19.November.2011, 7:00pm
REACH Gallery
32388 Veterans Way
Abbotsford, BC

20.November.2011, 3:30pm
St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Kitsilano
1805 Larch Street,
Vancouver, BC

Program

Arvo Pärt – Da Pacem Domine

Eric Whitacre – When David Heard

Eleanor Daley – Requiem

The Choir

The Vancouver Peace Choir, now in its fourth concert season, is an ensemble of 38 musicians who share a common interest in the topic of peace. The choir will mark the season of remembrance this year with concerts at the REACH gallery in Abbotsford, surrounded by a collection of stunning artwork exploring the cultural heritage of the regional Punjabi-Sikh communities; and at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Kitsilano, surrounded by candlelight.

The Concert

Arvo Pärt is celebrated as one of the most widely recognized choral composers. The New York Times Magazine offers this recent description: “Most contemporary composers aim to ravish the ear or to tickle (or boggle) the mind. Pärt is playing for higher stakes. He wants to touch something that he would call the soul, and to a remarkable extent, he is succeeding.” Da Pacem Domine is a timeless image of peace and utter stillness through sound.

Eric Whitacre has set a new standard for choral music in the past decade and for good reasons. His music is fresh and innovative while also offering a depth of musical expression. Reviews of his music use phrases like “electric, chilling harmonies” or “works of unearthly beauty and imagination” (L. A. Times). A recent review in the Daily Telegraph (London), “Weightless tempo and mysterious harmonies instantly established the aura of mild euphoria which often radiates outwards from his music.” When David Heard combines the “euphoric” feeling that Whitacre has become famous for, with a depth of spirit that addresses the experience of deep loss – “When David heard that Absalom was slain, he went up into his chamber over the gate and wept, and thus he said, ‘O Absalom, my son.’”

Eleanor Daley is one of Canada’s choral gems. She is a prolific composer with a remarkable gift for melody. Her works are most notable for their sensitive interweaving of text and music. She has over one hundred and forty published choral compositions and is commissioned extensively throughout North America. Our concert is centred around the well-know text from her In Remembrance.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight-ripened grain,
I am the gentle morning rain.

And when you wake in the morning’s hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

We eagerly look forward to performing the entire Requiem on Nov. 19th and 20th.

Information on dates for the next round of auditions and for the 2011/2012 season coming soon…

May 7, 7:00 pm – Comox Valley joint concert with Cantiamo Chamber Choir

Black Creek United Mennonite Church

2277 Enns Road, Black Creek (20 minutes north of Courtenay on the old island highway)

Admission by donation (recommended $10-$20)

May 8, 3:00 pm – Nanaimo, Mother’s Day Concert

St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 100 Chapel Street, Nanaino

admission free

May 14, 8:00 pm – Vancouver (Epiphany Chapel, UBC)

$20 Adult/$15 Senior/$10 Student

Google map

18.April.2010, 2:30pm
Langley Mennonite Fellowship
20997 40 Avenue
Langley, BC

25.April.2010, 3:30pm
Chapel of the Epiphany
6030 Chancellor Boulevard (at UBC),
Vancouver, BC

Program

Eric Whitacre – Lux Aurumque
Eric Whitacre – i thank You God for most this amazing day
Sarah Hopkins – Past Life Melodies
Eric North – Flame
Timothy Corlis – Missa Pax

The Choir

The Vancouver Peace Choir, now in its second concert season, is a growing ensemble of 40 musicians who share a common interest in the topic of peace. The choir will celebrate Earth-day this year with what director Timothy Corlis describes as a “Sanctuary of Song.”

The Concert

Eric Whitacre’s music has set a new standard for choral music in the past decade and for good reasons. His music is fresh and innovative while also offering a depth of musical expression. Reviews of his music use phrases like “electric, chilling harmonies” or “works of unearthly beauty and imagination” (L. A. Times).

Sarah Hopkins is an Australian composer. She has been described as possessing “the rare gift of being able to conjure music which sounds like the very essence of the universe” (Oz Arts Magazine). Her Past Life Melodies has been performed across the globe. It combines Western choral singing with chant techniques inspired by Australian Aboriginal music and Tibetan throat singing.

Eric North is a choir member and emerging composer of choral music, big band scores, and jazz/world music improvisation. Flame was commissioned by the Phoenix Chamber Choir. In the composer’s words:

Flame is a universal symbol that represents the radiance of Spirit, by whatever its name. Wisdom traditions from all over the world have placed a special meaning to flame, and you can still see this today for example in the Olympic flame. I myself am drawn to associating it to something beyond the apparent material world just by looking at it dance. This piece came as a result of being inspired by contemplation on flame and what it symbolizes to humanity. The text I chose is a collage of words in English, Latin, and Japanese associated with the word flame: spirit, eternity, light, shining, glowing, heart, and love.

Timothy Corlis’ Missa Pax is a larger work for mixed choir, piano, and clarinet that draws on Corlis’ years of experience as a chorister in an Anglican boy’s school.

As a composer and as a peace activist, I must admit that I’ve spent most of my adult life distancing myself from my Anglican roots… but, the old rituals from your childhood never go away and all of a sudden you find yourself performing the Mass as a hired tenor and realizing that you’re in tears. This is why I wrote the music for the Missa Pax – or ‘peace mass.’ To me, it’s a fresh musical expression inspired by a text that has spoken for centuries about the topic of peace and about a spiritual love for earth… ‘et in terra pax’ (and on Earth, peace.)

The Missa Pax (Peace Mass) has already established a strong track record with mid-concert ovations both at the Elora Festival and at the prestigious Festival of the Sound. Reviewer Steven Preece (The Record) described the piece after its premier as “conjuring of heavenly radiance,” “fantastically cathartic,” and possessing an “emotional authenticity irresistible to the listener.”

Clarinetist Erika Block will perform the Vancouver premier with the choir. Block is a recent arrival to Vancouver from the US where she studied with such clarinet giants as Thomas Martin in Boston and Ricardo Morales in Philadelphia.

Read the article here.

More information available at: info@vancouverpeacechoir.ca