Under their director George Parris, The Carice Singers are becoming well-known for superb performances and imaginative programmes. In their Elgar Festival debut they explore the dramatic part-songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor alongside those by Elgar, who described Coleridge-Taylor as “far away the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men”. Comparing and performing these choral songs side-by-side shows a predilection from both composers for landscapes, seascapes, ghosts and legends, revealing along the way some uncanny reflections and many innovations in choral writing.
Programme:
Elgar The shower
Coleridge-Taylor By the lone sea-shore
Elgar The fountain
Elgar 5 Part-songs from the Greek Anthology
Coleridge-Taylor Summer is gone
Elgar My love dwelt in a northern land
Elgar Death on the hills
Coleridge-Taylor Dead in the Sierras
Coleridge-Taylor The fair at Almachara
Rebecca Clarke Music, when soft voices die
Elgar Serenade
Coleridge-Taylor All my stars forsake me
Coleridge-Taylor The lee-shore
(Duration: 60 mins, excluding an interval)
The Carice Singers were founded by George Parris in 2011 and began life performing Elgar’s part-songs in the North Cotswolds. Naming itself after Elgar’s only child, the choir was soon registered as a charity with the aim of supporting early-career ensemble singers. The group is also
committed to promoting curiosity and appreciation for its ever-widening repertoire amongst people of all ages, just as Carice Elgar showed a quiet but resolute sense of duty in securing her father’s legacy.
Today the choir is emerging as one of the most distinctive vocal ensembles in the UK, defined by its unique sound and imaginative choice of repertoire. Having made three successful early recordings with the Naxos label, the group has since recorded for the BBC Music Magazine and have performed live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. Recent highlights have included Nordic Reflections at Kings Place in London, a week-long residency at the Cheltenham Music Festival, and tenth anniversary concerts at the Newbury Autumn Festival and in London.
George Parris grew up in South Warwickshire and at the age of 18 was awarded the Elgar Society’s Certificate of Merit for initiating an Elgar Festival at his school. He has degrees in Music from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. In 2011 he founded The Carice Singers, which has since emerged as a professional ensemble, and conducts the award-winning Finnish choir Spira Ensemble. As a singer he has performed many contemporary works with the Helsinki Chamber Choir and early music alongside the Helsinki and Finnish Baroque Orchestras. Parris has also been invited to conduct the Croatian Radio Choir and Coro Casa da Música in Portugal and is delighted to be one of Ex Cathedra’s Associate Conductors.
