Date(s) - 18/03/2023
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
The City of Oxford Choir
Duncan Aspden, Conductor
Will perform Zoë’s choral piece “Karakia” – setting of a Maori Prayer
Venue: St Michael at the North Gate, Cornmarket Street, Oxford OX1 3EY
Tickets/info here
For this concert we take our inspiration from the opening lines of Philip Larkin’s 1964 poem ‘Days’. Our programme takes us on a musical journey through the day, beginning with Toivo Kuula’s ode to the dawn, At Sunrise, and ending with Stephen Paulus’ luscious benediction, The day is done. In between we’ll explore the days where we live through a sequence of music celebrating the best of creative idleness: eating and drinking, roaming, laughing and loving.
A highlight of the program is Brahms Op. 92, a quartet of partsongs featuring the beguiling and romantic O schöne Nacht! (O beautiful night!) and Abendlied (Evensong). We will also feature Hymne au Soleil (Hymn to the Sun), Soir sur la Plaine (Evening on the Plain) by French composer Lili Boulanger, the first woman to win the Prix de Rome (which she did at the age of nineteen) and Zoë Martlew‘s beautiful Karakia (Maori Prayer). We’ll round out our songs of the day with pieces by Gabriel Jackson, Kodaly, Saint Saens and many more.
Join the City of Oxford Choir and the incomparable Anna Markland on piano for this thoughtful musical exploration of what days are for…