The Music for People project is now just under two weeks away, and promises great things. Once again we are teaming up with EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, and this project will combine three works by Pärt with three newly commissioned compositions.

Arvo Pärt has been a real focal point of our repertoire over the last year, and we will be performing Fratres and Summa along with the vocal masterpiece Stabat Mater. It is extremely exciting for us, as instrumentalists, to work with singers on Arvo Pärt’s music. I’ve always considered him an expert at combing textures, and the Stabat Mater brings strings and voices together with delicious originality. The interaction between voice and instrument is so carefully judged that the boundaries become blurred: voices creep into string textures, and vice versa, the strings embody personal, vocal qualities through the minimality of the scoring, and strings double vocal lines at the peaks and depths of their range to create new aural colours. These blurring techniques, in turn, make moments of unaccompanied playing or singing, exceptionally striking – and bringing all this this together with singers is an inspiring creative process.

In addition to Pärt, we will also be performing three fantastic new works. James Weeks’ Inscription is an expansive and thought-provoking work in Portugese, whilst the other two works are as riotous as Weeks’ is meditative. Andrew Hamilton’s right and wrong contains a vast sound pallet of buzzing, ringing, waltzing and even shouting, and Philip Venables’ ‘numbers  76-80 : tristan und isolde’ contains a remarkable auralisation of swarming wasps.

These three new pieces were commissioned by Endymion, EXAUDI  and SOUND  Festival, Aberdeen, whose musical and financial support has been most valuable. We are also extremely grateful to the Leche Trust, the Marina Kleinwort Trust, and the Golden Bottle Trust, all of whom have generously funded this event.

The project takes place on November 12th, 7.30pm, at the SOUND Festival in Aberdeen. Tickets can be booked here, and are just £10 – £8  for concessions or a remarkable £2 for students. We look forward to seeing you there!