Sea, song and solo voice. Evlana’s first concert in Donegal opens out from Rebecca Clarke’s The Seal Man, her 1922 setting of Masefield’s tale of a woman lured into the waves, and John Corigliano’s Three Irish Folksong Settings, which pair soprano and flute in reimaginings of traditional airs. Jessie Montgomery’s compelling Rhapsody No. 1 for solo violin stands in the line of Bach and Ysaÿe. Permit Me, a haunting solo cello piece by Yorta Yorta composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, is heard alongside Rosy Wertheim’s Trois chansons, which set Chinese poetry in the French of her Paris years, and Zaid Jabri’s Beati Pacifici, written in memory of the peace activist Rachel Corrie and taking its title from the Beatitude: blessed are the peacemakers.

The concert takes its title from John McLachlan’s Headland, scored for septet and fixed media, commissioned by Evlana in 2020 and inspired by the Donegal-based composer’s sea canoeing along the Inishowen coast.

Program:

Jessie Montgomery – Rhapsody No.1 for solo violin
Rosy Wertheim – Trois chansons for soprano, flute and piano
John Corigliano – Three Irish Folksong Settings
Deborah Cheetham – Permit Me for solo cello
Rebecca Clarke – Seal Man for soprano and piano
John McLachlan – Headland (for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, violin, viola, cello and mixed media)
Zaid Jabri – Beati Pacifici for soprano and piano
Joan Tower – Petroushskates for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano