Chamber Choir Ireland - The Irresistible Call

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We are delighted to welcome Chamber Choir Ireland back to Belfast this November for a very special maritime themed programme, set amongst the docks in the dramatic and historical space of the Drawing Room at Titanic Hotel.

The sixteen-strong ensemble is truly something to behold with their rich tones and immense vocal range, they are wildly considered the very best on the island – and we can’t disagree!

This performance ‘The Irresistible Call’ explores the seduction of a life at sea, and the complexity of its exhilaration and danger. Where better to experience this maritime voyage than the Titanic Hotel’s Drawing Room and its picturesque restoration of the drafting office where legendary ships including the Titanic itself were designed.

Full programme details below -

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

In Elizabeth Maconchy's dreamlike Sirens' Song, we hear the hauntingly beautiful sound of the sirens as they lure sailors into the deadly unknown, and the eerie 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 inspiration from traditional songs from the West of Ireland which tell stories of the lives of fishermen.

Selections from Mason Bates' evocative 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 The Odyssey.

The programme also features 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 tour is delivered in partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.