MOIRA SMILEY from the US Singing workshop & concert + Rhizome string quartet + Rolling Harmony

Join world-renowned singer/song leader Moira Smiley from the US in Bath for an afternoon and evening immersed in incredible old songs and inventive, joyous new sounds.

“An impeccable musician, gracious, collaborative, kind and open

Moira Smiley is a Grammy-nominated singer, composer, and educator renowned for her mastery of the voice and ability to inspire singers of all levels. Moira is a celebrated educator, teaching at leading musical institutions and inspiring singers of all backgrounds. She’s published over 100 choral works that are sung by singers worldwide. With a deep respect for the cultural roles of singing, Moira blends teaching, composing, and performing to empower communities and celebrate the transformative power of music.

Known for her rich voice and dynamic stage presence, Moira has collaborated with some of the most celebrated names in music, including Tune-Yards, Eric Whitacre, Chris Thile, Hilary Hahn, and Morten Lauridsen. As a member of Tune-Yards, she has performed on major platforms such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the UK’s Later… with Jools Holland. Recently, she performed & recorded for Chris Thile’s project ‘Attention!’ and Laurie Anderson’s ARK.

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.

2:30 – 5:30pm Singing workshop with Moira Smiley
Joyous, multi-layered singing, unusual folk songs, vocal freedom, movement & creativity
Discover and develop flexibility within your own voice and range – both technically and artistically. Moira will lead warm-ups, 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.

7:30 – 9:30pm Moira Smiley, Rhizome String Quartet and Rolling Harmony in concert
Doors open 7pm

In a special collaboration, the evening concert will feature songs from Moira's Rhizome Project album, performed with a string quartet curated by the acclaimed Balladeste (Tara Franks and Preetha Narayanan) with guest strings Laura Moody & Flora Curzon, and Rolling Harmony vocal ensemble. 

The Rhizome Project features ancient Appalachian, Anglo Celtic 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.

Balladeste | "...very very special indeed" BBC Radio 3 - InTune

TICKETS

£48 Combined Singing workshop & Concert ticket

£36 Singing workshop only

£22 Concert only

About Moira

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.

She is regularly commissioned to write large-scale choral & chamber music works, with millions singing her choral music around the world. Moira has been featured in TED conferences, on BBC Radio and TV, NPR, ABC Australia, and live at countless venues from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall to Walt Disney Concert Hall and Royal Festival Hall. Smiley is known for enchanting audiences whether on stage, atop glaciers, inside ships or in cozy kitchens from Norway to Tasmania.

Moira continues to develop new experiences for singers, and is excited by the opportunity to share music with singers of all experience levels.

The Rhizome Project

“If this recording were a wine, I might describe it as having notes of old forest and island sand with a deep body of hiraeth, legs that extend through the glass and entangle themselves in the bookshelves of your childhood.” – Debora Ewing, Folkworks

Moira writes:

An album, a collection, a bundle, a root system, a packet of seeds, a rhizome…

Making a music album — maybe especially in an era when most of us listen to singles, playlists and fragments — can invite a listener into a collection of ideas or feelings that make more sense when gathered together. Curating an album of folk songs that ‘formed me’ helps me make sense of the new sounds I create today. Gathering these songs, these stories and these pictures helps me know why certain songs (and people) keep nurturing and challenging me across decades — allowing me to remain a ‘resonant reed’.

I feel very lucky to have grown up with a sense of songs as shared treasures, like stones, shells, leaves and other tiny things gathered on a walk to share later with others. In the album’s accompanying book (The Rhizome Song Stories) are highly subjective, personal stories of one musician’s way of making sense of the world. This book accompanies The Rhizome Project album, but I also believe it can travel solo.

Several of the songs in The Rhizome Project were the first songs to allow me the confidence to sing alone, while others outlined elemental ethics that my little voice could grow into. I remember realizing sometime around age 10 that I belonged to generations of little voices raised bravely and plainly – close to the natural world, and singing in spite of our insignificance. Therefore, songs raising a hand of protest also reminded me to catch wonder and awe in the other hand.

I am a worker bee for music, an introvert and dreamer who travels to make my living. One of the lessons of being in my forties is how deeply shaped I am by the landscape and people I come home to. I look to certain neighbors and friends to remind me of the myriad creative and practical ways to be human – right here, right now, in all the mess, the ordinary, painful and precious.

The Rhizome Project celebrates all the powerful ways we are connected, though, like the rhizome roots, those connections may be hidden or forgotten.

About Rolling Harmony

Rolling Harmony is a vocal ensemble from the South West of England, blending a unique combination of artistic and vocal experience. We perform a diverse programme of music rooted in English and American harmony singing traditions.

Rolling Harmony is continually evolving as an ensemble, exploring new repertoire and vocal styles, and collaborating with other performers. Formed by Jane Harris, Director of Songways in Bath, we bring together singers from Bath, Bradford on Avon, Shaftesbury and Taunton, united by a passion for vocal harmony and a love of performing. We are delighted to be collaborating with Moira for the first time.

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

PLEASE NOTE

• Tickets are non-refundable*. If you are unable to attend you are welcome to pass your ticket on to someone else.
• *If the event cannot take place due to the Covid situation or other circumstances, you will receive a full refund.
• Please bring your own bottle of water and refreshments.
• Please do not attend if you have any Covid-19 symptoms or a recent positive Covid test or if you feel unwell.