Irish Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland perform David Fennessy's 'Blood' and Mozart Requiem

Programme

David Fennessy: Blood
- interval -
Mozart: Requiem K.626

Featuring

Irish Chamber Orchestra
Thomas Zehetmair: Conductor
Katherine Hunka: Violin solo
Chamber Choir Ireland: Voices
Ailish Tynan: Soprano
Carolyn Holt: Mezzo Soprano
Robin Tritschler: Tenor
Padraic Rowan: Bass

Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen, immerse yourself in the world premiere of 'Blood' which David Fennessy suggests is “something visceral, tangible and flowing”. In this concertante for violin, voices and orchestra, explore how Katherine Hunka's violin conveys the emotional world of the text as sung while the orchestra acts as a resonating chamber for everything in between.

For some years, I knew that if I ever got the opportunity to write a concertante work for violin, the solo instrument would have to be complemented by voices in the orchestra and also, it would have to be called Blood. The word suggests something visceral, tangible, flowing. The conventional relationship between the violin and the human voice almost goes without saying but in Blood, I wanted the solo instrument to convey the emotional, inner world of the text which the voices would sing. The spine of the music comes from a short melody for solo voice written by the 12th century composer, poet and mystic Hildegard of Bingen which I slowed down in the computer until every syllable became stretched and abstracted, the consonants erased and replaced with eerie noises and the vowels elongated until they became an outpouring of pure sound, gradually but continually morphing. The orchestra acts as a kind of resonating chamber for everything produced by the violin and voices.

In Blood the character of the music played by the solo violin is neither heroic nor virtuosic in a conventional sense, but rather it seeks to express something perhaps just beyond its grasp - something not easily articulated without some resistance. I began working on the piece in the autumn of 2023, and there is no doubt that the violence and aggression in the world outside had an impact on its composition."
 

- David Fennessy

Mozart’s unfinished, yet emotionally charged Requiem was composed on the edge of consciousness. Be profoundly moved by this epic which brims with drama, hope and redemption. Feel how Mozart grapples with the mystery of death willing his final creation into life with his last breaths – experience the heartache and the genius.

Tickets

€15/30 plus booking fee. Click here to book tickets.

This concert will be recorded for future broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm.

Mozart Requiem is part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.