Posts Tagged Choir

The Wren-King

The Wren-King

Madrigirls is a fantastic women’s choir in Glasgow, founded and directed by Katy Lavinia Cooper, and really enjoyed having the opportunity to write a new piece for their 2020 Advent Concert, to help celebrate their 20th anniversary. Due to covid the concert couldn’t take place in person, but I am so pleased that they were able to find a beautiful way to present it online! (You should really watch the whole thing, but if you are looking for my piece specifically, it’s at 1:02:40ish.)

Programme note:

My Wren-King uses lyrics from the St Stephen’s Day tradition of hunting the wren, which is celebrated in various different ways in Ireland, the UK and other Celtic-influenced parts of Europe, and even in some parts of Canada, including Nova Scotia where I am from (though I have never seen it). Traditionally people would kill a wren and bring it from door to door asking for change, though people now use toy wrens, fortunately! There are a variety of theories about the origin of the custom, but it is thought to date from pre-Christian times, or to be a Christianization of Celtic and/or Norse
customs, perhaps replacing a solstice sacrifice. I myself come from a mixed religious background, and although I’m an enthusiastic celebrator of Christmas, I’m not Christian: I thus find myself particularly interested in these customs of somewhat mysterious, mixed origins, associated with the
celebration of Christmas, but not actually connected to the Christmas story itself. I feel a further connection with wren mythology because many folk stories that are told about the wren in Europe have been transposed onto one of my favourite birds, the hermit thrush, when told in North America.

Composer in the Tabloids

Composer in the Tabloids

The Sunday Mail/Daily Record did a story about my research on seal vocalizations! Thank you Sunday Mail and Heather Greenaway for the lovely coverage of my work!

My piece Seal Songs, based on the Selkie legend, was originally written for the Voice Factory Youth Choir and the Paragon Ensemble, conducted by Mark Evans, and premiered in Glasgow and Skye in 2011. Seal Songs received its US premiere by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Trinity Youth Chorus in June, 2017. I’m currently conducting research on seal vocalizations with Prof Vincent Janik and Alex Carroll at St Andrews University, and will be writing a new piece based on my research, to be performed by the St Andrews New Music Ensemble, conducted by Bede Williams, in February 2018.

San Francisco Girls Chorus Performs US Premiere of Seal Songs

San Francisco Girls Chorus Performs US Premiere of Seal Songs

The San Francisco Girls Chorus and Trinity Youth Chorus are performing the US premiere of Seal Songs on June 4 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. This is really exciting for me, not only because they are fantastic choirs, but because I sang in SFGC for a year when I was 13 (my family was on sabbatical in Palo Alto), and it was such a wonderful and formative musical experience for me. It’s always been a dream of mine to have something performed by them! Here’s a little letter I wrote to the choristers, as part of their ongoing Postcards series.