SANSARA

Event details

Palestrina   Stabat Mater
Jonathan Harvey   Mortuos plango, vivos voco
Josquin des Prez   Inviolata à5
Jonathan Harvey   The Annunciation
Joseph Bates   Ceasing
Rhiannon Randle   O nata lux
Palestrina, arr. Harvey   Stabat Mater

The vocal collective SANSARA thrives in the space between ancient and modern. Spanning centuries in sound, they showcase the same vocal artistry in music by Palestrina, Josquin and Jonathan Harvey. University of York Music student Joseph Bates’s 2020 work Ceasing is paired with a rare performance of Jonathan Harvey’s ground-breaking electronic reworking of Palestrina’s Stabat Mater, heard here for one of the first times in the UK. This is music that collapses time itself, generating sounds of kaleidoscopic beauty.

‘Hail SANSARA! A new star in the galaxy of wonderful chamber choirs’ (John Rutter)

'Some music is, for me, a connection to mysterious worlds beyond the reach of the normal perception of our five senses. Maybe it is heightened by the personal connection, but my father's music can give me this experience. SANSARA's performance of Stabat Mater was other-worldly; the human warmth of eight voices reflected in a ghostly electronic mirror, a mother and her dead son, this life and the one beyond' (Anna Harvey)

‘Perfect intonation and a clean, pure sound ... choral singing with real depth’ (The Observer)