The Music of Ola Gjeilo at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Celebrate the music of Ola Gjeilo on March 16th at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center! Cameron F. LaBarr and Brian A. Schmidt guest conduct singers from around the world, with Ola (DCINY Composer-in-Residence) playing piano.

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) is the leading producer of dynamically charged musical excellence. With its unforgettable concert experiences in renowned venues, empowering educational programs, and its global community of artists and audiences, DCINY changes lives through the power of performance.

Find out more here.

New VOCES8 EP release: ‘Devotion’

After Silence is the celebration of VOCES8‘s 15th anniversary. Successive online EPs released in four chapters – Remembrance, Devotion, Redemption and Elemental – will be followed by After Silence, a double album with a beautifully produced booklet, illustrated with contemporary artworks and illuminating notes that add an extra dimension to the exploration of the themes.

Devotion has a dual aspect: religious observance or divine worship, on the one hand; the fact of being deeply attached to a beloved object, on the other. These sacred and secular passions provide inspiration for the transcendent harmonies displayed in the selection of works that make up the second part of After Silence, reflecting on love, death and the life of the spirit.

RepertoireA Boy and a Girl  Eric Whitacre
The Three Kings  Jonathan Dove
Lully, Lulla, Lullay  Philip Stopford
Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata  Claudio Monteverdi
Jesus bleibet meine Freude BWV 147  Johann Sebastian Bach

Pre-order or stream Devotion here!

VOCES8 Foundation wins at the Music & Drama Education Awards

The VOCES8 Foundation has been awarded the Classic FM Public Choice Award at the Music & Drama Education Awards, UK. It’s given to an individual or organisation which the general public feels has had the most significant positive impact on classical music education in the UK over the past year. This is a great tribute to Apollo5, VOCES8, Paul Smith, musician, composer, public speaker and all the Foundation team.

See all the categories and winners here.

Paul Smith’s “Winter Songs” at Curtis Institute of Music

Paul Smith, co-founder of VOCES8 and CEO of the VOCES8 Foundation, has written a new work called “Winter Songs” which gets its US premiere at the Curtis Institute of Music on February 23rd. Paul leads an interactive performance introducing tunes from around the world alongside soprano Olivia Smith and a string orchestra of Curtis musicians with “Winter Songs” in which audience and performers together explore music-making through singing and movement. Through his workshops, compositions and the VOCES8 Method, Paul’s work encourages confidence and creativity—with plenty of opportunities to make the music your own!

Winter Songs had its premiere at the VOCES8 Centre with Paul and Apollo5 earlier in the year.

Tickets and more info here.

Paul’s music is published with Edition Peters – check out his catalogue here.

Apollo5 USA Winter tour 2020

Vocal ensemble Apollo5 are on their latest USA tour! The 6-date trip takes them from San Francisco to Chicago:

20th February, 2020 Palo Alto, California

21st February, 2020 San Francisco, California

23rd February, 2020 Albuquerque, New Mexico

26th February, 2020 Chicago, Illinois

28th February, 2020 Kalamazoo, Michigan

1st March, 2020 Detroit, Michigan

The mixed repertoire programming includes The Skye Boat Song – arranged by Fraser Wilson, which you can see in a great new video here. The song is also included in the new album O Radiant Dawn.

Apollo5 is one of the ensembles making up the VOCES8 Foundation.

VOCES8 in USA for Winter Tour 2020

VOCES8 are in the USA again with a 16-date concert tour, with plenty of workshop activity too. Amongst events on this trip are an Instagram Live event with Eric Whitacre on Feb 16th at 1pm EST to coincide with the group’s video release of Eric’s ‘A Boy and a Girl’.

All the group’s tour dates are at www.voces8.com/tour

VOCES8 return to Moscow

VOCES8 are in Moscow again, this time to give a very special concert in collaboration with the Russian vocal ensemble Intrada.

Taking place in at St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Moscow as the opening concert of the OPERA APRIORI 7th International Festival of vocal music, the concert of mixed repertoire features 3 premieres; there are World Premieres by Ivan Moody and Russian Premieres by Alexander Levine and Thomas Tallis – whose monumental and famous 40-part motet Spem in Alium has had to wait 550 years to be heard in Russia!

Tickets are available here.

“Night” piano album released

Ola Gjeilo’s new chart-topping album ‘Night’, peaceful piano music inspired by the city at night, is now available on the Decca Classics label. The entire album is on YouTube, but there are alternative listening options here.

Sheet music of the tracks on the album will be available from Chester Music soon, where Ola joins other composers in this genre of piano music including Einaudi, Glass and Nyman.

Follow Ola on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ola.gjeilo/

VOCES8 perform Beethoven at La Folle Journée

VOCES8 and Paul Smith are once again in Nantes, France, for the annual music festival La Folle Journée which is led by René Martin, Directeur Artistique.

This year’s festival theme celebrates the life and work of Beethoven, who was born 250 years ago. The group is performing new arrangements and transcriptions of some of Beethoven’s best loved works, in a programme with pianist James Sherlock. Titles include works arranged by Jim Clements, and Joshua Pacey.

Paul Smith will be leading a large-scale concert with title ‘After silence: Beethoven and Beyond’. A large choir of children and adults drawn across the Nantes region will come together with VOCES8 for a vibrant tribute to Beethoven. This is a new immersive and interactive experience in a programme of works by Beethoven, traditional songs and creations inspired by his music. It includes ‘A Moonlighting Sonata’, for piano and choirs, newly arranged by Paul Smith with Christopher Moore and Katie Jeffries-Harris.

“The Legacy of Genius : Beethoven 250”Beethoven : Fantaisie pour piano, chœur et orchestre opus 80, finaleBeethoven : Elegischer Gesang opus 118Beethoven : Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt opus 112Beethoven/Pacey : Lochnagar WoO 156Beethoven : Farewell bliss WoO 152Beethoven : Enchantress farewell opus 108Clements : Beethoven rearranged

The music will be published by Edition Peters in the coming weeks.

At the start of May the ensemble will be in Tokyo, Japan with La Folle Journée repeating the programme.

Justin Doyle conducts the Swedish Radio Choir

Justin Doyle is in Sweden for his first conducting engagement with the Swedish Radio Choir.  The programme title is “Voices on Persecution and Flight” in which Justin and the Choir take the audience on a musical journey with stories about flight and homelessness. Human history has experienced recurring periods of conflict, oppression and alienation. The première performance of Lebanese composer Zad Moultaka’s “Mon ami le vent” based on a poem by Renée Vivien is one of many highlights of this powerful concert.

For more than 90 years the Swedish Radio Choir has been a steward of the Swedish a cappella tradition and the legendary choral sound created by Eric Ericson.  It also presents enterprising and culturally diverse repertoire, from early music to contemporary works.

More details about the concert are here.