…To my (professional) home on the internet. Like the sign says, I’m a freelance publicist, writer and production coordinator based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Click on the links in the right-hand column for further details on me, my background, past and current projects, and the services I offer. Scroll farther down on this page to see what I’m working on right now…and please feel free to contact me any time with questions or comments.
June 2009: Monthly Round-up
This is a monthly compilation of what’s coming down the pipe for me professionally. I find that posting media releases only tells half – or maybe even only a third – of the story…since, at any given time, many of the things I’m working on don’t necessarily come with media releases attached. So…here’s a more complete tally of the projects I’ve got on my plate this month:
Publicity:
Bluebird North (June 2, 7:30 pm at the Roundhouse): The Songwriters Association of Canada has declared June 2nd “A Day of Song”, celebrating the simultaneous launch of Bluebird North songwriters’ showcases in Winnipeg, Ottawa and St. John’s. Vancouver will be at the cross-country party too, with producer Shari Ulrich hosting the 66th West Coast edition of Bluebird North on the same day. Vancouver audiences can expect great songs and great stories from talented locals (and music industry veterans) Ivan Joseph Boudreau, Angela Harris, Paul Hyde (The Payola$) and Bruce Miller. www.songwriters.ca
POWER (MISCELLANEOUS Productions, June 4-6 at the Rhizome Café): a cabaret of solo, duo and ensemble performances by multi-barriered youth in collaboration with professional artists. Culturally diverse youth voices speaking up about power, racism, immigration, poverty, violence, sexism, addiction and love. Tickets (sliding scale $1-$10) at the door only. www.miscellaneous-inc.org
Music of the Whole World: India & the West – a history and a future, with Moshe Denburg (June 10, 7:00 pm at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch): fifth in the VICO’s annual six-part FREE educational series Music of the Whole World: Explorations of World Music Cultures By Canadian Composers. Composer Moshe Denburg presents an introduction to the history of intercultural collaborations between India and the West, and discusses future possibilities. With guest musicians Stefan Cihelka (tabla), James Hamilton (sitar) and Lan Tung (erhu). www.vi-co.org
Chasing Rainbows: I’m working with Pat on submitting the film to festivals all over the place, and also developing the CR website and online presence more generally. www.chasingrainbowsproduction.com
Production Coordination/Stage Management:
Footlight Theatre – Auditions & Call-backs for Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (June 3-5, 12-13 at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts): I’m stage managing this show; it’ll be directed and choreographed by Lalaina Lindbjerg-Strelau with musical direction by Monique Creber. Rehearsals start in late August, and we open at Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby on Nov. 6 (till Nov. 14). www.footlight.ca
Summer Musical Theatre at Mulgrave (July 13-25): 2-week program in which participants (grades K to 9) mount a full-length musical from the ground up, culminating in a spectacular live performance. Info and registration form here: www.mulgrave.com/summermusicaltheatre.asp
Writing / Editing:
Script adaptation: I’m adapting a popular musical for the above-mentioned summer musical theatre program…a complicated (but fun!) balancing act, the result of which needs to (a) retain the most entertaining, well-known and kid-appropriate elements of the original; (b) have speaking parts for approximately 50 kids (!); (c) clock in at 2.5 hours max, including songs.
Grants, grants and more grants: BC Arts Council Project grants are due at the top of the month; the Catalyst program at 2010 Legacies Now falls in mid-June.
The Inter-Cultural: Spring issue of the VICO’s quarterly newsletter.
Onward!
May 2009: Monthly Round-up
This is a monthly compilation of what’s coming down the pipe for me professionally. I find that posting media releases only tells half – or maybe even only a third – of the story…since, at any given time, many of the things I’m working on don’t necessarily come with media releases attached. So…here’s a more complete tally of the projects I’ve got on my plate this month:
Publicity:
Tempus Theatre – 36 VIEWS (May 1-23 at Jericho Arts Centre – Western Canadian premiere!) by award-winning Japanese American playwright Naomi Iizuka: an innovative multi-disciplinary production directed by Anthony F. Ingram and starring Keith Martin Gordey Annabel Kershaw, Michael Kopsa, Lissa Neptuno, Bert Steinmanis and Valerie Sing Turner. Part romance, part mystery and part con game, the play casts a enthralling spell of poetic language, evocative sounds and beautiful images, even as it asks compelling and timely questions about cultural authenticity, the value of art in society, and the quest for truth in art and in human relationships. www.tempustheatre.com
Laudate Singers – Viva Vivaldi! (May 22, St. David’s United Church, West Vancouver): featuring violinist Nancy DiNovo and an ensemble of Vancouver’s finest Baroque instrumentalists in a performance of Vivaldi’s beloved Gloria, as well as Beatus Vir and the glittering Spring movement from the Four Seasons concerto. www.laudatesingers.com
Bluebird North (June 2, 7:30 pm at the Roundhouse): The Songwriters Association of Canada has declared June 2nd “A Day of Song”, celebrating the simultaneous launch of Bluebird North songwriters’ showcases in Winnipeg, Ottawa and St. John’s. Vancouver will be at the cross-country party too, with producer Shari Ulrich hosting the 66th West Coast edition of Bluebird North on the same day. Vancouver audiences can expect great songs and great stories from talented locals (and music industry veterans) Ivan Joseph Boudreau, Angela Harris, Paul Hyde (The Payola$) and Bruce Miller. www.songwriters.ca
Music of the Whole World: India & the West – a history and a future, with Moshe Denburg (June 10, 7:00 pm at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch): fifth in the VICO’s annual six-part FREE educational series Music of the Whole World: Explorations of World Music Cultures By Canadian Composers. Composer Moshe Denburg presents an introduction to the history of intercultural collaborations between India and the West, and discusses future possibilities. www.vi-co.org
Production Coordination/Stage Management:
Broadway Bound (May 24, 6 pm at Mulgrave School): Creber Music’s gala end-of-year revue, featuring The CM Singers, Encore Musical Theatre, the Mulgrave Community Choir and more, with live accompaniment by the Michael Creber Band. Ticket info coming soon!
Summer Musical Theatre at Mulgrave (July 13-25): 2-week program in which participants (grades K to 9) mount a full-length musical from the ground up, culminating in a spectacular live performance. Info and registration form here: www.mulgrave.com/summermusicaltheatre.asp
Writing / Editing:
Grants, grants and more grants: Canada Council, BC Gaming, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver…all have deadlines falling between now and mid-June.
The Inter-Cultural: Spring issue of the VICO’s quarterly newsletter.
Onward!
Tempus Theatre: 36 VIEWS
Tempus Theatre Celebrates Asian Heritage Month
with Western Canadian Premiere of
36 VIEWS by Naomi Iizuka
May 1 – 23, 2009
Tues.-Sun. at 8:00 pm, Jericho Arts Centre
Tickets: $25 plus service charges at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-684-2787
Students & seniors: $20 at the door only / Preview April 30 & all Tues.shows: pay-what-you-can at the door
Tempus Theatre, one of Vancouver’s most exciting new theatrical voices, presents the Western Canadian premiere of 36 VIEWS by award-winning Japanese American playwright Naomi Iizuka, in an innovative multi-disciplinary production directed by Anthony F. Ingram and starring Keith Martin Gordey Annabel Kershaw, Michael Kopsa, Lissa Neptuno, Bert Steinmanis and Valerie Sing Turner. Part romance, part mystery and part con game, the play casts a enthralling spell of poetic language, evocative sounds and beautiful images, even as it asks compelling and timely questions about cultural authenticity, the value of art in society, and the quest for truth in art and in human relationships.
Appropriately for a production running during Asian Heritage Month, 36 VIEWS is a contemporary play set in a modern, metropolitan city that incorporates elements of traditional Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatre, as well as references to Japanese literature, music and visual art (including The Tale of Genji, the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and the works of Japanese master artists)…references that are fraught with fascinating ambiguity. “When you live in a country like Canada and a city like Vancouver,” says Ingram (Tempus Theatre’s artistic director), “and you’ve got all these cultural identities struggling to fit themselves in or define themselves against a predominantly northern European cultural influence…what is the difference between bastardizing a cultural touchstone and borrowing it to create a new cultural language?”
36 VIEWS moves effortlessly between that bigger picture and a more intimate, more personal one: in the playwright’s words, “it’s a play about how difficult it is to arrive at some fixed, unchanging truth about a human being, or a work of art, or a love affair. What we thought was the truth changes. Our perceptions shift, and it’s complicated. People are complicated. Why they make certain choices is at times contradictory, and I wanted to build a play that captured in its actual form all those contradictions.”
Plot synopsis: An art dealer and an art historian discover what appears to be an ancient manuscript, a priceless Japanese pillow book created by a medieval courtesan. As they try to prove its authenticity, their search becomes an erotic game of greed, love, and sleight-of-hand. In a series of 36 interlocking scenes, Naomi Iizuka’s play explores the relationship between the imaginary and the real, and the lines and spaces that separate feelings and words, objects and images of objects, antiques and reproductions, and a person’s heritage and physical features. Culture and commodity, fetish and forgery, and personal and professional revenge are all exposed in 36 VIEWS.
Design Team: 36 VIEWS will feature lighting by Darren Boquist, set by Todd Parker, sound by Ronin Wong, projections by Corwin Ferguson and costumes by Nina Prelog. It is co-produced by Tempus founders Anna Hagan, Anthony F. Ingram, Bert Steinmanis and Valerie Sing Turner, with Maria Denholme as Associate Producer.
Valerie Sing Turner in 36 VIEWS; photo by Tim Matheson
Benefit Concert: Every Road Leads Home
Announcing
The Universal Gospel Choir
& Shari Ulrich in
EVERY ROAD LEADS HOME
A Benefit Concert for the Callanish Society
Saturday April 18, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
2750 Granville St.
Tickets $32.50 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Box Office (604-687-1644)
or online at www.vancouvertix.com
Vancouver’s Universal Gospel Choir and singer-songwriter Shari Ulrich join forces in this benefit concert for the Callanish Society, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides emotional and spiritual support to people with cancer, their families and their health care providers (www.callanish.org). “Every Road Leads Home” will be the first time that these two much-beloved local acts have performed together, and audiences are sure to be uplifted by the interweaving of Juno Award winner Ulrich’s evocative original songs with the Universal Gospel Choir’s passionate renditions of sacred songs from all over the world – including a healthy helping of on-your-feet-booty-shaking-gospel. Pianist Diane Lines, drummer Rob Ferguson and multi-instrumentalist Bill Runge provide accompaniment. “Every Road Leads Home” promises to be an evening full of joy, hope and the healing power of music…all in support of a cause that touches us all.
Directed by Kathryn Nicholson, the Universal Gospel Choir is a multi-faith, multi-cultural community choir that has been bringing the healing and uplifting power of the world’s sacred song traditions to diverse audiences since 1985. The UGC has established a reputation for engaging audiences with its passion, commitment to musical authenticity, and dedication to the community-building power of shared song. The choir’s eclectic repertoire reflects African-American, Cuban, African, European, Asian and Native American influences. www.universalgospelchoir.ca
A 2002 inductee into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, Juno Award winner Shari Ulrich’s finesse on violin, mandolin, flute, piano, sax and dulcimer was first heard in the early 70s with the Pied Pumkin. After two years with the “Hometown Band,” Shari went on to record six solo albums of original songs as well as two with UHF (Ulrich/Henderson/Forbes) and two with the re-emergent Pied Pumkin. She just released a live concert CD with Barney Bentall & Tom Taylor, and is currently recording a long overdue new solo album. Shari also composes, produces and engineers music for television and documentaries, and teaches songwriting, both in the university and workshop setting. www.shariulrich.com
April 2009: Monthly Round-up
This is the inaugural edition of what I hope will be a regular feature on this blog: a monthly compilation of what’s coming down the pipe for me professionally. I find that posting media releases only tells half – or maybe even only a third – of the story…since, at any given time, many of the things I’m working on don’t necessarily come with media releases attached. So…here’s a more complete tally of the projects I’ve got on my plate this month:
Publicity:
Bluebird North (April 7, 7:30 pm at the Roundhouse): songwriters showcase featuring Leslie Alexander, John Wort Hannam, Dave Phillips and Bonnie Ste-Croix. www.songwriters.ca
Every Road Leads Home (April 18th, 8 pm at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage): benefit concert for the Callanish Society featuring Shari Ulrich and the Universal Gospel Choir. www.callanish.org
Music of the Whole World: Balinese Gamelan & Western Composition, with Michael Tenzer (April 22, 7:00 pm at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch): fourth in the VICO’s annual six-part FREE educational series Music of the Whole World: Explorations of World Music Cultures By Canadian Composers. Composer Michael Tenzer, assisted by Balinese musician I Wayan Sudirana, presents an introduction to both the Balinese tradition and his own intercultural music, which combines Gamelan and Western ideas. www.vi-co.org
Tempus Theatre – 36 VIEWS (May 1-23 at Jericho Arts Centre – Western Canadian premiere!) by award-winning Japanese American playwright Naomi Iizuka: an innovative multi-disciplinary production directed by Anthony F. Ingram and starring Keith Martin Gordey Annabel Kershaw, Michael Kopsa, Lissa Neptuno, Bert Steinmanis and Valerie Sing Turner. Part romance, part mystery and part con game, the play casts a enthralling spell of poetic language, evocative sounds and beautiful images, even as it asks compelling and timely questions about cultural authenticity, the value of art in society, and the quest for truth in art and in human relationships. www.tempustheatre.com
Laudate Singers – Viva Vivaldi! (May 22, St. David’s United Church, West Vancouver): featuring violinist Nancy DiNovo and an ensemble of Vancouver’s finest Baroque instrumentalists in a performance of Vivaldi’s beloved Gloria, as well as Beatus Vir and the glittering Spring movement from the Four Seasons concerto. www.laudatesingers.com
Production Coordination/Stage Management:
Broadway Bound (May 24, 6 pm at Mulgrave School): Creber Music’s gala end-of-year revue, featuring The CM Singers, Encore Musical Theatre, the Mulgrave Community Choir and more, with live accompaniment by the Michael Creber Band. Ticket info coming soon!
Summer Musical Theatre at Mulgrave (July 13-25): 2-week program in which participants (grades K to 9) mount a full-length musical from the ground up, culminating in a spectacular live performance. Info and registration form here: www.mulgrave.com/summermusicaltheatre.asp
Writing / Editing:
Grants, grants and more grants: Canada Council, BC Gaming, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver…all have deadlines falling between now and mid-June.
The Inter-Cultural: Spring issue of the VICO’s quarterly newsletter.
Onward!
Laudate Singers: Voice of the Tango
Laudate Singers present
VOICE of the TANGO
with
Douglas Schmidt, bandoneon
Kay Sleking, guitar
Saturday March 21, 2009 at 8:00 pm
St. David’s United Church, West Vancouver
and
Tuesday March 24, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Capilano University Performing Arts Theatre, North Vancouver
Tickets $25 / $20 / Free for ages 17 & under (reservation required)
For March 21st: 604.729.6814 or www.laudatesingers.com
For March 24th: as above, and via Capilano University at 604.990.7810 or boxoffic@capilanou.ca
Laudate Singers and artistic director Lars Kaario invite Vancouver audiences to dance a few steps off the beaten path with Voice of the Tango: a ground-breaking programme of sensuous, alluring choral music from Central and South America, featuring internationally-renowned instrumentalists Douglas Schmidt (on bandoneon, the quintessential instrument of the tango) and Kay Sleking (guitar). The repertoire – much of it very seldom performed in Canada to date – will include works by Astor Piazzolla, Oscar Escalada, Miguel Matamoros, Gustavo “Cuchi” Leguizamón, Eduardo Ferraudi, Jorge Cardoso, Carlos Gardel and Hector Stamponi among others, as well as newly commissioned works for choir, bandoneon and guitar by Douglas Schmidt and Laudate’s composer-in-residence Bruce Sled.
Laudate Singers – well known for their high level of technical skill and interpretive flexibility, as well as for consistently presenting repertoire that spans centuries and continents in a relevant and accessible manner – are excited about the artistic challenge of performing this dynamic, passionate music. They also look forward to working with and learning from instrumentalists who are internationally recognized experts in Latin and South American music. Mr. Schmidt, a transplanted British Columbian best known in Canada as a member of Tango Paradiso and Montreal’s Quartango, comes to Vancouver from Germany. Mr. Sleking is based in Amsterdam, and works extensively in Europe both as a soloist and as a member of several high-profile tango ensembles.
VICO: Planetful of Sound
The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra presents
PLANETFUL OF SOUND
March 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts – Telus Studio Theatre
Tickets $20/$10 at Ticketmaster
604-280-3311 or www.ticketmaster.ca
The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra presents sounds of China, the Middle East, India and the West, in works by Vancouver composers Mark Armanini, Moshe Denburg, Lan Tung, Jin Zhang and special guest composer Joel Bons (artistic director of Amsterdam’s Atlas Ensemble): music that transcends cultural boundaries, performed on instruments from all over the world. For the first time ever at a VICO concert, the performance will include large-screen video, giving audiences an up-close view of the musicians and their instruments in action.
The VICO is currently the only professional orchestral ensemble in BC (possibly in Canada) devoted to performing inter-cultural music on a grand scale. Planetful of Sound offers VICO musicians and composers an exciting opportunity to connect with Joel Bons, who has been breaking similar ground in Europe with his acclaimed contemporary music group Nieuw Ensemble and the Atlas Ensemble. The latter is described (very similarly to the VICO) as “a unique chamber orchestra uniting brilliant musicians from China, Central Asia, the Near East and Europe, presenting an unheard soundworld of western and non-western instruments.” Like the VICO, the Atlas Ensemble’s repertoire consists almost entirely of specially commissioned works, by such composers as Guo Wenjing, Jia Daqun, Faradj Karajev, Fabio Nieder, Theo Loevendie , Frangiz Ali-Zade, Bun-Ching Lam, Jack Body, Stefano Bellon, Artjom Kim, Javanshir Guliev and Evrim Demirel. (www.atlasensemble.nl)
Planetful of Sound will feature the North American premiere of Joel Bons’ piece Tour à Tour as well as Floating on the Sea of Serenity (Armanini), Little Suite for Erhu and Harp (Zhang), Market Place, Chapter 1: China (Tung) and Camel Hop at the Caravanserai (Denburg), performed by a 22-member ensemble that includes zheng, sanxian, santur, oud, dizi, bansuri, sheng, suona, flute, oboe, clarinet, marimba, Celtic harp, percussion and Western strings. The programme will also feature a solo by visiting Taiwanese musician Janelle Yichen on satar (Uighur fiddle from northwestern China).
In the VICO, Western-trained orchestral musicians rub shoulders with performers in musical traditions from all over the world…shedding light on the musical traditions of Canada’s many cultures and the myriad bridges between them. For more information on the ensemble and its upcoming events, please visit www.vi-co.org.
Planetful of Sound was made possible through the generous assistance of the Chan Endowment Fund of the University of British Columbia.
Vancouver International Storytelling Festival 2009
Announcing…The 17th Annual
Vancouver International Storytelling Festival
February 6-8, 2009
Heritage Hall (Main St. @ W. 15th Ave.)
Tickets (see prices below) at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-684 2787
The Vancouver International Storytelling Festival celebrates its 17th season with a weekend of performances by sought-after professional storytellers from home and abroad, all on the theme of “In the beginning…” Main Street’s Heritage Hall, decorated in the style of a magical, Arabian Nights-inspired Bedouin tent, will be home to origin stories from all over the world, and tales about beginnings of all kinds. Local favourites Kira Van Deusen, Jean-Pierre Makosso, Melanie Ray, Naomi Steinberg, EvenSteven, Wing-Siu Wong, Max Tell, Philomena Jordan, Kagan Goh and Helen Mintz will be joined by special guests Janet Blake (world-renowned teller from the UK), Eric Gauthier (from Montreal) and Pat Braden (from the NWT).
Schedule Overview
Friday Feb. 6, 8 pm – Opening Concert: In the Beginning
Hosted by Naomi Steinberg, with Janet Blake, Wing-Siu Wong, Jean-Pierre Makosso, Melanie Ray & the 2008 StorySlam Champion; also featuring fiddle tunes by Mary Brunner
Saturday Feb. 7, morning – story circles for kids & teens (FREE for ages 16 & under!) with Max Tell, Pat Braden, Jean-Pierre Makosso and Janet Blake
Saturday Feb. 7, afternoon – Mother’s Stories, Women’s Story Jam, “Leaving Home, Finding Home”, “Big Bang! Primal Traditions of Myth & Magic”, and a workshop for multi-lingual tellers
Saturday Feb. 7 (OFF SITE) – Montreal teller Eric Gauthier at the Alliance française
Saturday Feb. 7, 8 pm – Speak Easy: Cabaret Night – Non-Traditional Telling hoted by EvenSteven with Pat Braden, Janet Blake, Philomena Jordan, Kagan Goh & Tanya Evanson
Sunday Feb. 8, morning – Epic tales and creation stories over coffee, featuring an ancient Tibetan epic about the heavenly trickster Gesar, as told by Kira Van Deusen; also “Secret Melodies: Jewish Women’s Stories” with Helen Mintz and “Coming into Being” with Janet Blake & Pat Braden
Sunday Feb. 7, afternoon – panel: contemporary myths & the storyteller’s responsibility, moderated by Kierstin De West (CEO, Conscientious Innovation) with Janet Blake, Tanya Evanson, Helen Mintz & Kira Van Deusen; also “The Wind At My Back: Stories and Songs of the Human Spirit” with Wing-Siu Wong, Vanessa Richards & The Cultural Medicine Cabinet Choir
Sunday Feb. 7, afternoon (OFF SITE) – Montreal teller Eric Gauthier at Le Centre culturel francophone
Sunday Feb. 8, evening – Community Pot Luck
**NOTE: Opening Concert and Cabaret are adults only (there will be a cash bar).
Tickets: Available at www.ticketstonight.ca or 604-684-2787
Opening Concert or Saturday Cabaret (adults only): $20
Day Pass – Saturday or Sunday: $18 (adults) / free admission for ages 16 & under on Saturday morning
Individual Adult Weekend Pass: $55 (general) / $50 (seniors, students, VSOS members)
Family Weekend Pass: $100
Sinfonia Family Christmas
Announcing…
SINFONIA FAMILY CHRISTMAS:
The Music of the Carpenters
Saturday December 20, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver
Tickets $35/$30 (seniors)/$15 (students) at 604-984-4484
Featuring
Sinfonia, Orchestra of the North Shore
Monique Creber, vocalist
With
The Michael Creber Band
Mulgrave Community Choir
The CM Singers
Sinfonia, Orchestra of the North Shore, is pleased to announce its annual family Christmas concert, which will feature both traditional hymns and carols (including audience sing-alongs!) and selections from two of the most beloved Christmas albums of all time – The Carpenters’ Christmas Portrait and An Old-Fashioned Christmas. Under the direction of Maestro Clyde Mitchell, Sinfonia will be joined by vocalist Monique Creber and the four-piece Michael Creber Band (Michael Creber on piano, David Sinclair on guitar, Brian Newcombe on bass and Phil Robertson on drums) for an evening of heartwarming holiday classics.
“These have been my favourite Christmas albums for years,” says Monique Creber, whose own singing voice has been described as “eerily similar” (The Province) and “remarkably close in tone” (CBC Radio) to that of the late, great Karen Carpenter. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to perform Richard Carpenter’s beautiful arrangements as he originally wrote them, with orchestral accompaniment.” Backing vocals will be contributed by Joani Bye, Janet Warren, Gord Maxwell and Sean Hosein, with the Mulgrave Community Choir and The CM Singers.
Sinfonia is a professional chamber orchestra based on Vancouver’s North Shore, employing 25 to 40 musicians and performing the greatest works from the Baroque and Classical eras to the present. Founding Music Director Clyde Mitchell is a former Resident Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and is sought after across North America as a conductor, adjudicator and speaker.
Laudate Singers: MYSTERIUM
Laudate Singers proudly present
A Winter Concert By Candlelight
Saturday December 13, 2008 at 8 pm
St. Andrew’s United Church, North Vancouver
and
Friday December 19, 2008 at 8 pm
St. David’s United Church, West Vancouver
Tickets $25/$20 (students/seniors)/Free (age 17 & under)
Call 604-222-3158 or buy online at www.laudatesingers.com
In their annual winter concert, Laudate Singers and artistic director Lars Kaario will explore the beauty and mystery of the season through different settings of O Magnum Mysterium, an ancient liturgical text traditionally sung during Matins on Christmas Day. By shimmering candlelight, the North Shore’s premier chamber choir will perform interpretations of this medieval chant by composers from all over the world, spanning several centuries. Audiences will hear O Magnum Mysterium as put to music by the Spaniard Tomas Luis de Victoria (c.1548-1611), the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612), the Englishman William Byrd (1539-1623), the Frenchman Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and the American Morten Lauridsen (b.1943), as well as the world premiere of a brand new setting by award-winning Vancouver composer Bruce Sled, offering a contemporary Canadian perspective on the text.
The evening will also include Today the Virgin and a setting of William Blake’s The Lamb by John Tavener (b. 1944), Hodie Christus natus est by Miklós Csemiczky (b.1954), motets by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901), and such beloved seasonal classics such as Anton Bruckner’s Ave Maria, the classic Es ist ein Ros entsprungen by Praetorius, Joseph lieber, Joseph mein by Johann Walther and Puer natus in Bethlehem by Samuel Scheidt. With Mysterium, Laudate Singers once again create a warm, luminous oasis amid the grey days of winter, spiriting audiences away on a transcendent musical journey.
Also, don’t miss Laudate Singers’ annual Free Family Christmas Concert at St. Andrew’s United Church on December 14th at 3 pm – a rollicking community event that has also become a North Shore holiday tradition.
