Tenebrae celebrates its 20th anniversary with this electrifying sequence of music and spoken voice at Oxford Festival. Composed in response to the occupation of France during World War II, Poulenc’s astonishing Figure Humaine forms the heart of this new programme. Notoriously virtuosic, this choral tour-de-force perfectly encapsulates our core values of passion and precision. Alongside it, the choir performs new commissions from Josephine Stephenson and Roderick Williams, and spoken interludes provide a narrative framework for this celebration of love and freedom in times of adversity.

Programme

Including poems by Emily Dickinson
Roderick Williams – Lucis Creator Optime
Philip Moore – Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Josephine Stephenson – Into the Wreck

Rudolf Mauersberger – Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst
Roderick Williams – Lucis Creator Optime Postlude
Francis Poulenc – Figure Humaine

Artist(s)

Nigel Short, Tenebrae