Having spent three weeks in Portland (Oregon) for a composing retreat before heading into the studio with the Choral Scholars at the end of February, Desmond heads back to Dublin this weekend to prepare the choir. The new album will be released on Signum Classics later in 2020.
His highly acclaimed work “The Body of the Moon” was commissioned by All Classical Portland in 2017 in anticipation of Portland’s first total solar eclipse since 1979. Drawing on Galileo’s letters, the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the universality of the humbling and magnificent experience of the eclipse, “The Body of the Moon” was premiered by the Resonance Ensemble with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra (Nancy Ives, cello soloist), Chris Whyte of the Portland Percussion Group and improvisational pop vocalist Erick Valle.