Album Release
20 September 2024
Desmond Earley — an acclaimed harpsichordist, conductor, Baroque and choral music specialist, educator, arts ambassador, and composer — and the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin present an album of world-premiere recordings of choral works commissioned from 18 composers to accompany poems from the 1907 poetry collection Chamber Music by the celebrated Irish novelist and poet James Joyce. The music is performed by the choir and the instrumental and vocal consort Solstice Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Desmond Earley. It is Earley and the choral group’s fourth album on Signum Classics.
This new album aims to encapsulate the influence of singing and music in the work of Joyce, who was an accomplished tenor himself. His wish was that his poems from Chamber Music be set to music; through commissioning these new works, Earley and the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin are proud to make that wish reality in stellar choral form, sharing a unique connection to Joyce’s history in Dublin — Joyce was a graduate of University College Dublin.
The imagery of Joyce’s words, such as the “soft choiring of delight” (XXVI), “the wise choirs of faery’ (XV), and “for many a choir is singing now” (XVI), called for a new project, a full collection of choral settings for of the poetry of the book. With the aim of fulfilling Joyce’s wish, Earley commissioned 18 composers from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Latvia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United States. “As Joyce was himself a singer, it became an important feature of the project that these pieces would be satisfying to sing,” writes Early. “To compose music that respects singer, player and listener alike takes craft.”
This is Vol. 1 of the collection. Vol. 2 is underway.
The full album will be released on September 20th.
Listen to two songs below:
About Desmond Earley
Hailed by The Irish Times as “enterprising and wide-ranging,” Desmond Earley is the artistic director of the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin. He has established a reputation as one of Ireland’s foremost choral directors and early-keyboard specialists.
About the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
Choral Scholars is an internationally acclaimed chamber choir of gifted student singers, based at University College Dublin College of Arts & Humanities, and a member of the suite of ensembles fostered by UCD School of Music.
The choir frequently performs with Ireland’s leading instrumentalists and orchestras. In recent years it has collaborated with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. In touring the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the group has brought University College Dublin and its music to an international audience.
About Solstice Ensemble
Solstice Ensemble is a pioneering instrumental and vocal consort based in Ireland. Under the artistic direction of Desmond Earley, the ensemble has become an influential force within the international cultural landscape, merging the rich textures of early music with innovative expressions of contemporary repertoire.