St Cecilia 2018
Each year Josie and the Emeralds celebrate St Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music, with music that was performed on St Cecilia’s Day in late 17th Century London, one of the most eagerly anticipated music days of the year. Henry Purcell, John Blow and Giovanni Battista Draghi were renowned for the “excesses of pleasure” they created for this “glorious day” where St Cecilia is cast as the “Divine Cecilia,…Our art’s inspirer, Music’s patroness”. This program includes excerpts from these Odes to St Cecilia, madrigals and consorts from the English Renaissance and music that pays homage to refugees in Australia’s offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.
Sunday 18th November 3:00 PM
Glebe Town Hall 160 St John’s Rd Glebe
Glebe Music Festival
$35/$25
Sunday 7 October 2018 2:00 PM
SACRED SPACES Sisters Chapel
30 Queen St Singleton Hunter Valley NSW
$35 (adult) and $5 (school student) and include a complimentary Convent-made afternoon tea. Available at www.trybooking.com/TJRX and at the door from 1.30pm.
Arrive from 1.30pm to choose your preferred seat. If you have a group of 8 or more, there is a $5 discount on each ticket – please contact the Sacred Spaces office directly. This is only for prebooked tickets (not at the door).
Music in this stillness
Wednesdays 11, 18, 25 April, 2 & 9 May
Overview
Music in this stillness is a series of 5 concerts inspired by The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Late medieval and early Renaissance music by Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Du Fay and Gilles Binchois features, along with premieres of new Australian compositions by Moya Henderson, Alice Chance, Bree van Reyk, Victoria Pham, Amanda Cole, Lyle Chan and Brooke Green.
Performers include: Bree van Reyk, organetto; Josie Ryan and Amy Moore, sopranos; Elizabeth Rumsey, viola d’arco; Brooke Green, vielle, treble viol; Fiona Ziegler, Catherine Upex and Alice Chance, viols.
The contemporary compositions incorporate the little-known medieval instrument, the organetto or portative organ which is depicted in the tapestry representing the sense of hearing. With only 20 keys, this tiny instrument produces an enchanting sound. Made in the 1980s by Ronald Sharp, builder of the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, it has been generously loaned by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences for this project.
Contemporary compositions
Moya Henderson: The hem of her dress, a fanfare for solo organetto
Mofa Henderson: O dieses ist das Tier das es nicht gibt for soprano, organetto, treble and bass viols
Alice Chance: Ça va bien, a happy blues for soprano, organetto, treble and bass viols. Here, the composer depicts The Lady as self-sufficient and quite content, luxuriating in her paradise garden.
Victoria Pham: A Aurore, for soprano, organetto, viola d’arco and bass viol. Dedicated to George Sand whose words “shaped with colour and woven with threads of The Lady and The Unicorn’s burgundy and amber” inspired the music for this work.
Brooke Green: Le Miroir à La Licorne (The Mirror to The Unicorn) for soprano, organetto, and vielle: a palindrome that incorporates the enigmatic phrase that appears in the last tapestry, Mon seul desir (here translated as My sole desire).
Amanda Cole: Loom Patterns Portative Organ Solo with electronics
Lyle Chan Wandtepicche: Composed for narrator and portatif organ, Lyle Chan’s Wandteppiche (“wall tapestries”) is an English-language adaptation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s vivid descriptions of La Dame à la Licorne. The narrator evokes the six panels for a lover who cannot be there, the words carried on music that they both remember. The same Rilke words are on the walls of the walkway greeting viewers as they enter the AGNSW’s tapestry room.
Bree van Reyk: The Sharp Organetto
Curated by Jason Catlett and Brooke Green, this project is made possible by an anonymous donation to the Art Gallery Foundation in memory of Stephen Alward, a patron of the visual arts and music.
Music in this stillness: Concert 5
Wednesday 9 May 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Art Gallery of NSW: Foyer
Josie Ryan, soprano
Brooke Green, vielle, treble viol (Music Director)
Catherine Upex, tenor/ bass viol,
with guest artist:
Bree van Reyk, organetto
New works for organetto and Josie and the Emeralds by contemporary Australian composers
Early music from the time of the tapestries
Moya Henderson: O dieses ist das Tier das es nicht gibt (World Premiere) for soprano, treble and bass viols, organetto
Bree van Reyk: New Work (World Premiere)
Amanda Cole: New Work for organetto and electronics (World Premiere)
Lyle Chan: Wandteppiche for organetto and speaker (Public Premiere)
Moya Henderson: The Hem of her Dress, organetto solo
Alice Chance: Ça va bien, for soprano, treble and bass viols, organetto
Brooke Green: Le Miroir à La Licorne for soprano, vielle, organetto
Guillaume de Machaut, Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Gilles Binchois.
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Music in this stillness: Concert 4
Wednesday 2 May 7:45pm – 8:45pm
The Intercontinental, Sydney: Cortile
Corner: Macquarie and Bridge Sts
Free event!
Amy Moore, soprano
Brooke Green, treble viol, (Music Director)
Laura Vaughan, tenor viol
Catherine Upex, bass viol,
Early Music associated with The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries
In music from medieval and Renaissance Europe, The Lady was idealised in various ways . This program includes a Chanson Royale by Guillaume de Machaut, beautiful motets by Guillaume Dufay and Tromboncino and a rondeau by Gilles Binchois with an intriguingly close connection to the sixth tapestry: ‘Mon seul et souverain desir’. There is also one of the most famous early Renaissance pavanes: Belle qui tiens ma vie by the Catholic priest and dance theorist Thoinot Arbeau.
