Half my Voice is Human

In this concert, the singers of Sjaella weave together early and contemporary music, drawing audiences in with voice and movement. They make nature audible: in Caroline Shaw's "Dolce cantavi" birds speak in vivid, colourful sounds; in Meredi's minimalist "Crystallized" ice and water communicate through crackles and gurgles; and the seasons enter a baroque contest in Henry Purcell's semi-opera "The Fairy Queen". At the heart of the programme is the thoughtful "What Would Circe Do?" by Australian composer Wally Gunn - premiered in 2025 - with a libretto by Sjaella alto Felicitas Erben. Circe, the Greek goddess and plant alchemist with a human voice, is asked for counsel: how does what is essential find its way back into our silenced hearts? Through sound and physical expression, Sjaella turns the spotlight on the power of nature.

Programme:
Henry Purcell (1659-1695), arr. Sjaella: A Bird's Prelude (from: The Fairy Queen); Clément Janequin (c. 1485-1558), arr. Susanne Blache (1962): Le Rossignol (from: Le chant des oiseaux); Caroline Shaw (1982): Dolce cantavi; Henry Purcell (1659-1695), arr. Gregor Meyer (1979): Thus the ever grateful spring (Spring), Here's the Summer, Sprightly, Gay (Summer), See My Many Coloured Fields (Autumn), Now Winter Comes Slowly (Winter) (from: The Fairy Queen), texts after A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare; Meredi (1992): Crystallized; Wally Gunn (*1971): What Would Circe Do?

Photo © Lara Müller