RE:voicing

Details

As a point of departure for the season’s thematic journey, we consider the nature of voices – in both the literal and musical sense, and in the larger scope of historical interchange – in one of the city’s most resonant and awe-inspiring spaces for listening to instrumental and vocal music. A stirring solo organ meditation by Messiaen contemplates the eternity of celestial choirs, while a chamber trio by Chinary Ung creates spirals of sonic luminosity. The Bay Area premiere of Raven Chacon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Voiceless Mass (2021) offers a moving statement that "considers the spaces in which we gather, the history of access of these spaces, and the land upon which these buildings sit." Despite the title’s reference to the liturgical Mass, "the piece contains no audible singing voices, instead using the openness of a large space to intone the constricted intervals of wind and string instruments. In exploiting the architecture of the cathedral, Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power." Finally, George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children features both soprano and child soprano in an exploration of texts by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, framing the child-like impulse that all share in the life-long search for a voice, and the question of purpose once it is found.

Guest Artist: Tonia D’Amelio, soprano

Program:

• Olivier Messiaen – Apparition de l’Église éternelle (1932)
• Chinary Ung – Luminous Spirals (1997)
• Raven Chacon – Voiceless Mass (2021) (Bay Area premiere)

intermission

• George Crumb – Ancient Voices of Children (1970)