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For more information please visit www.eXireland.com
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Contact: Caitríona O’Leary, Tel. (01) 845.4447
Mob. (086) 407.1984
Email. [email protected]
New Irish Early Vocal Music Group
eX Celebrates J.S. Bach’s First Cantata “Christ Lag in Todes Banden”
(BWV 4) Honouring the 300th Anniversary of its First Performance
---------------------------------Members of Early Vocal Music Group eX
Pauline Graham, Soprano
Caitríona O’Leary, Mezzo-Soprano, director
Jacek Wislocki, Tenor
Mark Ennis, Bass
Produced by Paula Heil Fisher and Eric Fraad
Music Direction, Caitríona O’Leary and Michael Quinn – Stage Direction, Eric Fraad
Choreography, Junk Ensemble: Megan and Jessica Kennedy
Scenic Design, Liam Ryan –Costume Design, Ruth Rekka - Lighting Design, Cormac Veale
Hair Design, Neil Gogoi - Make up Design, Jill McKay
“Christ Lag in Todes Banden” (BWV 4)
(Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death)
J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
Sunday, 8th April, 8 p.m.
Pavilion Theatre
Dun Laoghaire
€18 (€14 concession)
Tel: (01) 231 2929
Monday, 9th April, 8 p.m.
The Helix (The Theatre)
DCU, Glasnevin
€15 (€7 concession)
Tel. (01) 700 7000
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Thursday, 12th April, 8 p.m.
St. Mary’s Church of Ireland, Navan
€10 (€7 concession)
Tel: (01) 835 8014
Presented by Meath County Council Arts Office
Christ Lag in Todes Banden (BWV 4)
On Easter Sunday 1707 the twenty-two year old Johann Sebastian Bach auditioned for the position of
organist for the church of St. Blasius in Mülhausen, Germany. The audition for the chief musical
position of the city required the applicant to compose a cantata. The work Bach wrote and performed
is considered his first sacred vocal work. The chorale Christ lag in Todes Banden was adapted in
1524 by Martin Luther from the Easter chant, Victimae Pascali Laudes and the hymn Christ ist
Erstanden and later treated as the basis for compositions by many German composers of the 16 th
and 17th centuries including Schütz, Schein, Praetorius, Pachelbel and Buxtehüde. Thus when Bach
wrote his first cantata in 1707 he was well aware of those he would be comparing himself to and
whom his judges would be comparing him with; the pantheon of great German Baroque composers.
Bach’s Christ lag in Todes Banden written in eight movements is a mere twenty minutes in duration
yet in this short span the composer – using the hymn’s melody as the basis for each movement creates a work of startling invention, symmetry, intensity, and solemnity. One of Bach’s only cantatas
in the Middle German style written before Italian opera was to influence his notions of vocal writing,
this Cantata harkens back to an earlier tradition, one from which the composer’s roots spring and
from where his great artistic and spiritual powers emerged.
eX, Ireland’s newest professional early music vocal ensemble, will perform a concert in two parts
celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the composition and premiere of Bach’s first cantata, Christ Lag
in Todes Banden. Part One will include the chants and hymns from which Christ Lag in Todes
Banden is derived, and early German baroque Easter compositions including Johann Hermann
Schein’s Christ Lag in Todes Banden. Part Two of the concert will feature a theatrical staging of
Bach’s Christ Lag in Todes Banden (BWV 4) directed by American opera and theatre director, Eric
Fraad. Mr Fraad’s concept creates a contemporary musical theatre work evoking aspects of medieval
church drama (passion and morality plays) as well as the rich symbolism of Luther’s text and its
musical setting by Bach. Joining eX will be Consort eX, an ensemble of Ireland’s finest early music
instrumentalists: Anita Vedres, Hannah Tibell, Carla Vedres and Marja Tuhkanen led by organist
Michael Quinn. Junk Ensemble’s Megan and Jessica Kennedy will choreograph and perform with the
ensemble.
The young painter Liam Ryan will create the scenic design. Mr. Ryan, is a native of Cork, and was
awarded the Taylor Prize by the Royal Dublin Society in 2006.
eX was founded in 2006 by BMG / EMI recording artist Caitríona O’Leary to bring a fresh and
virtuosic approach to the performance of early vocal music. In December 2006 eX toured Ireland
receiving standing ovations with Ex Tenebris, a staged and choreographed concert of medieval and
renaissance vocal Christmas music. The ensemble’s future projects include a new performance of the
Dublin Troper, concerts based on the works of Italian Mannerist Carlo Gesualdo and early English
Renaissance composer, astronomer and mathematician, John Dunstable.
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Founder Caitríona O’Leary is a former member of the renowned early music ensembles Sequentia,
The Harp Consort and Jogloresa, Well known for her recordings and performances of Medieval,
Renaissance and traditional Irish music, she has made eleven recordings for BMG, EMI Virgin
Classics, Avie and Vox and has performed as a soloist at numerous international early music festivals
and many of the world’s great concert venues including Lincoln Center in New York and the Royal
Albert Hall in London.
American opera and theatre Director/Producer Eric Fraad specializes in creating innovative works
founded on early music sources. His productions have been performed to critical and public acclaim
at theatres and festivals in Europe and America. Mr. Fraad has worked with Producer Paula Heil
Fisher for the past twenty years. In 1993 they founded Millennial Arts Productions in New York, NY a
company celebrated for its productions of opera, music theatre and film.
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