PREVIEW
Metropolitan Brass!
Mission Hill Brass and special guests Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus
Sunday, Oct. 28, at 3 p.m.
St. Albert United Church
20 Green Grove Dr.
Tickets: $20 at door. Children under 12 free
In yet another first, Mission Hill Brass Band’s blast of brass, tempered by the angelic voices of Edmonton Metropolitan Choir, join forces for a reinvigorated exploration of music.
The 30-piece British style brass band, led by Daniel Skepple Jr., welcomes the 120-person choir for Metropolitan Brass! on Sunday, Oct. 28, at St. Albert United Church.
“This is Mission Hill Brass’ first experience with a large chorus, and the band has been looking forward to working with the chorus. Opportunities to work with a chorus of this size are rare,” said Skepple.
Variety is a hallmark of Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus and every concert stands on its own, said David Garber, the choir’s artistic director.
“A lot of a cappella choirs use a piano for all their concerts. But I like to give an audience a diverse range of cultural influences,” Garber said.
During its 14 seasons, the choir has performed with jazz ensembles, Celtic groups, African instruments, French-Canadian instruments and a full orchestra.
When Skepple emailed Garber an invitation to perform with Mission Hill Brass, Garber was ecstatic.
“I wanted to schedule a concert with brass and this turned out to be perfect,” said Garber.
The two groups are slated to sing three joint works. The first is a special arrangement of the hymn How Great Thou Art. Based on a Swedish melody and Carl Boberg’s poem, it was inspired by a thunderstorm that quickly appeared and just as quickly dissipated.
“It’s very uplifting. There’s lots of fanfare,” Garber said.
The next number is William Penfro Rowland’s Welsh hymn tune Blaenwern. The tune has been used for a setting of Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, voted one of Britain’s 10 favourite hymns. So much so, Prince William and Catherine Middleton chose it among others for their wedding.
Their last combined number is Hallelujah from G. F. Handel’s Messiah.
“It’s a wonderful, energetic, glorious piece. It was originally written for orchestra but it was transcribed for a brass band. However, the choral parts remain the same,” Garber noted.
Mission Hill Brass will carry the bulk of the concert playing musical selections ranging from Everything’s Coming Up Roses and My Name is Bond to Lord of All Hopefulness and Gustav Holst’s First Suite in Eb for Military Band.
The band also highlights two soloists. Malcolm Skepple performs Carl Hohne’s cornet solo from Slavische Fastasie while Shannon Hoople, a soprano cornetist, is featured in George Gershwin’s languorous classic Summertime.
Mission Hill Brass will in turn be the special guest at Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus’ concert, For All the Saints … Hymns for the Soul, on Sunday, Nov. 18, at First Presbyterian Church in Edmonton.
For more information, visit www.missionhillbrass.ca or www.edmetrochorus.ca.
