Ireland: the new commission and its historical partner-piece
Keening by Evangelia Rigaki is a response to The Irish Ho-Hoane (anon) from the Fitzwilliam Virginals Book. The Irish Ho-Hoane is a short, homophonic piece from the 16th century whose title is derived from the Gaelic ochón, the lament found in many Irish keens or caoineadh. The new piece - alone among the commissions - does not include musical elements of its inspiration, but rather responds emotionally to the idea of keening, grief and lament. Evangelia writes 'the performer should feel and perform this piece as a ritual inspired by keening/lamentation', and she invites performers to choose their own speeds 'from excruciatingly slow to frenetic fast to neutral pace'. The commission is challenging and very powerful, including vocalisation, physical gesture and extended techniques (plucking and stroking strings inside the instrument, knocking on the wood. A significant part of the piece is the use of an e-bow, which creates a drone when placed on one of the strings.
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Left: Yonit Kosovske performing Keening, 2025
of Keening performed by Yonit Kosovske
Yonit Kosovske, video artistic direction
Ilani Smishkewych Kosovske, film and audio recording
Vlad Smishkewych (Now and Then Media, Ltd.), editing and mastering
SCORES
For Keening by Evangelia Rigaki, contact the composer.
Score excerpt below.
The Irish Ho-Hoane (anon) can be found in the Fitzwilliam Virginals Book, and on IMSLP (public domain) HERE
Evangelia Rigaki
Evangelia is a Dublin-based Greek composer. Having earned her Phd in composition from Royal Holloway, University of London, she completed her post-doc research fellowship at Humboldt University in Berlin and currently is the Head of the Music department at Trinity College, University of Dublin, teaching a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduat composition courses and curating the Music Composition Centre's public lectures and masterclasses.
Evangelia has a diverse compositional portfolio ranging from instrumental works to experimental music theatre, dance, performance art, installation and - especially - opera, including several operas produced by Irish National Opera.