EXCITING NEW OPPORTUNITY TO CO-COMMISSION
A SIGNIFICANT NEW CHORAL PIECE WITH WORDS BY
CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI
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To view the medieval carol texts click here.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss commissioning a carol please
contact Alison.

COVID-19 has silenced choirs and left their plans for the rest of the year in tatters.

The Canticle of Mary is an exciting opportunity for choirs to come together in commissioning and performing, (live, socially distanced or virtually as circumstances permit) a substantial new Christmas piece in December 2020. Alison says,
“I’m so excited about this piece! It will combine six little known medieval carol texts with a wonderful new poem The Canticle of Mary by           Tony Silvestri (whose beautiful words have been set by composers including Eric Whitacre and Ola Gjeilo and sung by thousands of choirs around the world), putting Mary’s side of the story.”

Alison is inviting choirs to commission and perform (December 2020) one of the carols, written for SATB with
​organ/piano accompaniment. Each carol will also have an introduction for soprano solo with choir and organ/piano accompaniment, setting the text of the stanza from The Canticle of Mary poem that will precede the carol in the full c.40 minute piece.  

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The carol texts vary in length and this is reflected in the commission fees, which range from £500 (+ scores) for a two and a half minute piece to £1000 (+ scores) for the longest text at five minutes. The scores and audio rehearsal resources will be made available through Composers Edition by the start of September 2020 and scores will contain any requested dedication and information about the commissioning choir.

The full 40 minute piece will be published in Spring 2021 and offered for first performance to commissioning choirs in December 2021 with a 20% discount on scores. The piece would then be published and promoted worldwide on general release for performance in December 2022 by Composers Edition.

Alison says, “As a singer and conductor myself as well as a composer, I am painfully aware that nobody knows what the situation will be for us come September and that the challenges choirs are facing in terms of programming, rehearsing and finance are immense. I also know how frustrating the virtual rehearsal process can be! This piece, whilst emphatically not conceived as a “virtual” piece will be written so it is both practical and enjoyable to sing, even if we are still unable to physically sing together. My hope is that its collaborative nature will help to maintain our collective love of singing, our choir communities and connect the choirs involved through the creation of new music.”

For a taste of Alison’s other carols listen to  I Sing of a Maiden and Those Things Three.

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To view the medieval carol texts click here.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss commissioning a carol please
contact Alison.