Summer School 2021
in association with
Photo taken in Sweden
TO JOIN A WEEK ON ITS OWN PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
In Summer 2020, The Self-Isolation Choir held a hugely successful SUMMER SCHOOL where the choir learned, recorded and performed works by John Rutter, Vivaldi, Grieg and Patrick Hawes. So we repeat the formula for 2021 and this year we have 4 weeks of music to enjoy. We invite you to learn these works LIVE online from home, then record your own voice and submit this to us. We shall then combine all these audio voices to create the choir and play this back to you in a Concert Premiere performance.
Join us for
Summer School 2021
see bottom of this page if you wish to join for one week only
WEEK ONE: NORTH AMERICAN GREATS
All sessions are still available as pre-recorded sessions
Ben England BEM will teach us these 5 exquisite pieces by Canadian and North American composers.
CANADA
“Upon Your Heart” by Eleanor Daley
Eleanor Daley was born in 1955 in Ontario, Canada. A prolific composer with a remarkable gift for melody, she has well over eighty published choral compositions and is commissioned extensively throughout North America. Her titles have been widely performed, recorded and broadcast throughout North America, the UK, Europe, South Africa, and the Far East. As a freelance accompanist and choral director she works with the Toronto Children's Chorus, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choirs, and the Bach Children's Chorus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gJvHbsypBM
“God Who Keeps Watch Over You” by Leonard Enns
An Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, Enns has produced a significant body of compositions ranging from vocal and instrumental solo works to major works for full choral/orchestral forces. His half-hour composition for choir, strings, and solo oboe, This Thirsty Land, received the 2020 Choral Canada Outstanding Choral Composition Award. In 2007 he was named the International Winner of the Polyphonus choral composition competition, sponsored by the Esoterics Chamber Choir of Seattle, Washington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXbsuP2qiXQUSA
USA
“I Will Lift Mine Eyes” by Jake Runestad
Jake Runestad is an award-winning and frequently-performed composer of “highly imaginative” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald) musical works that have been featured in thousands of performances worldwide and earned a 2020 GRAMMY award nomination. “I Will Lift Mine Eyes” was voted one of Minnesota Public Radio’s Top 25 Choral Works in 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_8O_4B5kvs
“My Lord, what a Morning” by Harry Burleigh
Harry Burleigh was an American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer known for his baritone voice. The first black composer in developing characteristically American music, Burleigh made black music available to classically trained artists both by introducing them to spiritual music and by arranging it in a more classical form. Burleigh also introduced Antonín Dvořák to black american music, which influenced some of Dvořák's most famous compositions and led him to say that black music would be the basis of American classical music. Burleigh's piece "My Lord, what a Mornin' " which is a beautiful and haunting song in which we can hear both the spiritual and classical forms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQ-sZXG5PY
“The Rose” by Manhattan based Ola Gjeilo.
Ola Gjeilo was born in 1978, and grew up in Skui, Norway. He began playing piano and composing when he was five years old and learned to read music when he was seven years old. In his undergraduate career, Gjeilo studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music (1999–2001), transferred to the Juilliard School (2001), and studied at the Royal College of Music, London (2002–2004) to receive a bachelor's degree in composition. From 2009–10, Gjeilo was composer-in-residence for Phoenix Chorale. He currently resides in Manhattan, working as a freelance composer.
WEEK TWO: RUSSIAN WONDERS
13th to 18th June 2021
We shall learn Russian choral works led by Ben England BEM in conjunction with Nigel Short and our partner choir for this week, Tenebrae. Whilst many of us associate Russian choral music with deep bass singing (used by many Russian composers due to the lack of organs in Russian Churches), our pieces feature all 4 voice parts. Tenebrae will sing all our pieces this week and Nigel will pass on his experience of this repertoire in video recordings. . We shall learn 5 Russian pieces with Ben England BEM:
“Come, Let us Worship” by Rachmaninoff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-u_o9B2RU4
2. “Rejoice O Virgin” by Rachmaninoff
Here is a recording of this piece by Tenebrae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtzSLx5c58g
3. “Glory to The Father” by Golovanov
Here is a recording of this piece by Tenebrae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddIN7x7-MLE
4. “We hymn Thee” by Chesnokov
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylr53XnFbHs
5. A new arrangement of “Let My Prayer Arise” written specially for all SATB voices for us by Richard Gowers. Here is a film of this remarkable piece for male voices only (our version will be for full SATB).
WEEK THREE: MARK’S MELODIES
18th to 23rd July 2021
Taught by Ben England BEM
We call this week “MARK’S MELODIES” as the pieces for this week are chosen by our Founder, Mark Strachan. He will, as usual, choose melodic pieces which may not be familiar to everyone - including pieces by Grieg, Paul McCartney (choral music!), Faure and Messiaen (this piece was described as “one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard from the human race”).
“O Sacrum Convivium” by Messiaen, composed in 1937 and has been described as “one of the most beautiful amazing thing I have ever heard from the human race”. This seven-minute, 36-bar piece is scored for four-part mixed chorus. Messiaen stated that four unspecified solo voices could also be a suitable scoring for the piece, along with an optional accompaniment of an organ (ad libitum), which is unusually flexible for Messiaen. Later in his life, however, in 1986, he listed the composition as being a work for "mixed chorus a cappella", and this is the way the composition is most performed today. The tempo indication at the beginning of the piece is Lent et expressif (Slow and expressive) and performers are asked to count eighth notes, as no time signature is provided anywhere in the piece (as became usual in future Messiaen compositions). For that reason, the amount of eighth notes per bar varies greatly along the piece.
Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_sacrum_convivium! for further details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI4yCdNeikY
“The Blue Bird” by Charles Stanford. Learnt last year, recording and learning again this year! Here is Tenebrae singing the beautiful Bluebird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nThaKFfCi4w
“Interlude/Lament” by Paul McCartney from his choral album ECCE COR MEUM, with oboe solo played by a member of The Self-Isolation Orchestra.
Music is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2MdFGjVXsE
Short film of McCartney making Ecce Cor Meum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxLEfufW0r4
Ecce Cor Meum (Latin for Behold My Heart) is the fourth classical album by Paul McCartney. The album was released on 25 September 2006. An oratorio in four movements, it is produced by John Fraser, written in Latin and English, and scored for orchestra and boys and adult choir. The oratorio was partly inspired by McCartney's wife Linda. On 3 May 2007, Paul McCartney was presented with the Best Album Award at the Classical Brits for Ecce Cor Meum, at the Royal Albert Hall. The award was voted for by readers of Classic FM magazine and listeners of Classic FM. The album reached number 2 in the Top Classical Albums charts from the US.
“Tantum Ergo” by Faure. This is Opus 55, the earliest of three settings by Fauré of the Tantum Ergo hymn. Set for tenor soloist and choir, the accompaniment is that most beguiling of French creations—harp and organ. In the first version below we have a soprano singing the solo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeTN00zxfYg
and in this second version we have a tenor solo accompanied by a Recorder group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKWpx84DJtg
“Ave Verum Corpus” by Mozart. Composed in 1791 in the middle of writing his opera Die Zauberflöte, Mozart wrote this while visiting his wife Constanze, who was pregnant with their sixth child and staying in the spa Baden bei Wien. Mozart set the 14th century Eucharistic hymn in Latin "Ave verum corpus". The setting was composed to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi; the autograph is dated 17 June 1791. The composition is only forty-six bars long and is scored for SATB choir, string instruments, and organ. Mozart's manuscript contains minimal directions, with only a single sotto voce marking at the beginning.
The motet was composed less than six months before Mozart's death.
WEEK FOUR: BEN’S TREASURES
22nd to 27th August 2021
We complete the Summer School with uplifting pieces selected personally by our Course Director, Ben England BEM.
Morley - Now Is the Month of Maying
"Now is the month of maying" is one of the most famous of the English ballets (a light dancelike part song similar to a madrigal, frequently with a 'fa-la-la' chorus). It was written by Thomas Morley and published in 1595. It was printed in Thomas Morley's First Book of Ballets to Five Voyces (1595). Here is a recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvEiLzXkHao
Carl Orff - O Fortuna from Carmina Burana
In 1935–36, "O Fortuna" was set to music by German composer Carl Orff as a part of "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", the opening and closing movement of his cantata Carmina Burana. It was first staged by the Frankfurt Opera on 8 June 1937. It opens at a slow pace with thumping drums and choir that drops quickly into a whisper, building slowly in a steady crescendo of drums peaking on one last long powerful note and ending abruptly. The tone is modal, until the last nine bars. A performance takes a little over two and a half minutes. Here is a performance by Andre Rieu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJC-_j3SnXk
This piece will be taught by Ben England BEM and he and his talented musical family will provide all the backing tracks for this piece.
John Rutter Folk Songs - Sourwood Mountain, Black Sheep, Down By The Riverside
We welcome back John Rutter in his wonderful arrangements of traditional folk songs. Rutter as you might not expect!
Sourwood Mountain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCWUvBiXFfY
Black Sheep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nES7AqZydiU
Down By The Riverside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUsGdSpys7M
We are so grateful to Patrick Hawes for his composition QUANTA QUALIA, which we learnt in Summer School 2020 and has become the “Anthem” for the choir. Here we are performing it with Sophie Burrows on Saxophone:
Course Directors
The course will be taken by Ben England BEM together with Nigel Short of Tenebrae, who will supervise the Tenebrae recordings for this course and provide help and support to Ben throughout.
Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, renowned for its passion and precision.
Under the direction of Nigel Short, Tenebrae has twice secured the award for Best Choral Performance in the BBC Music Magazine Awards (2012 and 2016), and its recording of Fauré’s Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra was nominated for the Gramophone Awards (2013). In 2018 Music of the Spheres, Tenebrae’s album of part songs from the British Isles, received a Grammy nomination.
Tenebrae is renowned for its highly-acclaimed interpretations of choral music ranging from the Renaissance through to contemporary choral masterpieces, and has appeared at major festivals and venues including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus (Germany) and Melbourne Festival (Australia).
How it Works & Timings
We spend a week in full choir and then sectional voices learning the music. We are then invited to record our own voice which is then combined with others into one “sound” and replayed back to the choir at the end of each week. We shall hold a Concert Premiere performance at the end of Summer School 2021, featuring all the pieces we have learnt during the course.
The timings are as follows:
Week One: North American Greats (recorded sessions are still available)
Week Two: Russian Wonders on 13th June
Week Three: Mark’s Melodies on 18th July
Week Four: Ben’s Treasures on 22nd August
CONCERT PREMIERE on 26th September
Course Fee
The fee to attend this course is £90 and will include:
All tuition, rehearsals and backing tracks with professional singers to assist our learning
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Online scores are included in the fee
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The recording instructions and combining all voices in the Studio
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A Concert Premiere performance
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A bespoke collage featuring the whole choir and musicians
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MP3 files of the final mixed SIC tracks for you to keep
We are also offering the opportunity to join each week separately if you so wish:
Week 1:
North American Greats
Week 2:
Russian Wonders
Week 3:
Mark’s Melodies
Week 4:
Ben’s Treasures
Please note: The Self-Isolation Choir has been careful to ensure there are minimal rehearsal clashes in 2021, however rehearsal and course times are subject to change.
