Spells and Revelations

Enlightened voices speak across time, to our time, coming to life in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Revelations for baritone and chamber ensemble. The piece is based on the earliest known text in English by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. Little is known about the author of this work of spiritual devotion, other than she was an anchoress, or religious ascetic, of the 14th century who experienced a series of divine visions while in the throes of a serious illness. This inspiration touches on Aucoin’s exploration of how music and literature, throughout time, have amplified human emotions. “Like few other composers or curators of any age, Aucoin has a keen interest in learning and demonstrating how different genres and eras are linked.” (San Diego Union-Tribune) Freya Waley-Cohen’s Spell Book is drawn from a more contemporary source, the poems of Rebecca Tamás published in the 2019 collection Witch. Included are a set of “spells” the poet describes as taking us “into a realm where words can influence the universe.” In each of the sung spells in this work, Waley-Cohen looks for a moment or method of transformation: “Sometimes this is a specific moment of change within the song, sometimes it’s a sense of accumulation, and sometimes a shift of perspective.”