Metronome - Caterina Schembri: Sea salt and turpentine

Album launch concert

Ficino Ensemble:
Macdara Ó Seireadáin, clarinet
Geraldine O’Doherty, harp
Elaine Clarke, violin 1
Danny McCann-Williams, violin 2
Nathan Sherman, viola
Ailbhe McDonagh, cello

Michelle O’Rourke, voice
Máire Carroll, piano

Opening solo piano set, including new work by Caterina Schembri

World premiere performance of Sea salt and turpentine by Caterina Schembri:
Soft charcoal over moonstone (for solo viola)
There is a willow (for voice, clarinet, viola, harp)
I wake up in the night when I dream in black and white (for two violins, viola, cello, voice)
It was only half as far (for clarinet, harp, two violins, viola, cello)
Sea salt and turpentine (for two voices, two violins, viola, cello)

Ergodos is proud to present the launch concert for Sea salt and turpentine, the debut album by Caterina Schembri, as part of the Metronome series. Caterina Schembri is an Italian-Colombian composer and producer based in Dublin. Sea salt and turpentine is her debut album, and showcases a deeply personal and highly sensitive approach to chamber and vocal music. 

By turns, these pieces offer thoughtful, spacious soliloquies; highly intricate weavings of lines and gestures; imagistic lyrics by the composer herself; and shimmering, lush soundscapes. Ficino Ensemble and vocalist Michelle O’Rourke perform in rotating subsets, giving way to a multicoloured palette. This is music in which every shade of every colour has meaning, and every subtle inflection of the thought is potent and special.

The music is an intimate portrait of the inner landscapes of the composer, dotted with rich naturalistic imagery, obnubilated symbols and literary allusions translated into music. Crafted harmonies over fluid streams and organic structures breathe introspectively, aiming to magnify nuance and detail. Each of the pieces works as an independent entity, but in conjunction they are threaded into the architecture of the whole, contained in a singular continuous space.

For this special album launch performance, Ficino Ensemble and vocalist Michelle O’Rourke will perform the album in entirety from beginning to end without breaks – an immersive, focussed audience experience. This main set will be preceded by a short opening solo piano set from acclaimed Irish pianist Máire Carroll, also featuring new compositions by Caterina Schembri.

The creation of the music on this programme was partially supported by a Music Bursary Award from The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

“There is a willow” was composed during participation in the 2022 Ficino Ensemble Composition Workshop, supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

The “Sea salt and turpentine” album on Ergodos has been produced with the support of an Arts Grant Funding award from The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Presented by NCH in association with Ergodos