THEATRE OF VOICES IN TRINITY CHAPEL
Theatre of voices in a spectacular concert at Trinity College
Well, this is a complicated one. As part of the Cambridge Music Festival 2025 we have the Cambridge Music Conference whose Founder and Director Elizabeth Carmack is dedicated to music and healing. The BBC World Service has made the Conference documented the events they’ve put on – actually between 2000 and 2020 they’ve laid on so many international music and healing events with famous modern composers including stars like Sir John Taverner and Howard Kempton – who was actually at the concert at Trinity. It is the 25thAnniversary apparently of the Cambridge Music Conference and they have commissioned some key pieces to celebrate.
Theatre of Voices, director famous Paul Hillier are the four young people who made it all happen – plus Rihab Azar on the oud ( a really lovely instrument I have never consciously heard before) and the organ. Powered by Christopher Bowers-Broadbent- in the second half which featured the Berliner Mass by Arvo Pärt, it was a key to the full joy of this piece.
But to start it was just gorgeous soprano Else Torp and, Laura Lamph, a lovely alto, William Gaunt an outstanding bass ( home reared as a member of King’s College Choir) and Jakob Skjoldborg a glorious tenor. Copenhagen- based, they have entranced the world from Sydney Opera House to Palais Garnier the Lincoln Center to the Venice Biennale. And they have done amazing things ‘hologram appearances for 16 shows in Hong Kong’ – which gives you pause for thought.
But what was the music like after all this razzmatazz ?
Standing room only in Trinity College Chapel is rare but this concert was rammed to the gunnels. We heard Nigel Osborne’s composition Tree of Life: it generated by his work in Lebanon on a therapeutic and educational project for Syrian children. The composition tells their stories, they are heart-breaking as the mystical music conveys.
Murray Carmack and Howard Skempton created Heraclitus an ethereal piece to honour the 100th anniversary of Murray’s birth and organised by Elizabeth Carman. Lovely. Kevin Volans Theatre of Voices Trinity College Chapel
Well, this is a complicated one. As part of the Cambridge Music Festival 2025 we have the Cambridge Music Conference whose Founder and Director Elizabeth Carmack is dedicated to music and healing. The BBC World Service has made the Conference documented the events they’ve put on – actually between 2000 and 2020 they’ve laid on so many international music and healing events with famous modern composers including stars like Sir John Taverner and Howard Kempton – who was actually at the concert at Trinity. It is the 25thAnniversary apparently of the Cambridge Music Conference and they have commissioned some key pieces to celebrate.
Theatre of Voices, director famous Paul Hillier are the four young people who made it all happen – plus Rihab Azar on the oud ( a really lovely instrument I have never consciously heard before) and the organ. Powered by Christopher Bowers-Broadbent- in the second half which featured the Berliner Mass by Arvo Pärt, it was a key to the full joy of this piece.
But to start it was just gorgeous soprano Else Torp and, Laura Lamph, a lovely alto, William Gaunt an outstanding bass ( home reared as a member of King’s College Choir) and Jakob Skjoldborg a glorious tenor. Copenhagen- based, they have entranced the world from Sydney Opera House to Palais Garnier the Lincoln Center to the Venice Biennale. And they have done amazing things ‘hologram appearances for 16 shows in Hong Kong’ – which gives you pause for thought.
But what was the music like after all this razzmatazz ?
Standing room only in Trinity College Chapel is rare but this concert was rammed to the gunnels. We heard Nigel Osborne’s composition Tree of Life: it generated by his work in Lebanon on a therapeutic and educational project for Syrian children. The composition tells their stories, they are heart-breaking as the mystical music conveys.
Murray Carmack and Howard Skempton created Heraclitus a lovely ethereal piece and poetic joy. Kevin Volans created the African bush with Walking Song . All topped off by the miracle that is Arco Pärt’s Berliner Mass with organ by Christopher Bowers Broadbent.
Music all a bit of an adventure as the woman next me commented as she discarded the prolix programme.’ I am just letting it all wash over me’ -wise choice with the overload of literature - especially the LBTQ+ History Month in Cambridge handout - indecipherable.
A fabulous and genuinely evening of musical originality .
