Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble : Pierrot Lunaire

Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble expands to include soprano Aoife Miskelly and conductor Sinead Hayes in the interpretation of this early 20th Century masterpiece by Arnold Schoenberg. Written in 1912, Pierrot Lunaire Op21. is an exppressionist melodrama combining atonality with " sprechstimme", a vocal technique somwhere between singing and speaking. The work is based on a German translation of a setting of a cycle of 21 poems by Belgian writer Albert Giraud.



It is wholly apporpriate work for Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble to interpret as the instrumentation of the ensemble (flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano) has only become standard since the work's inception. As a result of the success of Pierrot Lunaire many other works now exist for this instrumentation.



This concert will begin with a brand new work for solo piano, Haykal, by Belfast composer and ensemble member Simon Mawhinney, performed here by the composer.