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Francis Poulenc’s Figure Humaine is one of the greatest works ever composed for unaccompanied choir – composed in 1943 in occupied France, and based on resistance-inspired poems by Paul Éluard, it is a stunning 8-movement exploration of the grim realities of war, culminating in an optimistic and embattled cry for liberty in the face of oppression. Skylark’s innovative concert program, Clear Voices in the Dark, is a powerful cross-cultural statement about the expressive power of the arts, and specifically the human voice, in times of tragedy.
Interspersed between Poulenc’s stirring and complex settings, Skylark offers far simpler (but no less beautiful) musical images from the American Civil War era. Skylark shares some well-known pieces that have remained in the popular consciousness, as well as beautiful war-inspired songs that have long since been forgotten (and only found thanks to the Duke University Historical Archives). |
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This LIVE recording includes two Skylark commissions by composer/librettist Nell Shaw Cohen.
Sauntering Songs: A love letter to wanderlust, this World Premiere commission weaves together art songs, choral music, and literature into an expansive cantata on the theme of walking. Influences from rock, folk, and musical theater shine in a lyrical and evocative score, marrying Skylark’s voices with an instrumental quartet. From Walt Whitman to the present day, Sauntering Songs celebrates diverse characters who search for freedom and fulfillment through subversive journeys on foot. Recorded LIVE April 23, 2023 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Newburyport, MA. Transform the World with Beauty: Inspired by the flowering of visual art and poetry in Victorian Britain during the 1840s-1870s, this beautiful 3-song set was commissioned and performed as a part of Skylark's Masterpiece program. Recorded LIVE on April 7, 2019 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. |
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On February 17, 2023, three-time GRAMMY®-nominee Skylark, led by Artistic Director Matthew Guard, announces the release of La Vie en Rose, Skylark’s innovative classical-crossover collaboration with GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Joy Schreier. The album includes a delightful and delectable mix of music inspired by a trip to Paris, exploring stunning French and Paris-inspired compositions from the last 150 years.
All thirteen Skylark artists on the album are featured in significant solo roles, spanning genres including classical art songs by Gabriel Fauré and Cecille Chaminade, mid-century jazz standards made famous by Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet, theatrical classics from Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein, and even contemporary French pop songs debuted by Dalida and Laura Fabian. Showcasing their “extraordinary breadth of programming” (Limelight Australia), Skylark’s artists also come together as an ensemble to deliver their signature “crystalline sound” (BBC Radio 3) in choral compositions from Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, and others, including world premiere arrangements from acclaimed composer Saunder Choi and veteran Boston Pops arranger Peter Mansfield. Throughout the album, GRAMMY®-nominated Joy Schreier offers her trademark “ideal support” at the piano (The Washington Post), culminating in a gorgeous solo performance of D’Un Jardin Clair by Lili Boulanger. |
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Skylark again partners with master storyteller Sarah Walker to offer a new musical interpretation of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Working from the original text abridged by Artistic Director Matthew Guard, Composer Benedict Sheehan (our recent collaborator for Once Upon A Time) has created a new concert-length story score that weaves familiar Christmas carols into the fabric of the Dickens story. Bringing timeless carols of the season together with the beloved characters of Charles Dickens promises to create an unforgettable new version of a Christmas classic.
A Christmas Carol is now also available on Blu-Ray surround sound!
Click here to purchase. |
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It’s a Long Way explores our collective experience of living through the 19 months since our last Skylark concert. It has been a time of great disruption, of isolation, of fear, and of loss, but also a time for reflection, for hope, for growth, and for action. While not arranged in a strictly chronological sense, the album explores a range of emotions we have experienced in 2020 and 2021. In addition to pieces arranged for choir, more than half a dozen Skylark singers are featured as soloists on an album that was recorded in a range of formats and formations over four months. Several extensive pieces were recorded by 24 individual Skylarks in isolation (at home, or alone in a studio), reflecting the impossibility of assembling our full nationwide roster during a pandemic. Like many of our programs, this album includes a variety of musical styles. Sometimes the mood swings between pieces are wide and jarring. We think of each piece as a window into an experience that one or more of us had in the last 19 months. Interspersed through the program are three sections of the Nunc Dimittis by Arvo Pärt, a foreboding but beautiful piece that seems to capture the emotions I have had related to the pandemic. It’s a Long Way includes four world premiere recordings: three were commissions by Skylark for the year 2020, and one is a re-discovered gem composed by Georges Dupuy de Mèry in the fall of 1942, during another time of global fear and upheaval. The album joyously culminates in a large group performance of a stunning setting of Psalm 91, titled My Soul Hath Found Refuge in Thee by American composer Evelyn Simpson Curenton.
Browse the CD booklet here
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On February 14, 2020, Skylark released Once Upon a Time, our enchanting retelling of two classic fairy tales, “Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm and “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen, poised to appeal equally to sophisticated children and happily susceptible adults. Once Upon a Time retells these classic tales with a brilliant twist, intertwining Sarah Walker’s masterly spoken narration with an original “story score” by Benedict Sheehan, paired with an eclectic array of choral compositions including works by Leonard Bernstein, Morten Lauridsen, Francis Poulenc, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Veljo Tormis, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Robert Pearsall.
“Destined to live happily ever after”
Gramophone |
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We are pleased to release new live CD recording of A Century of Carols, our magical 2019 Christmas Concert, recorded by Antonio Oliart Ros of GBH Boston at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Newburyport. 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, held annually at King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England. To celebrate this centenary, Skylark Artistic Director Matthew Guard and colleagues in Cambridge meticulously researched the history of this service and the angelic music that has graced its Christmas broadcasts over the last century. After four packed performances in 2018, Skylark reprised this stunning program in 2019 (with some exciting new additions!), presenting beloved carols that connect our audiences to one hundred years of celebrations of the holiday spirit. Browse the magical full-color concert program book HERE.
“Profoundly moving and beautifully executed"
The Cape Cod Times |
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Skylark's performance of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (‘Vespers’), in October 2019, was the first ever collaboration of its kind: a GRAMMY-Award nominated vocal ensemble combining forces with three incredible, world-renowned basso profundos to present the masterpiece for a cappella choir. This album is the group's first LIVE performance release, and was recorded at St. Paul Parish in Cambridge, MA on October 27, 2019.
"Some concerts are so deeply moving that they act as a balm, traveling straight from the stage to your heart. Such was Sunday’s concert [at St. Paul Parish]. It was a performance that, even judged by this outstanding ensemble’s customary standard, was unusually brilliant."
The Arts Fuse |
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Conceived for Skylark's international debut on the evening of Good Friday at Tenebrae's prestigious Holy Week Festival in London, this highly original album progresses through the scriptural seven last words of Christ on the Cross. This dramatic recording features uniquely American choral works and choral music from other regions of the world, pairing the music of William Billings and the Sacred Harp with the music of contemporary composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. Skylark recorded this album for international release in partnership with the GRAMMY Award-winning Sono Luminus label. The Sono Luminus package for Seven Words from the Cross includes both CD and Pure Audio Blu-ray with 9.1 Auro-3D and 5.1 Surround Sound.
"The ensemble is excellent, the solos beautifully taken, and the whole sequence is thoughtfully designed and luminously recorded"
BBC Record Review |
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Late in 2016, after Skylark’s third year of performing an ever-evolving Christmas concert based around the music of Hugo Distler, our friends and supporters urged us to consider recording our unique program. As 2017 marked the 75th anniversary of Distler’s passing, it seemed to be a perfect time to create this recording. Structured around Distler's seven variations of the hymn Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen (Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming), Winter’s Night is a serenely beautiful album that marks our inaugural recording for the Christmas season.
“The singing by Skylark’s 12 voices is of the highest standard for any area or any repertoire....I loved it. Strongly recommended.”
Classics Today |
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In Crossing Over, Skylark shares texts and compositions that depict the dream state at the end of life. Featuring unique voices in choral composition from around the world, and including several world premiere recordings, Crossing Over takes audiences on a musical and emotional journey that taps deeply into the human spirit.
“gorgeous, evocative, and other-worldly"
Second Inversion To learn about the journey of the album, read the Story of Crossing Over in three parts on the Skylark blog.
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