Ireland's national chamber choir explores the seduction of a life at sea, in all its danger and excitement.

This November, Chamber Choir Ireland and Gabriel Crouch bring The Irresistible Call to the beautiful St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh.

The concert explores the powerful call to a life at sea, and the excitement and hardship that go along with it.

Richard Rodney Benett's Sea Change is a cycle of musical seascapes, tinged with fantasy and ancient mysteries. It uses maritime texts by William Shakespeare to convey the other-worldliness of the sea to us land-dwelling humans.

In Elizabeth Maconchy's dreamlike Sirens' Song, we hear sirens as they sing to lure mariners, and the response from their prey far in the distance.

Veljo Tormis' Laevas lauldakse ("Singing Aboard Ship") is an Ingrian folk lament of village women as they watch their boys sail off to war.

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi's Song of Maritime Calamity was dedicated to the 852 people lost in the shipwreck of the MS Estonia during a storm in the Baltic Sea in 1994.

Michael McGlynn's Hinbarra takes its text from traditional songs from the West of Ireland associated with the lives of fishermen.

Selections from Mason Bates' haunting Sirens draws from depictions of the beautiful siren Lorelei, who sings atop a rock in the 19th-century German folk tale, and the bewitching song which floats across the sea to Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.

The programme also features the the world premiere of a new commission by Irish composer, Áine Mallon.

Join Ireland's national chamber choir for an evening voyage, navigating our deep connection to the sea.

This concert is delivered in partnership with RNLI.

Programme

Richard Rodney Bennett (UK, 1936-2012)—Sea Change, i. The isle is full of noises

Mason Bates (USA, b. 1977)—Sirens, ii. Die Lorelei

Elizabeth Maconchy (UK, 1907-1994)—Sirens' Song

Veljo Tormis (Estonia, 1930-2017)—Laevas Lauldakse

Richard Rodney Bennett—Sea Change, ii. The Bermudas

Áine Mallon (Ireland, b. 1994)—New Commission

Mason Bates—Sirens, vi. From the Odyssey

Jaakko Mantyjarvi (Finland, b. 1963)—Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae

Michael McGlynn (Ireland, b. 1964)—Hinbarra

Richard Rodney Bennett—Sea Change, iv. Full fathom five

This programme is c. 1hr in duration, with no interval.

Description supplied by the event organiser.