PRESS RELEASE
O Guiding Night - The Genesis Foundation’s second major collaboration with The Sixteen

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen release world premiere recording of new works by three of Britain’s most exciting composers
Tarik O’Regan, Roderick Williams & Ruth Byrchmore

The productive partnership between The Sixteen and the Genesis Foundation continues with the release in May 2011 of a CD of six new choral works from three of Britain’s most exciting contemporary composers: Tarik O’Regan, Roderick Williams and Ruth Byrchmore.

The new works are inspired by two poems - St. Teresa of Ávila’s Nada te turbe (Let nothing trouble you) and St. John of the Cross’s poem En una noche oscura (One Dark Night). Both St. Teresa and St. John were major figures in the Spanish mystics movement during the Catholic Reformation in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their attempts to express in words their experience of a mystical communion with Christ produced some exquisite poetry and writings which went on to influence and shape the Spanish language.

The composers’ brief for this project was to present atmospheric and mystical works based on the poems of St. Teresa and St. John that will enhance the church music repertoire both for the divine service as well as the concert repertoire.

Founder and chairman of the Genesis Foundation, John Studzinski CBE, still recites St. Teresa’s short prayer every day: ‘It’s so simple, yet profound: it addresses the whole question of achieving a deep-seated peace: of sorting out one’s inner balance, one’s energies and priorities, with God as the anchor of all things. “Patience obtains everything” I find a very powerful concept. St. Teresa was a deeply impressive, nurturing and sustaining character, one to whom I feel very closely drawn. I hope this project may help put more people in touch with her and her remarkable life.’

The Sixteen’s Founder and Conductor Harry Christophers, says: “Once again it is John Studzinski, through his inspirational Genesis Foundation, who has been the architect of this project. His total belief in the profound writings of these two remarkable saints has resulted in three contrasting composers, Ruth Byrchmore, Tarik O’Regan and Roderick Williams, setting to music St. Teresa’s prayer and St. John of the Cross’s poem. They have all rewarded us with very individual and highly personal insights into these texts.”

The disc also features one further work from each of the composers - O’Regan’s O vera digna hostia which was written for Winchester Cathedral; Byrchmore’s A Birthday composed in 2004 as a St. Cecilia’s Day anthem for the joint choirs of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral and based on the famous poem by Christina Rossetti; and Williams’s O Adonai which was commissioned by Jeffrey Skidmore for his Birmingham-based choir Ex Cathedra.

O GUIDING NIGHT

The Spanish Mystics

UK Release Date: May 2011
Catalogue Number: COR16090

Tarik O’REGAN fleeting, God*
O vera digna hostia
Beloved, all things ceased*

Roderick WILLIAMS O Guiding Night*
Let nothing trouble you*
O Adonai

Ruth BYRCHMORE The Dark Night*
Prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila*
A Birthday

* Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation

CONTACTS:
For information about Harry Christophers and The Sixteen
Claire Willis, ElevenTenths PR
Tel: 01544 320048 / 07951 600362 Email: claire [dot] williseleventenths [dot] co [dot] uk
For review copies or further information about CORO
Cath Edwards, The Sixteen Productions
Tel: 01865 793999 Email: caththesixteen [dot] org [dot] uk
For information about the Genesis Foundation
Simon Millward, Albion Media
Tel: 020 3077 4940 Email: simonalbion-media [dot] com

NOTES
St. Teresa of Ávila, also called St. Teresa of Jesus, baptised as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was born in 1515 and was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be, along with St. John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. In 1622, 40 years after her death, she was canonised by Pope Gregory XV, and in 1970 named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Her books, which include her autobiography, The Life of Teresa of Jesus, and her seminal work, El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), are an integral part of the Spanish Renaissance literature as well as
Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practices as she entails in her other important work Camino de Perfección (The Way of Perfection). She died in 1582.

St. John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) was born Juan de Yepes Alvarez in 1542. A major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, St. John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with St. Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He was canonised as a saint in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII and he is one of the 33 Doctors of the Church. When his feast day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1738, it was assigned at first to 24 November, since his date of death was impeded by the then existing octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This obstacle was removed in 1955 and in 1969 his feast day was moved to his date of death, 14 December. He died in 1591.

Tarik O’Regan
Born in London in 1978, Tarik O’Regan was educated at Oxford University and subsequently at Cambridge. His work has garnered two 2009 Grammy nominations (including Best Classical Album), two British Composer Awards and an NEA Artistic Excellence Grant. He has held the Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship at Columbia University and a Radcliffie Institute Fellowship at Harvard. Other appointments include positions at Trinity and Corpus Christi Colleges in Cambridge, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and Yale University. 2010 marked the premiere of O’Regan’s BBC Proms commission, Latent Manifest, by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the broadcast of a self-penned documentary, Composing New York, which he presented for BBC Radio. In 2011 Heart of Darkness, his opera based on Joseph Conrad’s novel of the same name, will be premiered at the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre and the Acallam Na Senórach, his third album on the Harmonia Mundi label, will be released.
www.tarikoregan.com

Roderick Williams
Although better known to some as a baritone soloist, Roderick Williams’s reputation as a composer is growing steadily. The BBC Singers recently broadcast his Advent antiphon O Adonai, a piece which was chosen for publication by Oxford University Press and which has received numerous performances around the UK since. Roderick studied music and composition at Oxford University and his association with the Oxford Girls Choir led to a full-scale opera, Alice in Wonderland, premiered in 1992 and revived twice since then. He has been much in demand as a choral and vocal composer. His commissions have included an oratorio for the Islington Music Festival, To Mary a Son, and Greyling for Southend Choral Society. He has also written music for the Brighton Festival and incidental music for an OUP production of Richard II. His work with I Fagiolini in collaboration with a choir from Soweto culminated in the album ‘Simunye’ for which he composed and arranged much of the music. He has received commissions from Ex Cathedra, Concordia, and Choros Amici as well as requests for songs from many of his singing colleagues. Roderick’s Jazz Choral Evensong service was written in 2006 in homage to Duke Ellington and was broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 in June that year. This was followed by a BBC Radio 4 commission of an accompanying Matins service, broadcast in February 2007. An expansion of Purcell’s Come ye Sons of Art was commissioned by the Southbank Centre to celebrate the re-opening of the Festival Hall in June 2007. Performed by The
Sixteen, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a 200 strong community Gospel choir, the piece, known as Purcell Goes Gospel, was requested for the Royal Gala concert in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen in October 2007.

Ruth Byrchmore
Born and educated in Birmingham, England, Ruth Byrchmore graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 1991, with an MMus in composition. In the same year, she became Parry Jerusalem Fellow and Composer-in-Residence at Wells Cathedral School, a post supported for two years by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. Ruth received a British Composer Award in December 2005, for the MBF St. Cecilia Day anthem A Birthday, performed in Westminster Abbey by the joint choirs of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. Ruth is also the recipient of the 2004 RPS-Radio 3 Award for Education for her Katerina opera project with Welsh National Opera. Ruth’s work has been commissioned for performance internationally and nationally, and
she has been broadcast on both BBC Radio 3 and 4. She is published by Faber and Chester-Novello. Ruth is also currently Head of Alumni Development and Undergraduate Tutor at the Royal Academy of Music, and teaches in the Academic Studies Department.

The Sixteen
Founded in 1979 by Harry Christophers, award-winning ensemble The Sixteen is recognised as one of the world's finest choral groups. Their current performing schedule includes a 31-concert Choral Pilgrimage to the cathedrals and abbeys of Britain performing the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria in celebration of the composer’s 400th anniversary. In 2011 the group launched a new training programme for young singers called Genesis Sixteen. Aimed at 18 to 23 year-olds, this is the UK’s first fully-funded choral programme for young singers designed specifically to bridge the gap from student to professional
practitioner. Since 2001 The Sixteen has been building its own record label, CORO, which will release its 96th disc in 2011. Recent recordings include the first volume of Monteverdi’s Selve morale e spirituale, Ceremony and Devotion (music by Byrd, Sheppard & Tallis) and Victoria: Hail Mother of the Redeemer which accompanies the 2011 Choral Pilgrimage. In June 2011 the ensemble will release the first in a new series of Palestrina recordings.
www.thesixteen.com

The Genesis Foundation
The Genesis Foundation is a UK-based charity set up by American banker John Studzinski in 2001 to find creative talents of the future. It aims to nurture emerging artists in the early stages of their professional careers. Genesis does this by providing supportive environments in which they can develop and grow to their full potential. Mentoring by established professionals is an important part of the process.
www.genesisfoundation.org.uk