March 8 is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. International Women's Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.
Sacred and Profane is always proud to champion women’s important contributions to music in our programming, and strive to feature the exceptional composing, performing, conducting, and educating done by women in all our concerts. This International Women’s Day, we’re turning the spotlight on Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist, as we prepare for the US premiere of her new work Day is here! at our upcoming concerts, Luminous Resonance: Music for Chorus and Strings. If you’ve been to an S&P performance in the past, chances are you’re familiar with Rehnqvist’s incredible music.
Sacred & Profane’s Artistic Director, Rebecca P.N. Seeman writes about programming Day is here! for our upcoming concerts:
I first began dreaming of a concert for choir and strings when Karin Rehnqvist, the fantastic Swedish composer whose music we frequently perform in our concerts, told me that she was working on a work for string orchestra and eight solo voices, for which she was choosing texts from the same collections of poetry by indigenous poets from various regions that had been the source of Songs From the North, the remarkable four-movement work she composed for us for our fortieth-anniversary concert in May 2018 (watch the video of our performance here). I was struck by the opportunity to perform a work that was something of a partner to Songs of the North, and asked her if she thought it could be re-conceived for soloists and choir. She liked the idea, and we agreed to discuss it more when the work was complete.
We needed an excellent string orchestra to work with to make this concert a reality. The first group that came to mind was the wonderful local Circadian String Quartet, whose violinist David Ryther is an old friend of mine from our undergraduate days at UC Santa Cruz. David’s remarkable skill, expressive musicality, and commitment to new music is something that is shared by the entire quartet, so I was thrilled when they agreed to partner with us, and recruit a top-rate ensemble of colleagues to complete the fourteen-piece orchestra.When Karin completed Day is here! and it had received its premiere in Stockholm, she sent me the score. We worked together to determine which parts could work well for the full ensemble, and which would be best in solo voices. Making this a reality with Sacred and Profane, our eight remarkable soloists, and the string orchestra in our rehearsals over the past couple of months has been thrilling and hugely rewarding for me. It is a demanding and moving work about the birth of the planet and our current situation confronting climate change, using Native American and other indigenous texts, as well as a beautiful Swedish hymn, to celebrate our abiding relationship with the natural world. Knowing Karin as I do, a person who spends weeks at a time on backpacking trips with her husband Hasse, and whose home outside of Stockholm sits perched on a wooded hill above a large and beautiful lake, I know that the environmental health of our planet concerns her greatly, as it does all of us.
Day is here! is about the natural world—its beauty, its solace, and our need for its sustenance. It holds all our emotions about the earth: our joy, our connection, and our deep fears about its demise. The work begins exuberantly, as we are surrounded by birds, insects, and other sounds of nature presented by both instruments and voices, while the text announces the waking of the earth with the rising of the sun in movements one and two.
"Day is here!" features extended techniques for strings to create a texture evocative of nature, such as harmonics, glissandi, jeté/ricochet bouncing bow strokes, and bow placement effects like flautando (near fingerboard) sul ponticello (on the bridge), and behind the bridge. Can you hear those woodland scenes?
More about Karin Rehnqvist:
The first woman to enroll in the composition program at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Karin Rehnqvist (b. 1957), is currently among the most frequently commissioned composers in Sweden. She has composed for such ensembles as the BBC Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio, Swedish Opera, Kronos Quartet, and many others. In 2009, Rehnqvist was appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the first woman to hold a chair in composition in Sweden. Her style is notable for blending Swedish folk music and art music. She has been a prolific composer of choral music throughout her career, and continues to champion music for choral ensembles of all levels and all types.
Rehnqvist’s music for mixed choral ensemble is characterized by contrast. She often writes in a warm manner for men’s voices and in a strong manner for women’s. She also frequently juxtaposes light and dark, both in her choice of text and in her use of timbre. Nearly all of her music is rooted in Swedish folk music. Her vocal music is notable for the use of kulning — a form of herding call, or lockrop, that was traditionally sung by female cowherds in Sweden. In Rehnqvist’s early music, kulning lines were given solely to women’s voices and primarily to solo singers, but as her style has matured, she has expanded the use of the form to be sung by all members of the ensemble, men and women alike.
Rehearsing with Circadian String Quartet
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this fantastic composer’s work, and the work of all women in music, not just on International Women’s Day, but every day! Hear this exuberant piece alongside local composer David Conte, contemporary choral favorite Eric Whitacre, and classical icon Ludwig van Beethoven for a concert of chorus and strings that will take you through a musical journey through the human experience, with poignancy and joy, depth and levity!
LUMINOUS RESONANCE: music for chorus and strings
Friday, March 13 at 8 PM
St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Ave, Berkeley
Saturday, March 14 at 8 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco