Join American singer-composer Moira Smiley in Bath for an afternoon and evening immersed in incredible old songs and inventive, joyous new sounds.
Singer, composer, and song-collector Moira Smiley has sung in arenas, cathedrals, kitchens, back porches, sound stages, and on glaciers. She has performed with the likes of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tune-Yards, Tim O’Brien, Eric Whitacre, Los Angeles Master Chorale, New World Symphony, Solas, and The Lyris String Quartet.
Moira has led vocal workshops and residencies at countless universities, colleges, high schools, conservatories, and musical organizations including the LA Master Chorale, Savannah Acoustic Music Seminar, Vancouver Youth Choir, Yale, and Oxford. Moira’s academic specialty is Early Music, and she has developed parallel experience with various folk traditions – especially early American, Irish, and Balkan vocal styles. By exploring the particularities of traditions, styles, and periods, she’s found something uniquely her own.
Moira continues to develop new experiences for singers, and is excited by the opportunity to share music with singers of all experience levels.
In a special collaboration, the evening concert will feature songs from Moira's Rhizome Project album, performed with a string quartet and Rolling Harmony vocal ensemble.
https://youtu.be/RiBSDsVDQU0?si=e1oW2U6GdPSInpwF
2:30 – 5:30pm Singing workshop with Moira Smiley
Discover and develop flexibility within your own voice and range – both technically and artistically. Moira will lead warmups, musical games, and the singing of new and old folk songs in rich vocal harmony. The workshop is open to singers of all levels and ages.
“An impeccable musician, gracious, collaborative, kind and open”
7:30 - 9:30pm Moira Smiley, Rhizome Quartet and Rolling Harmony in concert | Doors open 7pm
The Rhizome Project features ancient and original folk songs for soprano, string quartet and vocal ensemble, blending folk repertoire with classical instrumentation. The project celebrates the songs that shaped Moira as a young musician, and the ferocious, multi-textural power of a string quartet to surround these songs in storytelling splendor. Threaded through the ‘chamber-folk’ feeling of the album is Moira’s clear voice, wrapped in arrangements that are simultaneously minimalist and lush, reminding us of our shared 'sugar-in-the-ground' -- an unsentimental, underground connectivity that defies a divisive era.
There are many great places to eat between the workshop and concert, within a few minutes walk.
Parking The closest long stay car parks are Charlotte Street and The Podium.
