This Shining Night - Belfast Philharmonic Choir

7:45pm, Sat, 19 Oct 2024

  • Event Details
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  • Type of event: Performance
    Start time: 7:45pm
    Duration: 75 minutes
    External website related to this event: www.drumbocarryduff.ie/
    Venue: Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Knockbracken Drive, Carryduff, BT8 8EX
    Description: This Shining Night

    Join us for a spectacular evening as we launch our 150th anniversary season with a concert inspired by light, outer space and the night sky!

    We invite you to experience the power of voices that have resonated through the heart of Belfast for 150 years and highlights will include:

    - James Whitbourn's The Seven Heavens (commissioned for the 140th anniversary)

    James Whitbourn was an internationally-renowned composer recognised by The Observer as “a truly original communicator in modern British choral music”. A graduate of Magdalen College, University of Oxford, his career in music began in the BBC, for whom he has worked as composer, conductor, producer and presenter. His choral works have been performed in many prestigious venues, and have been presented on acclaimed recordings, including six complete discs of his choral music.

    - Howard Skempton's He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (commissioned for the 125th anniversary)

    Howard Skempton is a professional composer whose works have been published by Oxford University Press since 1994.  His best known work is "Lento" (1990), commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was performed at 2010 BBC Proms. The Oxford University Press website includes discography, a biography and details of recent compositions.  He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.  In July 2018, Howard received an honorary award (Doctor of Music) from Bath Spa University. Howard has continued to compose choral music, including an Advent antiphon for Merton College Oxford and anthems for Chester and Wells Cathedrals. 

    - Movements from Morten Lauridsen's Nocturnes

    Morten Lauridsen is an American composer and conductor of Danish descent. He has been professor of composition at the University of Southern California for over 40 years and was awarded the prestigious US ‘National Medal of Arts’ in 2007. His compositions include seven song-cycles, which have become cherished repertoire for choirs the world over. His setting of O Magnum Mysterium is now one of the most frequently performed Christmas choral compositions written during the past 30 years.

    - Movements from Elaine Hagenberg's Illuminare

    Elaine Hagenberg is an American composer whose music “soars with eloquence and ingenuity” (ACDA Choral Journal). Her compositions are performed worldwide and frequently featured at American Choral Directors Association conferences, All-State festivals, Carnegie Hall, and other distinguished international concert halls throughout Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia. In addition to composing full-time, Elaine actively engages in bringing her music to life as the guest artist and featured clinician for professional conferences and festivals both in the U.S. and abroad as a composer, conductor, and accompanist of her work.

    Come celebrate our exciting anniversary with us as we embark on another year of inspiring performances!

    Thanks to Fr Michael Sheehan and the congregation at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church for their support of this event.