Nigel Short conducts "Meditation"

Conductor Nigel Short, renowned for his extreme precision on the podium and the boundless expressiveness he instills in his ensembles, presents a vocal program dedicated to meditation. The concert opens with John Tavener’s The Lamb, whose chromaticism and homophony evoke Byzantine music. Another highlight of this program is Sleep by American composer Eric Whitacre—a pioneer of the “wall of sound” technique—whose rich and complex harmonies swirl through the space of the sublime Copenhagen Cathedral. 

Film enthusiasts will recognize György Ligeti’s Lux aeterna, which appears in the memorable psychedelic sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Alongside the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, percussionist Mathias Reumert improvises subtle transitions between the contemporary masterpieces of Arvo Pärt and Peter Klatzow, and ancient works such as O Quam Mirabilis by Hildegarde of Bingen. The concert ends with the dazzling Northern Lights by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, whose contrasts evoke the night sky of the Arctic Circle, transposed into music…