UPON SILENCE

For composer George Benjamin, Upon Silence – directly inspired by Purcell’s Fantasias – brought a welcome end to a period of writer’s block. Its text, a poem by W. B. Yeats, portrays three historical figures, absorbed in silent contemplation: Julius Caesar, Helen of Troy and Michelangelo, who is busy painting. The program presents Purcell’s as a timeless original, along with new music for gamba consort.