Erato Ensemble Performs Vocal Music of Priaulx Rainier

On April 17 the Erato Ensemble presents a concert of the vocal music of visionary South African composer Priaulx Rainier at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver. Born at the turn of the 20th-century in South Africa of English-Huguenot parents, Priaulx Rainier’s early childhood was spent in a remote part of the country near Zulu land, where the language and music of the indigenous people, the sounds of wild animals, and the calls of the birds, would have a profound effect on the music she created.

Her first foray into the realm of composition came after she moved to London as a young adult, where she began making her living as a violinist, and received her first composition grants. She was eventually appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music and in 1952 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and Collard Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Rainier perfected a singular musical style built on minimalist techniques and triadic tonality, despite her profound knowledge of 12-tone and serial techniques. Her music spans all genres, and she is perhaps best known for chamber compositions, including a string quartet which was performed widely across Europe and recorded on Decca by The Amadeus Quartet. The quartet was also used in Doris Humphrey’s ballet Night Spell. The Vancouver concert features her tour-de-force vocal pieces Greek Epigrams, Dance of the Rain, Ubunzima, Cycle for Declamation, Prayers from the Ark, and Vision & Prayer.

Priaulx Rainier–Composer Profile

Go to www.eratoensemble.com for more on the concert.