The late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson was a singular talent, as celebrated for his theatre and film scores (including Arrival and Sicario) as for his orchestral work, and Drone Mass is his defining work.
Despite the name, Drone Mass isn’t really a mass. It’s a mysterious and richly textured work inspired by an ancient Egyptian Coptic hymn, and for its Irish premiere we’ve assembled some of the finest musicians in the land, including Crash Ensemble and Chamber Choir Ireland. Weaving voices, strings and electronics into a mesmerising soundscape that bears comparison with the work of minimalist greats like Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki, Drone Mass is the thrilling debut Irish performance of a great composer’s crowning achievement.
Please note that latecomers will not be admitted to this event.
As per our printed programme, please note that Paul Hillier was originally due to conduct, but due to circumstances beyond our control, will be unable to do so for this performance. The programme remains unchanged and we are delighted to welcome Gabriel Crouch to conduct.
Gabriel Crouch
Guest Conductor
Gabriel Crouch is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of the Practice in Music at Princeton University, where he leads a flourishing and all-embracing choral program and teaches courses in Conducting, Small Ensemble Singing and Opera performance. He began his musical career as an eight-year-old in the choir of Westminster Abbey, where his solo credits included a Royal Wedding, and performances alongside Jessye Norman and Sir Laurence Olivier. After completing a choral scholarship at Trinity College Cambridge, he was offered a place in the renowned a cappella group The King's Singers in 1996. In the next eight years he made a dozen recordings on the BMG label (including a Grammy nomination), and gave more than 900 performances in almost every major concert venue in the world.
Since moving to the USA in 2005 he has built an international profile as a conductor and director, with recent engagements in Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia as well as Europe and the continental United States. He has conducted all-state choirs in Kentucky and Texas, and his student choirs have performed at both ACDA and NCCO conferences. In the professional realm his recent conducting invitations have included Cappella Romana, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Edvard Grieg Kor in Norway, and Tenebrae.
When the academic calendar allows, he maintains parallel careers in singing and record production, crossing the Atlantic frequently to appear with such ensembles as Tenebrae, the Tallis Scholars and The Gabrieli Choir, and in the US, performing recitals of lutesong with such acclaimed lutenists as Daniel Swenberg and Nigel North. As a producer his credits have included Winchester Cathedral Choir, The Gabrieli Consort and Tenebrae (for whom he produced the acclaimed first recording of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles in 2005), the acclaimed Spanish choir El Leon de Oro, and Ensemble Altera and Skylark in the US.
In 2008 he founded the British early music ensemble 'Gallicantus', with whom he has released six recordings under the Signum label to rapturous reviews, garnering multiple ‘Editor’s Choice’ awards in Gramophone Magazine, Choir and Organ Magazine and the Early Music Review, and, for the 2012 release ‘The Word Unspoken', a place on BBC Radio’s CD Review list of the top nine classical releases of the year. His recording of Lagrime di San Pietro by Orlando di Lasso was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2014, and his follow-up recording - Sibylla (featuring music by Orlandus Lassus and Dmitri Tymoczko) was named ’star recording’ by Choir and Organ magazine in the summer of 2018. His most recent release is Mass for the Endangered, a new composition by Sarah Kirkland Snider released on the Nonesuch/New Amsterdam labels, which has garnered high acclaim from the New York Times, Boston Globe, NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ and elsewhere.
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