Following a cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19, the world premiere of Vespers for Mother Earth by Ross Edwards will take place this month. In celebration of its 40th Anniversary, the Song Company will be joined by Ensemble Offspring and others, as Roland Peelman conducts the Edwards work as the centrepiece of the concert.
“Having always been strongly influenced by the sounds of nature, I conceived the new work as a response to our present-day ecological crisis, as well as Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610), Vespers for the Blessed Virgin. Full of symbols of the day and night, ranging from the manifest to the subliminal, it may be seen as a swansong for humankind or the hope of a new beginning – the renewal of an eternal cycle which would restore the feminine (night) principle after an often devastating ascendancy of the masculine (day).”
Ross Edwards
Vespers for Mother Earth is divided into seven major sections and scored for solo soprano and eight voices with the unusual instrumental combination of didgeridoo, shakuhachi, flute, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, harp, percussion, cello and pipa.
Also on the program, is Stuart Greenbaum’s A Cicada in the Blackbird's Beak, from Upon the Dark Water (1991).
Upon the Dark Water, a set of three pieces, was commissioned and premiered by The Song Company and is dedicated to Roland Peelman. The piece has also enjoyed performances in the United Kingdom (Arcadian Singers) and the United States (Cantori New York).
23 June
City Recital Hall
2 Angel Place, Sydney, NSW
Australia
