Brighton Festival: A Sea Symphony

Programme

Using texts from poet Abou Saîd and author Amin Maalouf, leading Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho conjures voyages and marine moods in music of profound power and beauty. The piece draws on chorus and orchestra for its elemental depiction of humankind’s place in the order of Nature. Saariaho describes Oltra Mar ‘Across the sea, the origin of life, humanity travels from one continent to another throughout time, founding and burying cultures and languages, always carrying the two central mysteries of human life: love and death’.

Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, setting words by poet Walt Whitman, is an epic companion piece. 2022 marks Vaughan Williams 150th anniversary and his vast evocation of the ocean and the unfathomable depths of the human condition is an exhilarating showcase.

Acclaimed soloists Gweneth-Ann Rand and Duncan Rock, alongside the massed ranks of the Philharmonia Orchestra and Brighton Festival Chorus, bring Brighton Festival to a close on a suitably mammoth scale.