June 2004
The Tudor Consort and Gate Seven orchestra collaborate on New Zealand premiere
Two of Wellington’s premier performing groups are joining forces to present the first New Zealand performance of a key
choral work of the 1990s.
The Tudor Consort, “Wellington’s superb chamber choir” (The Dominion Post), and contemporary music ensemble Gate Seven
are collaborating for the New Zealand premiere of James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross.
The premiere performance is on Saturday 21 August at 8pm at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Scottish-born MacMillan is “the most exciting young British composer to have emerged in the 1990s” (The Guardian). Seven
Last Words, composed in 1993, is a seven-movement cantata for string orchestra and chamber choir. It is a passionate
work, rich with pathos and emotion.
“Seven Last Words is significant because it is the work that put this young Scottish Catholic on the map as an
internationally recognised composer,” says Gate Seven conductor Ewan Clark.
“The work is immediately striking because of its emotional impact and for its supreme beauty – both qualities that
audiences long for and often don’t find in other sophisticated modern art music today.”
Such modern repertoire is new fairly territory for The Tudor Consort, which is known nationally and internationally for
its critically acclaimed performances of Renaissance and Tudor repertoire, but the group’s pure celestial sound is
perfect for this modern work.
The skilful young players of contemporary music ensemble Gate Seven will be at home in the tricky string writing.
“MacMillan’s cantata is perfect for this concert because it meets Gate Seven’s goal of making contemporary art music
more attractive to more people by programming works that meet people half way,” says Clark.
“[This] remarkable cantata … is shocking and consoling, lamenting and uplifting all at once” (The Times [London]).
THE TUDOR CONSORT WITH GATE SEVEN ORCHESTRA “SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS”: JAMES MACMILLAN WITH COMPOSITIONS BY
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY HONOURS STUDENTS AND “CANTICLES OF LIGHT”: BOB CHILCOTT
8pm Saturday 21 August 2004 Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hill Street $25 / $15 / $7 / Book online at Ticketek Visit
http://www.tudor-consort.org.nz
ENDS