SATURDAY 31 MAY 2025
NEW AUDITORIUM, GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL
THE GSA CHOIR SUMMER CONCERT 2025
THE GSA CHOIR SUMMER CONCERT
Saturday 31 May 2025
New Auditorium, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
The Glasgow School of Art Choir
Jamie Sansbury Conductor
Edward Cohen Accompanist
O Radiant Dawn
James MacMillan, lyrics by anon
The Unspoken + Jay Capperauld, lyrics by Edwin Morgan
A Tender Shoot
Kerensa Briggs, lyrics by Otto Goldschmidt
(translated by William Batholomew)
When You Go +
Harry Baines, lyrics by Edwin Morgan
Soloist: Matthew Anderson
Peace I Leave With You
Amy Beach, lyrics by anon.
Interval of 20 minutes
Totus Tuus
Henryk Górecki, lyrics by Maria Boguslawska
Sure on this Shining Night
Samuel Barber, lyrics by James Agee
The Burning Ladder * ^
Sarah Rimkus, lyrics by Dana Gioia
The Stars Now Rearrange Themselves * ^
Thomas LaVoy, lyrics by Dana Gioia
Soloist: Kim Long
Irish Blessing
Traditional, arr. Bob Chilcott
* European premiere
+ GSA Choir commission
^ GSA Choir co-commission
Good evening, everyone, and welcome.
Tonight’s concert is something quite special, featuring four pieces commissioned by the GSA Choir in recent years and showcasing the work of two renowned poets.
The work of American poet, Dana Gioia, is showcased in two works –both receiving their European premieres this evening – The Stars Now Rearrange Themselves and The Burning Ladder, composed by American composers Thomas LaVoy and Sarah Rimkus respectively.
Speaking about his poems Dana says, “Unlike most poets, I think of my verse in musical and auditory terms, so my sensibility is similar to a musician’s.” Dana’s poems have been set to music by numerous composers, and we were delighted to co-commission Sarah and Thomas to create these new works.
Sarah says, “Both Thomas and I are both attracted to the musicality of Dana’s work, always featuring a keen sense of rhythm and often using particular metres, rhyme schemes or forms. In some ways, it is quite traditional. However, his poems never feel old or imitative in any way – the imagery and themes and the way these are coupled with his language are always contemporary and fresh.”
The Burning Ladder explores the biblical scene featured in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 28, when Jacob has a dream of a stairway ‘resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on to it.’
The Stars Now Rearrange Themselves is about a shift in one’s perceptions; an exploration of how small details and minute changes in life – as opposed to major realignments of the stars – can make a profound impact on the way we view the world. Thomas says, “The work translates Gioia’s muted imagery and symbolism into an otherworldly, dream-like musical atmosphere saturated with harmonic ambiguity.”
In the first half of this evening’s concert, we showcase the work of two Scottish composers, Harry Baines and Jay Capperauld, who have both set love poems by one of Scotland’s greatest poets, Edwin Morgan.
The choir commissioned Jay in 2017 to set the final stanzas of Morgan’s The Unspoken. Writing about the work then, Jay explained, “The Unspoken is essentially a love song for everyone in that, although the original poem was written in reflection of Edwin Morgan’s gay relationships, the text does not hint at any gendered characters which, for me, provides an inclusivity and all-encompassing (and anonymous) expression of love.”
Alongside The Unspoken you will hear the choir’s latest commission –premiered in May 2024 – composed by Harry Baines; When You Go, a setting of another Morgan poem. The work is not only a beautiful setting of the heartbreaking text, but one which encompasses much that makes contemporary choral music so powerful. As you listen to the close harmonies and prolonged chord sequences the very sound seems to shimmer as nearly 130 people sing some of the most intimate and tender of Morgan’s poetry.
I hope you enjoy these four special works, indeed all of tonight’s programme. As always, thank you for supporting the GSA Choir and joining us for this performance.
Jamie Sansbury Musical Director
THE GSA CHOIR
William Aikman
Allie Alcala
Jenny Alexander
Grace Allan
Alison Anderson
Gavin Anderson
Matthew Anderson
Sandi Anderson
Madeleine Andrews
Lucy Askew
Eileen Baird
Hannah Baldwin
Margaret Black
Sandra Black
Jane Boron
Claire Bradley
Maggie Broadley
Odette Brown
Teresa Brown
Richard Brunner
Helena Burgoyne
Michele Burman
Frances Cairney
Marion Caldwell
Abby Carter
Douglas Chappelle
Natasha Clarke
Teresa Corcoran
Sarah Corr
Jenny Crawford
Felicity Creamer
Selma Crecente
Andrew Crighton
Kirstie Cronin
Fraser Dalziel
Eileen Edgar
Caroline Elder
Matthew Evans
Alice Fayaud
Nicola Ferguson
Vickie Ferrier
Jane Flannagan
Anne Forrest
Ann-Marie Fry
Dominic Fry
Catriona Futter
Judith Gaertner
Kyoko Galloway
Diane Gardner
Vicky Gibbons
Paul Ginsberg
Freddie Grimshaw
Laura Haag
Rosie Hall
Alison Harley
Kate Hollands
Charlotte Howard
Kate Hull
Vanessa Johnson
Catherine Jury
Karen Kalkreuter
Greeshma Karoth
Lindsay Kellock
Franki Kelly
Brian Kiernan
Susan Langridge
Della Lansley
Alison Lawson
Elizabeth Leemann
Alison Lefroy Brooks
Tilly Lewis
Pamela Lo
Kim Long
Ingrid Lonning
Catherine Macdiarmid
Maggie Macdonald
Catriona MacGregor
Fiona MacGregor
Elizabeth Mackin
Mo Macleod
Catherine Macnaughton
Fiona MacNeill
Bernard McCabe
Molly McKeagney
Lyn McLaughlin
Anna-Marie Meechan
Robert Meechan
Laura Michael
Ricardo Sarkawi Montalvo Sa’aid
Catherine Mooney
David Morrant
Marta Moskal
Maria Mulvenna
Nancy Murphy
Elizabeth O’Hare
Oleksandra Oliinyk
Huriye Ozdemir
Felicity Parsons
Carol Proctor
Emma Regincos Marti
Marion Robb
Lesley Ross
Mabel Ann Santhosh
Alison Scales
Anne Shirlaw
Nicola Shirlaw
Bonnie Slade
Maureen Stevens
Kevin Stevenson
Alexandra Stirling
Gemma Swallow
Ian Thomson
Lesley Thomson
Catherine Vost
Bechaela Walker
Aileen Walker
Anne Walker
Richard Walker
Tricia Walker
Siobhan Walsh
Donald Weir
Isabel Westlake
Matthew Williamson
Maggie Wilson
Celebrate Christmas with the GSA Choir!
Once again, we will be kicking off the festive celebrations by performing our ever-popular, festive concerts in one of Glasgow’s finest choral venues; the New Auditorium at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Join us for a mix of classical and contemporary choral works, as well as some show-stopping festive medleys containing well-loved standards from the golden age of Christmas.
The concerts will be held on Saturday 13 December 2025. Due to overwhelming demand for tickets in previous years there will be a matinee performance at 3.00pm in addition to the evening performance at 7.30pm.
Tickets will be available to purchase in October from www.gsachoir.com
