The Psalms Project

Dialogues with Contemporary Sacred Music

SUNDAY 3 JULY 2022 19:30 BST

Institute of Contemporary Performance, London

Featuring Joseph Edwards, violin

Hosted by Leona Crasi

FREE * REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE HERE

Moderated by musician, scholar, and teacher Delvyn Case, this event is open to anyone. No religious background or musical experience is necessary. Attendees may participate in the discussion or simply enjoy the music and the conversation.

READ THE ARTICLE FROM THE STRAD MAGAZINE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS EVENT

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Left to Right: Sungj Hong, Joelle Wallach, Ng Yu Hng, Kirsten Strom, Delvyn Case, Joseph Edwards

Sungji Hong studied composition with Kyungsun Suh at the Hanyang University in Seoul. Subsequently completed her MMus with Robert Saxton and Paul Patterson at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and her Ph.D. in composition with Nicola LeFanu at the University of York in the UK. Over the last decade, Sungji's music has been performed by leading players and ensembles in over 46 countries and 213 cities. Her music has been widely broadcast in more than 17 countries (37 channels) and has been recorded and released on the Soundbrush, Elektramusic, Atoll, Dutton label and by ECM Records. Her music is published by Tetractys Publishing. Her CD release Stella Maris on the ECM New Series (ECM 1929), performed by the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval, received critical acclaim and reached the top ten on the Billboard Classical Chart and Itunes classics. Since it was released, her Missa Lumen de Lumine has been performed in over 83 cities around the world. Since 2018, Hong has been teaching composition at the University of North Texas. 

Joelle Wallach writes music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voices and choruses. Her String Quartet 1995 was the American Composers Alliance nominee for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The New York Philharmonic Ensembles premiered her octet, From the Forest of Chimneys, written to celebrate their 10th anniversary; and the New York Choral Society commissioned her secular oratorio, Toward a Time of Renewal, for 200 voices and orchestra to commemorate their 35th Anniversary Season in Carnegie Hall. Wallach grew up in Morocco, but makes her home in New York City, where she was born. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University respectively. In 1984 the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with John Corigliano, granted her its first doctorate in composition. Dr. Wallach served as Visiting Professor of Composition at the College of Music of the University of North Texas, while continuing to present pre-concert lectures for the New York Philharmonic.

Ng Yu Hng is a London-based Singaporean composer whose music has been performed internationally, in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His works explore musical intertextuality, where quotations and allusions from past idioms inhabit contemporary textures. His music has been performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, CHROMA, Lontano, Meitar Ensemble (Tedarim), Hill Quartet, Xin Saxophone Quartet, Philomel ensemble, and by soloists such as George Fu, Richard Uttley and Maria Marchant among others. His works were programmed at numerous prestigious venues and events, including at the CEME International New Music Festival (Tel-Aviv, Israel); the 10th Singapore Saxophone Symposium; Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church (London, UK); at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg (Nuremberg, Germany); and at the Coppice Miyoshi/Miyoshimachi Cultural Center (Japan). Upcoming projects include the premiere of a solo guitar work Microludes in southern France, and a cello sonata for Juan Aguilera Cerezo in Spain. He studied under Morgan Hayes at the Royal Academy of Music, supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust scholarship, and with Edward Nesbit at King's College London, achieving the Purcell Prize in Music. He was also variously taught by Hans Abrahamsen, Eleanor Alberga OBE,  Philip Cashian, Tansy Davies, Christopher Austin, Mr Phoon Yew Tien, among others.

Kirsten Strom is an emerging New Zealand composer, conductor and songwriter. Significant performances include the 2018 Asian Composers League Festival where her choral work 'Ktisis' painted the dawning hours of creation and the explosion of light into the universe at God’s words, “Let there be light.” Her work ‘Ice’ has been workshopped, recorded and performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra New Zealand Symphony, winning the Orchestra’s Choice Award in 2017. She also attended Etchings Festival in France, under the mentorship of Kaija Saariaho among others. Her début album Wavering Lines was released to online platforms by SDL Music in 2019. She is currently undertaking a Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music on scholarship. 

Delvyn Case, Deus Ex Musica founder, is an American musician, scholar, writer, speaker, and educator. He has spent 25 years developing projects for secular and religious audiences that explore music’s unique power to explore questions of spirituality in the contemporary world. His writings on music, faith, and theology have appeared in The Christian Century, Sojourners, Books and Culture, numerous online magazines. He has collaborated on projects with the Yale Institute for Sacred Music, Harvard Divinity School, Hebrew College, Boston College, and the parish of St Martin in the Fields (London), among many across the United States and Canada. As a composer, his music has been performed by over 80 orchestras across the world, as well as by the Borromeo Quartet, the New York Virtuoso Singers, and Grammy-winning artists Richard Stoltzman and the Chestnut Brass Company.  A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Case is Professor of Music at historic Wheaton College, a secular liberal arts college in Norton, Massachusetts.

Joseph Edwards began taking violin lessons with Sian Cobb in his home county of Monmouthshire. He went on to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School with Boris Kucharsky and Jenna Sherry, the Royal College of Music with Gabrielle Lester as an RCM Award Holder, and Kings College London with Clio Gould via a partnership with the Royal Academy of Music. Joseph is currently completing an MA Music (Ethnomusicology Pathway) at SOAS University, London, where he is a recipient of the Sir Jack Lyons scholarship. His most recent concert engagements include devising an educational project in collaboration with the Royal Ballet, appearing at the Great Escape Festival with singer-songwriter Flâneuse, as well as orchestral performances with the Bath Festival Orchestra, and the Knussen Ensemble in Aldeburgh. Solo, chamber, and orchestral highlights include appearances at Aldeburgh Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Gower Festival, BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, St. George’s Bristol, Konzerthaus Berlin, Barbican Hall, King’s Place, Bozar Brussels, and the Royal Festival Hall.  He has also participated in numerous international masterclasses with musicians such as Paul Watkins, Stephan Picard, Andras Keller, Alexey Igudesman, Paul Coker and Tanja Becker-Bender. Joseph is passionate about reaching varied audiences, playing and teaching in schools and care-homes around the country. He also has an interest in the many stylistic capabilities of the violin, regularly exploring contemporary repertoire, folk, and jazz.