The programme, centred on the Renaissance Carlo Gesualdo, includes the world premiere of 'Verano' (Summer), by the Canarian composer José Herrero

 

Auditorio de Tenerife programmes for this Saturday [13th] Gesualdo: éxtasis cruel, a concert by the British Exaudi Vocal Ensemble. The programme, focusing on the Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, includes the world premiere of Verano by the Canarian José Herrero. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m., in the Chamber Hall. Exaudi Vocal Ensemble, conducted by James Weeks, features soprano Emma Tring, mezzo-soprano Jessica Gillingwater, countertenor Tom Williams, tenors Stephen Jeffes and David de Winter, and bass Jimmy Holliday.

The programme will include selections from books V and VI of Madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), the composition Recitation by Patrick Hegarty (1996) and Verano, a commission from the Auditorio de Tenerife to the Canarian composer José Herrero (1976).  The composition is based on the poem of the same name by the Canarian poet Félix Duarte Pérez, who wrote a collection dedicated to each year's season.

"This inspiring text opened up many musical possibilities for me", says Herrero, who usually composes for choral ensembles. "For me, it is an honour that a group as the Exaudi Vocal Ensemble should premiere one of my works," he says. "I wanted to reflect sensations like the calm, the summer, working in the fields, rural life, afternoons under the sun. Hence, I tried translating these evocations into music", says the composer. "My intention was to show something of ourselves, the essence of how we - the people from the Canary Islands - are ".

Exaudi Vocal Ensemble also participates the day before [Friday 12] at 7:30 p.m. in the season concert of Askenar, of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, together with the Ensemble Resilience and Juan Francisco Díaz on timpani, conducted by Juan Panisello. On this occasion, the premiere will be of Poema de sombras, para ensemble y orquesta by Rubens Askenar.

Founded by the director James Weeks and the soprano Juliet Fraser in 2002, Exaudi is based in London and draws its singers from among the UK's brightest vocal talents. The ensemble's special affinity is for the radical edges of contemporary music, at home equally with maximal complexity, microtonality and experimental aesthetics. The newest new music is at the heart of its repertoire, and it has given hundreds of national and world premières.

As well as performing the acknowledged greats of contemporary music, EXAUDI is particularly committed to the music of its own generation. It is also strongly involved with the emerging generation of young composers, regularly taking part in composer development schemes and residencies at home and abroad.

An enduring feature of Exaudi's programming has been the mixing of contemporary music with the music of the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. The group has appeared at many of the leading European and UK venues and festivals and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and European radio stations.

The fourteen recordings on the NMC, ÆON, Métier, Winter&Winter, Mode, Confront, and HCR labels have been critically acclaimed. The album Gesualdo Madrigali (2019) received the prestigious German music critics' award Deutsche Schallplattenkritik and was considered by BBC Radio 3 as one of the Albums of the Year.

Tickets for the concert in the Chamber Hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife are available at a single price of €15 on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed and large families.