SoundCathedral (after the Sibylline Prophecies) is an immersive ‘performance installation’ composed by Michael Norris to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Tudor Consort for the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2026. It is conceived as a ‘loving deconstruction’ of the Prophetiae Sibyllarum (Sibylline Prophecies), a set of 12 motets written around 1550 by Franco-Flemish composer Orlando di Lasso (aka Lassus), revered by early choral groups for the futuristic, sumptuous harmonies that prophesy the kinds of modern chord progressions that would not become central to Western music for some 300 years.
Three of Wellington’s top ensembles, The Tudor Consort, Stroma and The Rangatuone Ensemble (taonga puoro), join forces to create this rich spatio-sonic experience. While the instrumental parts have been developed out of contemporary and creative inventions—the taonga puoro ensemble has been given significant improvisational latitude here—every note the choir sings comes from the Sibylline Prophecies in some way.
After the opening karakia and karanga, the singers of The Tudor Consort slowly process through the nave one by one, building up a thick texture created from the opening phrase of the first motet. Once the final singer has arrived at the front of the nave, we hear it sung ‘verbatim’, as it was originally composed by Lassus.
This is the only time we hear one of the motets in its original form, however. In the next sections, the motets are stretched, fragmented and reframed. In total, there are 15 different sections, each establishing its own textural and gestural ’environments’ for the chosen motet. In addition, each section has a central ’topic’ or ‘idea’, including concepts of ’time stretching’, ‘shimmering’, ‘oscillating’, ‘whirling’, harmonic spectra, deep bass resonances, responsorial counterpoint between choir and taonga puoro, and ’tintinnabulation’ (bell-like sounds). The choir climaxes on the phrase ‘Ipsa Deum vidi summum, punire volentem / Mundi homines stupidos’ (I saw the high God wishing to punish the stupid men of the earth), a phrase that seemed apt for 2025, when this piece was composed.
SoundCathedral aims to evoke a sense of the sublime, the mysterious and the ethereal. Over the course of its 76 minutes, listeners should feel as if they have been submerged in a glorious, sparkling ocean of sonic ephemera that echoes across the centuries.
The 15 sections of SoundCathedral:
- KARAKIA
- KARANGA
- PROCESSION / HĪKOI
- ARRIVAL / TAENGA
- PROLOGUE / WĀHINGA
- CLOUDS / NGĀ KAPUA
- SHIMMER / KĀROHIROHI
- RESPONSES I / NGĀ WHAKAUTU I
- WHIRL / KŌMIRO
- OSCILLATE / KŌPIUPIU
- AURORAS / TAHU-NUI-A-RANGI
- INFRASOUND / PANGURU
- RESPONSES II (HARMONICS) / NGĀ WHAKAUTU II (IRIRANGI)
- BELLS / NGĀ PEREA
- SCALES / NGĀ ĀWHATA