O My People

Commissioned by Eamonn Quinn for Louth Contemporary Music Society with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland/ An Chomhairle Eala on. World Premiere on 25th October 2008 at St. Patrick’s Church, Dundalk, by Polyphony conductedbyStephen Layton.

This moving Byzantine text is taken from the Service of the Twelve Gospels, celebrated at one o’clock on the morning of Good Friday in the Orthodox Church. The words are taken from Hosea, but given aChristiancontext by the Byzantine poet. The final sacred monosyllable ‘OM’, from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, denotes The Eternal.