2025 Season

The Song Company - 2025 Season

“The 2025 season is a celebration of connection—across time, cultures, and the deeply personal journeys that music can inspire. Each program offers a unique exploration of relationships, whether through the soulful harmonies of Renaissance and medieval works or the striking contrasts found in contemporary compositions. We’re inviting audiences to experience music that resonates with our shared human experience, bringing voices together in powerful harmony.” – Jessica O'Donoghue, Co-Artistic Director

The Song Company - 2025 Season

Journeying to Finisterre 
Journeying to Finisterre is an evocative exploration of pilgrimage, not just across landscapes but deep within the self. Curated by Co-Artistic Director and Soprano Amy Moore, this program delves into the 12th Century Codex Calixtinus and 14th Century Libre Vermell de Montserrat—devotional manuscripts that guided pilgrims both physically and spiritually. We trace the Camino paths to Santiago de Compostela with Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance polyphony, including Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Versa est in Luctum which echoes through time in Joseph Twist’s setting of the same text. Paul Stanhope’s Explorer’s Journal draws us deep into the natural world, and Anne Cawrse’s Pilgrim Psalms offer a contemporary reflection on spiritual journeys, the quest for inner connection and the timeless search for meaning.

Love's Four Seasons
Love’s Four Seasons invites audiences into the intimate landscape of relationships, tracing the emotional highs and lows of love through the changing seasons. Led by Guest Director Eamonn Dougan (The Sixteen, I Fagiolini, Britten Sinfonia Voices), the ensemble explores the dramatic richness of Italian madrigals, alongside contemporary works that echo the timelessness of love.

From the longing and courtship of Spring with Monteverdi's Sfogava con le stelle and Barbara Strozzi’s Pietosissimo amore, to the passion of Summer with Gesualdo’s Deh, coprite il bel seno, the program journeys through Autumn’s doubt and separation, culminating in Winter's loss and mourning. Featuring composers Strozzi, Monteverdi, Gesualdo, and modern voices Dove, Skempton, and Hughes, Love’s Four Seasons explores shared human experiences of intimate connection.

Pairings & Odd Couples
Pairings and Odd Couples is a bold exploration of musical contrasts, curated by Guest Director Huw Belling. This eclectic program brings together works from different countries and eras, placing composers in fascinating dialogue. Estonian chant meets Irish modernism, while the premiere of Belling’s Pru Vir offers a fresh response to Guerrero’s Prudentes Virgines. The program also delves into the timeless versatility of J.S. Bach, highlighting his enduring influence.

Spanning centuries, Pairings and Odd Couples ranges from early chant to contemporary compositions by living composers such as Finsterer and Pärt, creating a transcontinental conversation through time. These intriguing juxtapositions reveal the unexpected connections between seemingly disparate musical worlds, offering a compelling reflection on how music bridges cultures and eras.