Candlemas is the winter day that all the Church’s candles for the year were blessed, and in pre-Christian times, was a festival of the first stirring of spring. In Adorna, ancient monastic chants, sung annually through the centuries in cathedrals and abbeys to mark this feast, are transformed to give a new interpretation of light dispelling darkness. Stephen Burrows, alto David de Winter, tenor John Bowen, tenor Roland Robertson, baritone James Birchall, bass Jason Rebello, piano Recorded live in concert in Turner Sims Southampton, University of Southampton, 2020 |
It was obviously immediately that Jason and Opus Anglicanum shared a common goal: to explore together a mysterious, austere and magical zone, following the ancient paths of ritual and procession, in modes ancient and modern, the piano illuminating and complementing the voices, and exploiting the space. Together, with barless scores of square mediaeval notes, and tracts of Latin, they began to experiment. This developed into a concert programme built on chants for the winter feast of Candlemas, first performed in Wells Cathedral. Standing around the nave, empty but for Jason at the Steinway, with five singers in fading January light, the content and setting 'clicked' perfectly. The result is 'Adorna', now enhanced by two original new compositions by Jason, and recorded in live performance.
WELLS CATHEDRAL: SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 2022
ST MARTIN'S-IN-THE-FIELDS, LONDON: THURSDAY 3 FEBRUARY
The St Martin's-in-the-Fields concert is followed by a Crypt Late jazz performance by Jason Rebello and His Trio - Troy Miller, drums and Orlando Le Fleming, bass.
THAXTED FESTIVAL, ESSEX: 27 JUNE 2022, 7.30PM
LISTEN TO ADORNA
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London Jazz News - interview
London Jazz News - concert review
Jazz Journal, April 2022 (Matthew Wright)
Jazziz Magazine
Classical Music Daily
Jazzwise - April 2022 issue
ADORNA - Pre-Release Single links:
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