VOCES8: Let’s Fly Away at Center for the Arts

This performance will be ASL interpreted.

Grammy Award-nominated British a cappella ensemble VOCES8 makes its Center for the Arts debut with a performance that’s sure to inspire through the joy of song. As the world’s top streaming classical vocal group, VOCES8 is praised for “gorgeous sound, impeccable ensemble and intense responsiveness to text, harmony and melodic shape—all of the highest quality” (BBC Music Magazine). The group has performed at many notable venues from Wigmore Hall to Sydney Opera House with an extensive repertory that ranges from pop and jazz to classical music more than 800 years old. “Close harmony singing doesn’t get much more flawless than this” (The Times).

Taking its title from the exuberant final invitation of Come Fly with Me, Let’s Fly Away is a celebration of the extraordinary breadth and versatility of the human voice. Spanning over five centuries of music, the programme moves freely between sacred polyphony, romantic choral writing, contemporary song, jazz standards, folk melodies and pop classics.

From the radiant sonorities of William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Anton Bruckner to the searching lyricism of Arvo Pärt, Caroline Shaw and Paul Smith, and from the timeless sophistication of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart to the warmth of Ben Folds, Bobby McFerrin and Simon & Garfunkel, this programme offers a kaleidoscopic journey through VOCES8’s famed mixed repertoire.

Joyful, reflective, intimate and exuberant in turn, Let’s Fly Away is an invitation to experience VOCES8 at its most versatile and entertaining.

Repertoire: William Byrd – Laudibus in Sanctis Felix Mendelssohn – Richte mich, Gott Arvo Pärt – The Deer’s Cry Nat ‘King’ Cole – Straighten Up and Fly Right Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart, arr. Alexander L’Estrange – Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered Paul Smith – Kyrie Anton Bruckner – Locus Iste Caroline Shaw – and the swallow Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Magnificat Primi Toni

Interval

Mumford & Sons, arr. Jim Clements – Timshel Bobby McFerrin – Psalm 23 Ben Folds, arr. Jim Clements – The Luckiest Franz Schubert – Liebe The Beatles, arr. Jim Clements – Free as a Bird Simon & Garfunkel, arr. Alexander L’Estrange – The Sound of Silence Irving Berlin, arr. Jim Clements – Cheek to Cheek Bart Howard / arr. Alexander L’Estrange – Come Fly with Me (To the Moon)