From the Lord goodness,
from myself nothing. Till death
I will chart his praise.

All creation dwells
in a leaf, bird, bloom or word
in my Maker's book.
                             Gerda Stevenson

Esther Inglis arrived in Leith aged three in 1574. Leith was also where she died on 30 August 1624. Her parents were French protestant refugees, who in November 1574 opened a French school, supported by Edinburgh town council. Born in Dieppe, Esther was a creator of beautiful, often miniature manuscripts. She was also a painter, a writer, a skilled embroiderer and the mother of at least seven children. Devoutly religious, she lived most of her life in Edinburgh and Leith. This unique concert in the splendid setting of South Leith Parish Church celebrates Esther and her astonishing handiwork in music and images.

The centrepiece will be the world-première of Sheena Phillips’ brand-new Nine Haiku for Esther Inglis, which sets poems by acclaimed Scottish poet Gerda Stevenson, first published in her collection Quines: Poems in tribute to women of Scotland.  

As part of the concert, stunning images of Esther’s manuscripts will be screened. In addition to the Nine Haiku, vocal music of Esther’s time will be sung, including magnificent choral laments by Robert Ramsey for the death in 1612 of one of Esther’s patrons, Prince Henry Frederick Stuart, the eighteen-year old ‘Prince of Great Britain’. 

There will also be metrical psalms in Scots and French (these are for audience participation: tunes and texts will be provided!), and polyphonic settings of French poetic texts of which Esther Inglis repeatedly made exquisite manuscript copies: Claude Le Jeune’s settings of Antoine de Chandieu’s Octonaires sur la vanité et inconstance du monde, and Paschal de L’Estocart’s of the Quatrains du sieur de Pybrac.

The eight voices of the Sacred Arts Festival Chorus will be directed by Calum Robertson. Nine Haiku for Esther Inglis will be performed by Sally Carr (soprano), Juliette Philogene (piano) and Calum Robertson (clarinet and bass clarinet).

Entry is free, but donations to help cover costs are welcome.

South Leith Parish Church is in the Kirkgate, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6AZ.

 Link to map: https://nslpc.co.uk/about/