Secrets: A Spider’s Tapestry

Schola Cantorum of Oxford
Raschèr Saxophone Quartet
Steven Grahl, director

An evening of intricate weaving, symbolism in the work of Bach, and a variety of moods and sound worlds, taking Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s new work, A Spider’s Tapestry as inspiration, combined with our quest to uncover hidden meaning in this year’s festival.

Nico Muhly’s Things Unknown was also commissioned for Schola Cantorum this year and includes texts by Thomas Traherne, Vera Brittain and others: ‘…I have found that things unknown have a secret influence on the soul’. With Roads to Ixtlan, Nørgård depicts a metaphorical journey to the city of the Mexican sorcerer, Don Genaro, whilst Cheryl Frances-Hoad A Spider’s Tapestry sets a poem by Miranda Latham-Jackson about Arachne, the skilled young weaver in Greek mythology who was turned into a spider by the goddess Athena.

Schola Cantorum of Oxford has built a reputation as Oxford’s premier concert choir, engaging deeply with complex repertoire and commissioning new music.

If there were an Olympic discipline for virtuoso wind playing, the Raschèr Quartet would definitely receive a gold medal – Die Welt

Programme

J.S. Bach arr.                          Nystedt Immortal Bach
Nico Muhly                           Things unknown
Per Nørgård                          Roads to Ixtlan
Cheryl Frances-Hoad      Beyond the night sky
Benjamin Britten               Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49
Cheryl Frances-Hoad      A Spider’s Tapestry (premiere)
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi           3 Shakespeare Songs
J.S. Bach                                 Der Geist hilft (BWV 226)