Bel a cappella will be presenting TO THE HANDS, a stunning work by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.  The recital will also include the final movement of JS Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin in D minor with added choral interpolations from various chorales, as well as a new arrangement for string quintet and organ of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.  Under the baton of Conductor Anthony Pasquill.

Caroline Shaw's composition TO THE HANDS begins and ends with strains of Buxtehude’s own 'Ad manus' from his composition Membra Jesu Nostra, with small harmonic and melodic references woven occasionally throughout. This will be an Australian Premiere performance of this work.

The design of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin puzzled commentators for centuries: why, besides the standard sequence of baroque dance-forms, did Bach then add its huge chaconne movement? The German scholar Professor Helga Thoene suggests that the work commemorates the composer’s first wife, Maria Barbara, and funereal Lutheran melodies are woven into the music’s fabric. Her revelations are sung as the violin plays in this special version. The choir are delighted to be joined by violinist Gemma Lee (2017 Sydney Symphony Orchestra Violin Fellow) for this stunning collaboration.

Bel a cappella‘s TO THE HANDS will play Sunday April 8th 3-4.30pm at Christ Church St Laurence, Pitt St, Sydney.

Tickets and further information at Bel a cappella’s website [Facebook].

Programme:
Buxtehude: Ad manus
Shaw: To the Hands (Australian Premiere)
JS Bach: Ciaconna (with choral interpolations) - Soloist: Gemma Lee (2017 SSO Violin Fellow)
Fauré: Requiem