Libera Me, Domine

As a singing teacher, choir director and not least as a passionate professional choir singer, Irina Rebhuna is perfectly familiar with the possibilities of the human voice. And so it is hardly surprising that the Latvian musician born in 1988 has devoted herself especially to the composition of vocal music. Her sacred choral work Libera me, Domine for mixed a cappella choir (SSAATTBB) won the special prize for the 'best composition for 4-6 voices' at the International Composition Competition 'Musica Sacra Nova' 2016. This church music gem, in which the eponymous Gregorian chorale is intonated by one of the (two) bass baritone sections at the beginning – over a musicaltapestry woven by the remaining voices - and taken up again by all tenors at the end, is ideal for ambitious amateur choirs.

The idea behind this work, says the composer, is 'the human reflection on the uncertain – on death, on Judgment Day or on what is inexplicable to us. Such as humility, excitement, fear, and atonement. The chant ends without ending, there is no solution. Life goes on because we ask the following question again and again: What will happen next?'