To Sing of Love - new album by The VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra
7 June 2024
‘To Sing of Love’ – the new album from The VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra is conducted by Barnaby Smith and features virtuoso violinist Jack Liebeck. Released on 7 June and taking its title from Taylor Scott Davis stunning new concerto: To Sing of Love: A Triptych, the album is centred around the themes of beauty, love and nature and invokes a glistening choral and orchestral soundscape. The album includes world premiere arrangements of famed works by Vaughan Williams, Eric Whitacre, and Rebecca Dale alongside the world premiere of Taylor Scott Davis’ new concerto To Sing of Love: a Triptych, and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb orchestrated by Imogen Holst.
VOCES8 is renowned for its imaginative collaborations and warm vocal lines - To Sing of Love emphasises the richness and textural depth of choral music magnified by orchestral forces and vice versa. To Sing of Love is released on 7 June as VOCES8 and Jack Liebeck commence a three-week tour of Australia and Singapore where Barnaby Smith makes his debut conducting Queensland Symphony Orchestra on 8 and 9 June to give the concert premiere of The Lark Ascending in this new adaptation with VOCES8 and Jack Liebeck, alongside Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds. ‘Effortlessly,’ the first movement of Taylor Scott Davis’ To Sing of Love: a Triptych, is premiered at Sydney Opera House on 23 June.
Sleep - Eric Whitacre arr. Jim Clements
The title work To Sing of Love: A Triptych began as a setting of Mechthild of Magdeburg’s poem, “Effortlessly”, a tribute to Taylor Scott Davis’ friendship with Barnaby Smith and originally written for his wedding and son’s christening. 
The composer explains: “When [Barnaby] asked for a 20-ish minute work for VOCES8 and violinist Jack Liebeck, I had the idea to make “Effortlessly” the first movement of three. I then handed that text to my friend and poet, Milton Brasher-Cunningham, and asked him to create two responses (“Perilously” and “Generously”)… What we have now, I think, is a work that celebrates our love for one another and the higher calling of that love.”
The VOCES8 Foundation leads the music world with its innovative business and music education models: its ensembles include VOCES8, Apollo5, Lyyra, its US and UK Scholars and the VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra, while its dedicated Foundation team delivers world-class performances, as well as learning and participation projects through the VOCES8 Digital Academy and its VOCES8 Method to ensure ‘Music Education For All’.
Tracklist
- Rejoice in the Lamb, Op. 30 Benjamin Britten, orchestrated by Imogen Holst
- The Lark Ascending* Ralph Vaughan Williams, arr. Paul Drayton, adapted by Barnaby Smith
- The Cloths of Heaven* Rebecca Dale, orchestrated by Iain Farrington
- To Sing of Love: A Triptych* Taylor Scott Davis
- Prelude
- Effortlessly
- Perilously
- Generously
- Sleep* Eric Whitacre, orchestrated by Jim Clements
Dates
- 24 May 2024 Single: Sleep (Eric Whitacre, orchestrated by Jim Clements)
- 7 June 2024 Album: To Sing of Love
- 8 & 9 June 2024 VOCES8 & Jack Liebeck: Queensland Symphony Orchestra at Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, Australia
- 21 June 2024 VOCES8 & Jack Liebeck: Snow Hall, Canberra
- 23 June 2024 VOCES8 & Jack Liebeck: main stage, Sydney Opera House, Australia
For more information about this project, Barnaby Smith, Jack Liebeck or Taylor Scott Davis, please contact us. To listen to 'To Sing of Love', please click here.