PREVIEW
Canadian Connections IX
Pro Coro with Elmer Iseler Singers
Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
All Saints Anglican Cathedral
10035 – 103 St.
Tickets: $35 adults, $30 seniors, $15 students plus fees
A stunning blend of 40 professional choristers is the foundation for Canadian Connections IX, a joint concert between Pro Coro Canada and Elmer Iseler Singers.
Pro Coro singers, under the baton of Michael Zaugg, are well known to regional audiences for their consummate music making, tonal beauty and interpretive range.
Toronto-based Elmer Iseler Singers (EIS), led by acclaimed music director Lydia Adams, are equally admired for their inspiring technical perfection and perfectly balanced sound.
“Lydia has been at the helm for 20 years. She’s developed her own style and sound,” said Zaugg. “The choir is the same size as ours with the same vocal range and vibrant sound. Lydia works with a lot of Canadian composers. She’s also developed music by young composers.”
In the formal world of choral singing, few ensembles reach the status of these two choirs. Both have been showered with numerous accolades.
EIS is on a tour of western Canada and these two remarkable choirs join forces for a third time on Saturday, March 7, at All Saints Anglican Cathedral.
The EIS repertoire includes one of its favourite Canadian composers, Peter Togni’s Ave Verum. In addition, the choir sings two miniatures from Hussein Janmohamed’s Nur: Reflections of Light that tap into the Muslim experience.
Both choirs jointly launch the two-hour concert with William H. Harris’ Faire is the Heaven, a double choir setting of Edmund Spenser’s 16th century poem An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie.
Pro Coro recently returned from a three-week development residence at Banff Centre training with five composers from across the world.
German composer Dominik Dieterle’s was one of composers working closely with Pro Coro. The 24-piece orchestra performs his electronic composition, The Midnight Giant, a work that evokes the beauty of nature. It features soundscapes with a classical bent.
“Dominik composes for choir and live electronics. He will be at the concert with his laptop playing sounds from the forest he recorded in Banff. You’ll hear the crunch of footsteps in snow, an icicle falling while Pro Coro sings. Of course, it’s all distorted.”
Contemporary Canadian composer Marie-Claire Saindon contributes Constellation, a work that visualizes the vastness of space.
“It speaks and whispers and whistles.”
St. Albert bass Michael Kurschat is part of Constellation's quartet that includes soprano Jessica Wagner, alto Jessica Roberston and tenor Caleb Nelson.
In a metropolitan region filled with many community and semi-professional choirs, these two exude a special magic.
“There are no other choral organizations across the country that I know of that are at the forefront of development in Canada. The element of having two professional choirs is a unique opportunity. It’s an experience not to be missed.”
