The Edinburgh Festival Chorus joins with our Rising Stars for a programme of American music from the 20th and 21st centuries.

The versatile Edinburgh Festival Chorus, under the baton of Sofi Jeannin, joins forces with an ensemble of our Rising Stars for a programme celebrating the rich diversity of American choral music.

Evocative hymns and love songs by Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland stand alongside powerful takes on contemporary political concerns, such as Gabriela Lena Frank’s ‘¡Chicanofóbia!’, a movement from her Jalapeño Blues. At the centre of the programme is Joel Thompson’s heartbreaking Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, settings of the final words of seven unarmed Black men before they were killed. Reena Esmail’s When the Violin offers a wordless response of sorrow.

The rest of the programme is a wonderfully varied choral journey across the USA in the company of some outstanding contemporary composers, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw and Jeffery Ames. Relax in a beanbag for a fully immersive experience.

Sung in English and Latin with English surtitles