the energy of this extraordinary music. What a gift it is for us all to see and feel the spring, summer, autumn and winter. Just imagine a world without it! I think that we as people living in Ireland and the Netherlands alike can agree to even love the abundance of rainfall that typifies the weather in our wonderful countries. Johannes Leertouwer
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Dixit Domi us
George Frideric Handel 1685 - 1759
Dixit Dominus is a setting of the Latin text of Psalm 110 and is part of the Catholic Sunday Vespers service. Handel composed his setting in 1707 during his tour of Italy. Early that year, he had arrived in Rome, where he was an immediate sensation. The diarist Francesco Valesio noted that “there has arrived in this city a Saxon, a most excellent player on the harpsichord and composer, who today gave a flourish of his skill by playing the organ in the church of S. Giovanni to the amazement of everyone present.” Although during his time in Italy, Handel premiered operas in both Florence and Venice to great acclaim, the performance of opera had been banned in the Papal States. So, in Rome, Handel performed primarily sacred music and secular cantatas. Dixit Dominus, which he composed at the age of 22, most likely at the behest of one of the City’s powerful cardinals, was such a piece. There is, unfortunately, no record of its premiere, so scholars can only speculate as to the occasion for the work. The brilliant and virtuosic setting, however, has remained a favourite, and in it, we can hear many examples of the great dramatic ‘effects’ which both Mozart and Beethoven so admired. Dixit Dominus is divided into nine movements, scored for a five-part chorus and five soloists. Handel conveys the power of the assured, martial text through contrasts between movements as well as within each movement. The piece also contains numerous examples of word painting, where the sound of the music imitates the imagery of the text.
“ Handel understands effect better than any of us — when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.”
The first movement begins energetically with vigorous cascading arpeggios in the strings, soon punctuated by the chorus’s assertive and triumphant repetitions of “dixit” (“[The Lord] said”). The subsequent lines of the psalm are trumpeted out in great banners of sound moving from voice to voice, and elaborated upon in rhythmic reiterations that rise higher and higher until they end in the forceful restatement of the opening word of the psalm: “Dixit.” No. II, Virgam virtutis, provides immediate contrast in a serene alto solo. In No III, Tecum principium, the simple melody in triple rhythm established by the opening strings, and then echoed and extended by the soprano soloist, conveys a reverent and secure faith in the Lord’s protection. No IV, Juravit Dominus, employs brilliant dramatic contrasts between the majestic opening phrase and the subsequent vigorous assertions “non, non!” In the following movement, No V, Tu es sacerdos, the descending phrase “according to the order of Melchisedech” tumbles from one voice to another in a seamless cascade echoing the eternal nature of the holy priesthood. In No VI, Dominus a dextris tuis, the sharp accents on “confregit” (“shall shatter”) embody the violence of the word. And the staccato, percussive “conquasabits” of No VII, Judicabit in nationibus, suggest the inexorable march of destruction that the Lord will unleash on the leaders of the nations being judged. Handel gives us a brief respite from these martial effects in the beautiful and mysterious No VIII, De torrente in via bibet, its fluid female solo voices shimmering above the males’ unison chanting. The dramatic energy returns in the jubilant No IX, Gloria Patri et Filio, with its intricate fugues, unflagging energy and leaping soprano octaves propelling the voices to their final triumphant “Amen”. Nina Anne Greeley
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Mark Chambers Musical Director
Since leaving the Royal Northern College of Music in 1992, Mark has performed all over the world with many leading groups and conductors. Solo work has included Bach St Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 (performances and recording for Deutsche Grammophon) with Paul McCreesh, and a recording with Nederlandse Bachvereniging of Beloved and Beautiful conducted by Jos van Veldhoven. Mark Chambers Musical Director
Operatic work has included many roles in Handel operas: Xerxes (Arsamenes), Agrippina (Narciso), Amadigi (Dardano), Tamerlano (Andronico), and Monteverdi Orfeo (Speranza) in a Jonathan Miller production conducted by Philip Pickett. He sang the soprano role of Pilpatoe in Carl Heinrich Graun’s Montezuma for Musikfestspiele Potsdam in the Schlosstheater in Sanssouci Palace. Mark has also worked at the Royal Opera House as understudy for the role of Snake Priestess in Harrison Birtwistle’s world premiere The Minotaur. Mark performs regularly with many of the world’s leading choirs and ensembles including Tenebrae, Gallicantus, The Monteverdi Choir, The Gabrieli Consort, Theatre of Voices and Gramophone award winning Binchois Consort. His many recordings include a solo recital of songs by Edmund Rubbra and Ralph Vaughan Williams with David Mason (piano), a series of discs with The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble with music from Italy (Accendo) Germany (A Hanseatic Festival) and England (Flower of Cities All). Mark took part in the live recording of J.S. Bach St. Matthew Passion with Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore from Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
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In the commercial world, Mark created the Voice of the Ood for the Dr Who series for BBC television with music by Murray Gold, and has been featured as a soloist in the electro acoustic score for Genus, a Paris Opera Ballet commission by Joby Talbot. Other film work includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Elizabeth The Golden Age. Mark currently lives in Buncrana, Co. Donegal and combines his singing career with teaching voice at the University of Birmingham, and as musical director of the young ensemble Sestina.
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Programme MONTEVERDI Dixit Dominus from Messa a quattro voci et Salmi (1650) VIVALDI The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) (1725) CONCERTO NO 1 IN E MAJOR, OP. 8, ‘SPRING’ Allegro - Largo e pianissimo sempre - Allegro pastorale CONCERTO NO 2 IN G MINOR, OP. 8, ‘SUMMER’ Allegro non molto - Adagio e piano - Presto e forte - Presto CONCERTO NO 3 IN F MAJOR, OP. 8, ‘AUTUMN’ Allegro - Adagio molto - Allegro CONCERTO NO 4 IN F MINOR, OP. 8, ‘WINTER’ Allegro non molto - Largo - Allegro INTERVAL MONTEVERDI Dixit Dominus from Selve morale et Spirituale (1640/1641) HANDEL Dixit Dominus (April 1707)
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The Four Seaso s [Allegro]
[Largo] [Allegro]
[Allegro non molto]
Spring Springtime is upon us. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes. Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven, then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more. On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.
[Adagio molto]
[Allegro]
Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring. Summer Under a hard Season, fired up by the Sun languishes man, languishes the flock, and burns the pine. We hear the cuckoo’s voice; then sweet songs of the turtledove and finch are heard. Soft breezes stir the air, but threatening, the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearing violent storms and his fate.
[Adagio]
The fear of lightning and fierce thunder robs his tired limbs of rest as gnats and flies buzz furiously around.
[Presto]
Alas, his fears were justified. The Heavens thunder and roar and with hail cuts the head off the wheat and damages the grain.
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[Allegro]
[Allegro non molto]
[Largo] [Allegro]
Autumn Celebrates the peasant, with songs and dances, the pleasure of a bountiful harvest. And fired up by Bacchus’s liquor, many end their revelry in sleep. Everyone is made to forget their cares and to sing and dance by the air which is tempered with pleasure and by the season that invites so many, many out of their sweetest slumber to fine enjoyment. The hunters emerge at the new dawn, and with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting. The beast flees and they follow its trail; terrified and tired of the great noise of guns and dogs, the beast, wounded, threatens languidly to flee, but harried, dies. Winter To tremble from cold in the icy snow, in the harsh breath of a horrid wind; to run, stamping one’s feet every moment, our teeth chattering in the extreme cold. Before the fire to pass peaceful, contented days while the rain outside pours down. We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously, for fear of tripping and falling. Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and, rising, hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up. We feel the chill north winds course through the home despite the locked and bolted doors... this is winter, which nonetheless brings its own delights.
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Dixit Dominus Text & translatio
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CHORUS: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum.
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CHORUS: The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
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ALTO SOLO: Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum.
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ALTO SOLO: The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion: be thou ruler, even in the midst among thine enemies.
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SOPRANO SOLO: Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero, ante luciferum, genui te.
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SOPRANO SOLO: In the day of thy power shall the people offer thee free-will offerings with an holy worship: the dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning.
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CHORUS: Juravit Dominus et non poenitebit eum:
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CHORUS: The Lord sware, and will not repent:
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CHORUS: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.
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CHORUS: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.
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CHORUS: Dominus a dextris tuis; confregit in die irae suae reges. Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas; conquassabit capita in terra multorum.
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CHORUS: The Lord upon thy right hand: shall wound even kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with the dead bodies: and smite in sunder the heads over diverse countries.
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SOPRANO DUET WITH MALE CHORUS: De torrente in via bibet; propterea exaltabit caput.
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SOPRANO DUET WITH MALE CHORUS: He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up his head.
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CHORUS: Gloria Patri et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper. Et in saecula saeculorum, Amen
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CHORUS: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. For ever and ever. Amen
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Johannes Leertouwer Guest soloist
Johannes Leertouwer is chief conductor and artistic director of the recently formed Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht. In September of 2009, he conducted this orchestra in an exciting and much praised debut which featured a programme of Stravinsky and Ravel, and he will continue to lead the NPU in a series of concerts and special projects in the coming years. The orchestra performs on period instruments as well as performing repertoire of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It also features an extensive educational programme, and therefore clearly carries the signature of its chief conductor. Johannes Leertouwer Guest soloist
Johannes Leertouwer studied conducting with David Porcelijn and the legendary Finnish professor Jorma Panula. He has worked as guest conductor with various orchestras, such as the Noord Nederlands Orkest, and the choir and orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society. He has also worked with orchestras in Belgium, France, Japan and Mexico. From 1989 to 2006 he was artistic director and conductor of the Netherlands Youth String Orchestra, and also conducted various projects at European conservatories in Paris, Antwerp, Leipzig and Amsterdam. After studying violin with Bouw Lemkes in Amsterdam and Josef Suk in Vienna and Prague, Johannes Leertouwer decided to specialise in historical performance practice. He worked as concertmaster and soloist with a number of international period instrument ensembles and orchestras, such as Anima Eterna and the orchestra and choir of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging. Together with his duo partners Menno van Delft (harpsichord) and Julian Reynolds (fortepiano), he has made a series of recordings on the Globe label which feature works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. With the Schönbrunn Ensemble, of which he has been a member since its founding in 1987, he performs both in the Netherlands and abroad. He has also recorded a series of CDs with this ensemble, the most recent of which contains works of Graf, Reicha and Ries. In 2006, the Mozart year, Johannes Leertouwer was the soloist and conductor in a highly acclaimed recording of the complete works for violin and orchestra by Mozart (Challenge).
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Since 1989 he has been a professor of violin at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He gives masterclasses and guest teaches in many countries both within and outside of Europe. As a conductor he is able to draw not only on his years of experience with the ensembles and orchestras that are leading the way in historical performance practice, but also on his experience in Romantic and twentiethcentury orchestral practice. Already during his violin studies he worked with world famous conductors such as Haitink, Abbado, Bernstein and Harnoncourt. Johannes Leertouwer is a conductor with a broad repertoire and an exceptionally acute awareness of style. From his specialisation, the Viennese Classics, he has built up his repertoire without limiting himself to any particular style period. Among the works he has conducted are Sibelius’s Symphony No 5, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; he has also conducted world premieres of works by Patricio Wang, Maurice Horsthuis, Frank Agsteribbe and others.
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Sesti a Since its foundation in 2011, Sestina has established itself as a leading exponent of early music in Northern Ireland and beyond. To date, the ensemble has performed all the major stage works of Henry Purcell (The Fairy Queen, King Arthur and Dido and Aeneas), and has collaborated with some of the finest specialist early music practitioners in the world: His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts, The Monteverdi String Band (in their 2015 production of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610), and the Dutch violinist Johannes Leertouwer. This year has seen a significant growth in Sestina’s activities, with regular performances throughout the year. In December 2016, the ensemble collaborated with Hillsborough Castle for the first time in a Georgian Family Christmas, providing informed period music for an immersive event taking place within the Castle, a project which culminated in a highly successful ‘Come and Sing’ Messiah event. Future plans include a concert of 21st century choral works in September, and the ensemble’s first recording in 2018. Sestina continues to seek out and nurture young talented musicians from all over Ireland and beyond, and auditions young singers regularly. Soprano I Soprano II Alto Tenor Bass Violin I Violin II Tenor Cornett Viola Cello Double Bass Keyboard
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Fiona Flynn, Rebecca Murphy, Emer Acton, Amber Dixon, Charlie Trepess Lisa Dawson, Catherine Dalzell, Catherine Donnelly, Sarah Rennix Laura Lamph, Beth Taylor, David Lee, Helena Cooke Matthew Keighley, Peter Harris, Caolan Keaveney, David Walsh Brian McAlea, Malachy Frame, Ben McKee, Aaron O’Hare Johannes Leertouwer (soloist and leader), Carolyn Hall, Colin Norrby Anita Vedres, Caitriona O'Mahony, Sarah Walsh Conor Hastings Marja Gaynor, Lisa Dowdall Viola de Hoog Malachy Robinson David Adams
Become a Friend Sestina is very grateful for the support given by its Friends, listed below. GOLD Anonymous (6) Mrs Irene Banham Colin Chambers Mr Alan Clarke Mr & Mrs Gerard Doherty Niall & Judith Downey Framework Health Ltd Hilary Headley Professor Desmond Hunter Irene Kingston Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle DL Dr. Kerrie Thompson & Irwin Thompson Mr. Timothy Thurston
SILVER Dr Paul Berry Miss Emma Gibbins Dr Jun Hong Dr Sarah McCleave Mr Peter McPolin Mr Philip O’Rawe
For as little as £5 per month, you can support Sestina’s vital work in nurturing local talent, and developing the next generation of Sestina singers and musicians. For further information, please enquire at the box office, or visit sestinamusic.com.
“ What better investment of a few pounds than to see a young musician with bags of talent being nurtured by Sestina and launched on a successful musical career? In years to come, you will know 'I was part of that!' ” Alan Clarke (Friend of Sestina)
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Coming up Choral Masterpieces of the 21st Century Programme to include David Lang Little Match Girl Passion, and works by Sir James Macmillan, Jan Sandstrom, Philip Moore and Roderick Williams Dublin
8th September 2017 St. Ann’s Church, Dawson Street
Belfast
9th September 2017 Ulster Museum
Belfast
Nine Readings and Carols 15th December 2017 Venue TBC
Belfast
‘Sing with Sestina’ – Handel’s Messiah 16th December 2017 Venue TBC
Derry-Londonderry, Belfast, Dublin Stay in touch Tickets
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Handel’s Theodora 6th-8th April 2018 Venues TBC To stay informed about future events, join our mailing list at the box office, visit sestinamusic.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Tickets for all events available online at sestinamusic.com
Friday 21 April st
7.30pm The Glassworks Derry-Londonderry
Saturday 22 April Sunday 23 April nd
7.30pm St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast
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8pm Christ Church Cathedral Dublin
“[Mein Freund ist Mein] had everything - musicality, theatricality, pathos, humour, passion, poise, commitment” Neil Martin Award-winning early music ensemble Sestina presents Music of the Grand Tour from Italy, to include the seminal Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, played by virtuoso Dutch violinist Johannes Leertouwer, the youthful early work of Georg Frederic Handel, Dixit Dominus, and settings of the same psalm text by Claudio Monteverdi, to mark his 450th anniversary. Join the young voices and players of Sestina and experience music from Italy performed on instruments of the period in stunning surroundings.
“From the moment I entered the venue my attention was commanded by Sestina – and willingly given. I only wish I could have experienced the whole concert again!” Eoghan Desmond