Half my Voice is Human

In their concert "Half my Voice is Human", the singers of Sjaella blend old music with contemporary works - and make nature audible: In Caroline Shaw's "Dolce cantavi", birds speak in colorful voices; in Meredi's minimalist "Crystallized", ice and water communicate through crackling and gurgling; and in Henry Purcell's baroque semi-opera "The Fairy Queen", the seasons engage in a baroque contest.

The heart of the programme is "What Would Circe Do?", a work by Australian composer Wally Gunn that 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 advice: how does what is essential return to our silenced heart? Sjaella approaches this question through sound and physical expression.

Programme:
Henry Purcell (1659-1695), arr. Sjaella: A Bird's Prelude (from: The Fairy Queen); Clément Janequin (ca. 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?