Composer Enda Bates inspired by ancient tradition
COMPOSER Enda Bates’s new work, ‘Euphony’, will receive its premiere performance on Friday at the Cork International Choral Festival. Bates also has a work in the recent publication, Choirland, which will be presented by the National Chamber Choir on Saturday.
Bates describes ‘Euphony’ as “a very non-choral choral piece”. “It is inspired by the Sardinian cantu a tenore style,” he says. “That music is really unusual, especially in a European folk music context. It is sung in very close harmony in a very idiosyncratic style using guttural voices which produce overtones. It is a very, very rare style and I was entranced by it when I came across it three or four years ago. I have been devouring it ever since.
