The Carice Singers: Pärt @ 90

Standard £32 // Solidarity £41.60 // Under 30 £7
Advance booking required

Our Solidarity ticket price is an opportunity for audiences to support our work by purchasing a ticket at a slightly higher price (the cost of a Standard ticket plus 30%). Read more about Solidarity prices here.

The Carice Singers:
Clover Willis soprano
Alice Beverley soprano
Elspeth Piggott soprano
Olivia Hugh-Jones soprano
Anna Semple alto
Joy Sutcliffe alto
Eleriin Müüripeal alto
Nathan Mercieca alto
Edward Woodhouse tenor
Matthew Howard tenor
Hugh Beckwith tenor
Jacob Ewens tenor
David Le Prevost bass
Jonty Ward bass
Stuart O’Hara bass
Thomas Lowen bass

George Parris conductor
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent organ
Sam Milton percussion

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (Lithuania, 1973)
Aletheia (2022) 15’ UK Premiere

Lotta Wennäkoski (Finland, 1970)
Valossa (2013) 4’

Perttu Haapanen (Finland, 1972)
Readymade Alice (2012) 3’

Arvo Pärt (Estonia, 1935)
Sarah was Ninety Years Old (1976/1989) 25’

Joel Järventausta (Finland, 1995)
There will come soft rains (2022) 8’ UK Premiere

Arvo Pärt (Estonia, 1935)
The Beatitudes (1990/91) 7’

Click here to view programme note

Making their hcmf// debut, The Carice Singers with conductor George Parris perform a programme of extraordinary emotional depth and sonic colour, exploring Baltic mysticism, Nordic vibrancy and the human response to conflict. Central to the concert are two seminal works by Arvo Pärt, Sarah was Ninety Years Old (1976) and The Beatitudes (1990), performed together with renowned organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent – a close collaborator of Pärt who originally premiered and recorded these works with the composer in the 1980s.

The concert opens with the UK premiere of Aletheia (2022) by Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė. Composed in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the work reflects on the fragility of truth, the shattering of peace, and the resilience of the human spirit. Its Greek title – meaning ‘disclosure’ or ‘truth’ – marks it as both an act of remembrance and a call to urgent attention.

The programme also features an impressive selection of contemporary Finnish choral works that contrast and complement this spiritual intensity. Lotta Wennäkoski’s Valossa (2013) and Perttu Haapanen’s Readymade Alice (2011) explore rich vocal textures and inventive harmonic landscapes, while Joel Järventausta’s There Will Come Soft Rains (2022) offers shimmering, contemplative soundscapes.

Together, these works celebrate the choral tradition’s daring imagination and emotional range, promising a concert experience that is at once contemplative, vivid, and utterly captivating.

Produced by hcmf// as part of The Current Climate; supported by Estonian Centre of Contemporary Music, Music Finland, Lithuanian Culture Institute and Music Information Centre Lithuania; also supported by Hinrichsen Foundation, Vaughan Williams Foundation and hcmf// Benefactor Karen Dawe, in loving memory of Mervyn Dawe

The Carice Singers’ Arvo Pärt at 90 season is generously supported by The Radcliffe Trust

Photo: The Carice Singers © Lidia Crisafulli