Season 29 |2022

Friday | 8 April 2022 | 7pm 

Queen Anne Christian Church 

1316 3rd Avenue W | Seattle   

Friday | 8 April 2022 | 8:30pm 

Queen Anne Christian Church 

1316 3rd Avenue W | Seattle  

Saturday | 9 April 2022 | 3pm 

St John’s Episcopal Church 

114 20th Avenue Southeast | Olympia 

The first concert of The Esoterics’ 2022 Season featured the North American premiere of Eric Banks’ As palmeiras: The palms. Commissioned for the RAMOS XII Festival in Lisbon, The Esoterics premiered this piece on Palm Sunday in 2018 in Portugal. The palms was then premiered by the choirs Cantus Firmus and Madrigal de Brasilia, Brazil in April of 2019. The Esoterics was in the midst of preparing for the Seattle premiere of this piece when the pandemic struck in March of 2020. 

The inspiration for As palmeiras came from the inital wondering: “Why the palms?” When Christians mark the entry of Christ into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week, why did they lay palm fronds at his feet? What is it about the palm that signifies royalty? In his research about the symbolism of the palm tree, composer Eric Banks found, collected, and arranged 37 different poems, adages, proverbs, and texts from cultures around the world and through various eras of human history.  

In addition to its connotation of royalty, the palm in the desert can symbolize salvation (as one sees an oasis in the desert), or bounty (with the rich sweetness of its fruits). The tree also has grown to stand for luxury, and the rest that accompanies a tropical vacation.  Since a single palm seed can traverse an entire ocean to plant itself on a distant shore, the palm represents fertility; and since this seed (often as a coconut) travels such long distances alone, the palm has also come to represent exile. Also, let’s not forget the worldwide demand for palm oil, and resulting environmental crisis that the greed for this commodity has caused.  

For his concert-length composition, Banks chose to present these texts about the palm in various textures – for solo voice, for small ensemble, for only treble and bass voices, and for full mixed choir. The texts of As palmeiras traverse the entire globe longitudinally; the 37 vignettes start in California, head east, and end on the island of Tahiti. Banks’ composition is a fascinating study of an unlikely subject; setting texts from 33 countries in 24 different languages, The palms creates a ear-opening concert experience. 

CONCERT REPERTOIRE:  

As palmeiras [The palms] (2018) 

by Eric Banks