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North American Premiere of Alexander L'Estrange's Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose at Medicine Hat College

Mar. 31, 2014

North American Premiere of Alexander L'Estrange's <em>Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose</em> at Medicine Hat College

On April 10, Bradley van Middelkoop directs the Medicine Hat College Adult, Children's and Girls’ Choirs alongside The Tartone Singers in the North American premiere of Alexander L’Estrange’s epic cantata, Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose. The performance takes place at Medicine Hat College Theatre in Alberta, Canada.

Commissioned by the Portsmouth Festivities and in partnership with the Mary Rose Trust, Ahoy! commemorates the discovery of King Henry VIII’s infamous warship, the Mary Rose, which sank nearly 500 years ago. The first performance was given at the Portsmouth Guildhall in 2013 by a consortium of choirs alongside the ‘Call Me Al’ Quintet, narrated by Hugh Dennis and conducted by Sam Gladstone. Following his widely successful piece Zimbe!, L’Estrange composed this new work as a fusion of Tudor music and sea shanties, with an added rhythm section, fiddle and piano accordion. L’Estrange elaborates:

Tudor music has long been a love of mine and I was delighted to find that many of the themes fit together wonderfully well with sea shanties. Both elements are an important part of our musical heritage in Britain and I feel passionately that our school children today should have the opportunity to perform these traditional songs within a modern context.

For more information on Alexander L’Estrange, please visit www.fabermusic.com.

Details on the premiere can be found at medicinehatmaestro.blogspot.co.uk.

Further information on Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose can be found at ahoymaryrose.com.

Alexander L’Estrange
Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose (2013)
canatata for SATB chorus, children’s choir and band (5 players)
text (Eng) traditional, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Henry VIII, William Shakespeare
piano, drum kit, piano accordion, violin, amplified double bass (or electric bass)
45’

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