Trogir Music Party

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ~ Missa Fratres ego enim accepi
Nicholas Gombert ~ Magnificat tertii & octavi toni
Thomas Weelkes ~ All people clap your hands
William Henry Harris ~ Holy is the true light
James MacMillan ~ Give me justice
Urmas Sisask ~ Benedictio
Arvo Pärt ~ The deer’s cry 

JanJoost van Elburg writes: This music speaks of ritual and tradition. The double-choir mass is one of Palestrina’s grandest, based on his own motet with a particularly apt eucharistic text, published in 1601. Among Gombert’s eight Magnificats, this is the finest and most beautiful. The legend is that he redeemed himself from imprisonment with this alernatim composition as a penance. The even verses are polyphonic and build from three to eight voices; the odd verses are set to chant. Urmas Sisask is one of Estonia’s leading and prolific composers, also an amateur astronomer with his own observatory tower and planetarium where he gives lecture-concerts. Benedictio is typical of Sisask’s music in the clarity of its textures and the simplicity of its harmony. This is ecstatic music, a cosmic dance of great ritual power, its hypnotic, incantatory repetitions a vivid re-imagining of primordial runic song. The Deer’s Cry is a sacred motet by Arvo Pärt, a setting of a traditional Irish lorica or prayer for protection, for four-part choir. James MacMillan’s Give me justice is a simple setting of Psalm 42, structured round a refrain and a pair of verses set as free chant.

JanJoost van Elburg is Lacock’s longest established conductor. He studied conducting with Barend Schuurman, one of the leading teachers in Holland, at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He studied singing with Jelle Drayer of the Dutch Chamber Choir, Margaret Honig and Luciënne Bouwman, and with Ghislaine Morgan in England. He is conductor of the professional ensemble Descant for early music, the Bartholomew Consort in Oxford, and The Lelikoor in Amsterdam. He is a teacher of ensemble technique and training, singing, theory and choral conducting, and teaches on a regular basis at the Dutch School of Arts (Hogeschool der Kunsten).
As a singer he has performed with a wide variety of ensembles, including The Tallis Scholars, The Dutch Broadcast Choir, Capella Carolina, Capella Coloniënsis in Cologne, and his own ensemble Descant on several tours.
He gives workshops and lectures at home and abroad, principally for Lacock, which has taken him to England, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Tobago; for Oakham International Summer School with Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars; and for Music Camp near High Wycombe – on such subjects as Renaissance & Baroque music, madrigals, Flemish polyphony, Tudor music and choral conducting.   He is the initiator of the highly successful annual DESCANT International Choral Conductors’ Course (Amsterdam, since 2002).

Trogir
Trogir is one of the gems of the Dalmatian coast: a real Adriatic pot-pourri, with its Greek street pattern, Albanian and Slav stonework and Venetian campaniles. As the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex of all central Europe, it is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. We will be based in the historic centre, which is on a small island. There are bathing places a short walk or boat ride from the town. Our rehearsal sessions will be in the Rector’s Palace next to the cathedral, now the City Hall. Split, half an hour away by bus or boat, shouldn’t be missed: a bustling port that has grown up around Diocletian’s Palace. This most evocative classical monument was begun in AD 295 and has been occupied almost continuously ever since, gradually turning into the present warren of alleys, churches, catacombs, tenements and piles of rubble.

The course
There will be places for 32 singers: eight sopranos, eight altos, eight tenors and eight basses. Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm session on Monday the 2^nd of September. Then on the following five days to do a full morning’s work (from 9.30am to 1.00pm, with a break), then take an indulgent four-hour lunch break – to rest the voice as much as anything else – and then put in another couple of hours of singing before supper. We will arrange a supper for everyone together on the first evening and after the concert on Saturday (not included in the fee for the course), but let the party split into smaller groups on the other four evenings. On Thursday the 5^th of September the afternoon session will be held in Diocletian’s Palace in Split; the timing may be different, to suit the ferry schedule. We’ll give a public performance in the evening of Saturday the 7^th of September. In the morning of Sunday the 8^th of September we will give a liturgical performance of the Palestrina Mass in Trogir Cathedral, which will mark the end of the course.

Venue
The course will be held in the Rector’s Palace, now the City Hall. It is in the square to the side of the cathedral, Trg Ivana Pavla II.

Travel and accommodation
Trogir is very easy to get to: Split airport is only ten minutes away by bus or taxi. Services from Britain are Easyjet from Gatwick, Stansted and Bristol, Wizz Air from Luton, Jet2 from Manchester and Croatia Airlines from Heathrow and Gatwick. A full list of the airlines flying to Split may be found here. There are ferries to Split from Venice, Ancona and Pescara and there are many that ply the Dalmatian coast. From the excellent Man in seat 61 you can find out how to reach Split by train. You arrange your own accommodation. There is a wide choice of places to stay in the historic centre itself: they are typically old houses converted fairly recently into small hotels, or into rooms that can be rented by the week (apartmani), which can be very cheap. These can be best be found through the very helpful Anna Maria Latincic of Kairos Travel, who knows all about the course: info@kairos-trogir.com, www.kairos-trogir.com +385 21 796 290. Anne-Maria will know all the accommodation available in the historic centre, much of which is not advertised on the internet.

Fees and enrolment
The fee for the course is paid in two parts: a deposit of £315 or the equivalent in euros on registration and €350 on or before arrival in Trogir. The deposit may be credited to another course if you have to withdraw and we are able to allocate your place to another singer. The fee includes payment for a booklet containing all the non-copyright music, which will be sent to you in advance but not travel, meals or accommodation. To apply for a place on this course just fill in the application form below and press ‘send application’.