Evento

CONSOLO - the reimagined requiem: the balm for sorrow

The word requiem comes from the Latin 'requies,' meaning rest, and it is among the opening words of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. In a secular context, the word refers to an act of remembrance after loss. In CONSOLO, The Esoterics will feature new choral works that explore the comfort and healing that are found in this musical act of remembrance.

As the centerpiece of this autumn concert, The Esoterics will recognize the winners of last year's POLYPHONOS competition. The ensemble will perform the following world premieres: "Forever hurts" (setting two poems of loss by Karin Boye and Paul Laurence Dunbar) by Anna-Karin Klockar from Falun, Sweden; "Uprooted" (setting texts from interviews with two local Japanese-American women who were sent to internment camps during WWII) by Sarah Rimkus of Aberdeen, Scotland (via Bainbridge Island); and "Sa pampang [Along the shore]" (recounting a mothers loss of her entire family in the catastrophic typhoon Haiyan in 2013) by Ily Matthew Maniano from Manila. The ensemble is pleased that Anna-Karin, Sarah, and Ily will all be joining us for the concert weekend, to meet our audience and discuss their works.

Oscar Wilde's "Requiescat" was written in remembrance of his sister Isola, who died at the tender age of ten. The Esoterics will perform two different settings of this poem, by Eric Barnum (2007) and Rodney Sharman (2015). The ensemble will also reprise Kevin Puts' devastatingly beautiful setting of Emily Brontës poem, "At castle wood," a movement from his 2011 choral cycle, "To touch the sky." Finally, The Esoterics will present the Pacific Northwest premiere of Dale Trumbore's own secular requiem, "How to go on," a 2017 work for chorus and solo voices that finds beauty, catharsis, and solace in the words of three living poets: Barbara Crooker, Amy Fleury, and Laura Foley. Dale, who won our POLYPHONOS competition in 2014, will be joining us from Los Angeles for the concert weekend as well.

Please join us for this magnificent concert of remembrance and healing.