EIF 26 This Shining Night
Usher Hall 13/8/26
Edinburgh Festival Chorus Sofi Jeannin conductor, James Grossmith chorus director
Rising Stars of Voice: Katie Carmichael, Lucy Gibbs, Louisa Stuart-Smith, Sam Britner, Paul-Louis Bartlet, Theano Papdaki, Quito Clothier, Filippo Turkheimer.
Pei-Jee Ng, cello, Imogen Morgan, organ, Stuart Hope, piano, Tom Hunter, percussion
Tonight's concert begins with a tribute to the Festival Chorus's founder, Arthur Oldham, whose 100th anniversary falls this year. His 1963 'Sacerdos et Pontifex' introduces us to four of the rising Stars of Voice who alternate verses with the chorus in this organ-accompanied anthem.
The choral arrangement of Barber's 'Sure on this Shining Night' retains all the gleam and serenity of the original song. Most of the songs which follow are short, with a mixture of the sacred and secular, traditional songs and recently composed works. Sofi Jeannin returns to the EIF after her epic stint in charge of 'The Veil of the Temple' in 2025.
Spirituals and music inspired by them are an important strand. Copland's piano-accompanied version of 'To the River' celebrates communal worship, with the words repeated across the choir in counterpoint. Later Dawson's 1934 setting of 'Soon Ah will be Done' follows a rapid acapella opening with a robust chorus. 'The Road Home' is a 2001 composition by Stephen Paulus based on a tune from the Southern Hymnal with descant chorus for soloist Katie Mitchell.
Of the more recent songs, Caroline Shaw's 2017 unaccompanied 'and the swallow', a setting of Psalm 84 “the sparrow has found a house and the swallow has found a nest were she may raise her young”, uses repeated phrases and vocalising to share delicate, unusual harmonies round the Chorus. Their precise calm rendition leaves us with a lingering memory of this quiet work.
Two modern songs focus on US ethnic groups in radically different ways. First four of the Rising Stars, Theano Papadake, Louise Stuart-Smith, Quito Clothier and Filippo Turkheimer sing the satirical 'Chicanofóbia' Gabriela Lena Frank's 2007 play on Hispanic American stereotypes. Razor-sharp precise singing and diction are required in this short spiky song with comic phrases and insults – direct and subtle - being bandied round the participants.
In complete contrast is the concert's central work Joel Thompson's 2015 'Seven Last Words of the Unarmed'. The seven movements over 15 minutes commemorate seven African Americans who have been killed, each movement bearing a name and age, and the lyrics consisting only of his last words. In the online programme notes, the conductor speaks of the Chorus's emotional response to learning this work and their commitment to singing it. In the shortest movement 17 year-old Trayvon Martin's question, “Why are you following me?” runs quickly round the singers in rapid counterpoint, before ending abruptly in a yell. The last movement features 43 year-old Eric Garner's phrase “I can't breathe”, the singers slowing down and pausing near the end to imitate breathlessness. The most moving section provides a lyrical setting for 23 year-old Amadou Dialio's optimistic ”Mom, I'm going to college.” The young soloist Sam Britner gives physical and vocal poignancy to the movement which ends “Mom, I'm going...”
Stuart Hope on piano is an attentive accompanist throughout, while Pei-Jee Ng's cello adds depth to Esmail's 'When the Violin', and Tom Hunter's mastery of an array of percussion adds drama and colour. 'Deep River' is the moving encore to this exceptional performance by the Festival Chorus, ably rehearsed by James Grossmith and conducted with sensitivity by Sofi Jeannin
