Tenebrae 2017 Tour | Footsteps by Owain Park & Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot
28th March 2017
© Sim Canetty-Clarke
The award-winning choir, founded and directed by Nigel Short, will then tour Footsteps throughout the UK, including dates at The Bath Festival, St Davids Cathedral Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Voices of London Festival, Lammermuir Festival, City of Derry International Choir Festival and Canterbury Festival. At each performance Tenebrae will be joined by local community and youth choirs to sing this new seventeen-minute work for unaccompanied mixed choirs. Educational resources are available online for participants, comprising an online score, guide tracks and further reading materials.
The 2017 Tenebrae tour programme also includes Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot. This was the first major work commissioned by the choir in 2005, described in The Times as 'an evocative odyssey' and in Choir & Organ as 'little short of a musical miracle in itself'. It's a unique and dramatic piece scored for seventeen voices, setting a text by Robert Dickinson, exploring stages of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.
Footsteps
Owain Park comments: 'I was delighted to be asked to write a piece for Tenebrae to be performed alongside Path of Miracles. Their recording of Joby’s piece is one of my absolute favourites; I remember being bowled over by the instrumental quality of the opening and the combination of ancient chant with the composer’s own modern voice. Footsteps contains many complementary themes, namely travel, solitude and journeying. The structure of the work cycles the seasons through the view of a lonely traveller who is constantly being moved on before being allowed to settle, finding comfort in the sky and stars above.'
Read more about Park | View the score
Path of Miracles
Joby Talbot says: 'It’s been twelve years since Tenebrae brought Path of Miracles to life for the first time and, though I’ve had many wonderful and exciting compositional adventures since then, I can honestly say that nothing has come close to the experience of hearing this extraordinary choir perform my music. I say ‘my music’ but really it’s their music now…and the music of all the other choirs and audiences around the world who have performed and listened to the piece.'
Read more about Talbot | View the score
Nigel Short, Director of Tenebrae comments: 'This is a significant time for Tenebrae on the brink of the group’s anniversary tour. It’s been twelve years since we last performed Path of Miracles and we are thrilled to be touring it alongside Owain Park’s new work which will be premiered in Hull, the 2017 UK City of Culture. Artistic excellence and dramatic performances have always been at the heart of what we do. Wherever possible, Tenebrae perform music from memory, by candlelight and using the spatial opportunities afforded by the venue to create an immersive audience experience. For the first time this year, we will be able to share our approach with community and youth choirs across Britain.'
UK Tour Dates
Thursday May 18Hull: UK City of Culture 2017Holy Trinity Church, Hullwith members of from City of Hull Youth Choir, Hull Choral Union and Holy Trinity Church ChoirIncludes pre-concert talk with Nigel Short and Owain Park
Wednesday May 24The Bath FestivalBath Abbeywith Wells Cathedral School Chamber Choir
Friday June 2St Davids Cathedral FestivalSt Davids Cathedralwith St Davids Cathedral Choir
Friday July 7 Voices of London FestivalSt Bartholomew-the-Great, Londonwith London Youth Chamber Choir and The Music Centres LondonIncludes pre-concert talk with Nigel Short and Joby Talbot, led by Kathryn McDowell
Wednesday July 12 Cheltenham Music FestivalTewkesbury Abbeywith Cheltenham Youth Chamber Choir
Friday July 28 Cambridge Summer Music FestivalTrinity College Chapel, Cambridgewith Children’s Choirs of St. John the Divine, Kennington
Friday September 15Exeter Cathedral, Exeterwith Antiphon Chamber Choir
Saturday September 16 Truro Cathedralwith choristers of Truro Cathedral Choir
Saturday September 23 Lammermuir Festival St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington with National Youth Choirs of Scotland
Friday October 27City of Derry International Choir Festival St Columb's Hall, Derry, Northern Ireland
Saturday October 28 Canterbury Festival Canterbury Cathedral
This project is supported by: Arts Council England, Bell Music, Britten–Pears Foundation, Fidelio Charitable Trust, Hull City Council, Leslie Ferrar CVO, The Music Sales Group, PRS for Music Foundation, Santander Foundation Discovery Grant, St Stephen’s Hull.
Path of Miracles & Footsteps on CD
The Fellows of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain joined Tenebrae to record Footsteps. A new CD (above) will be released on Signum Records on April 21 including the original Path of Miracles audio from 2005.
Pre-order the CD | View the trailer
Online Scores & Educational Resources
Scores for Footsteps and Path of Miracles are available to view online:
Footsteps by Owain Park
Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot
Educational Resources
