Early Music Vancouver
Toggle Menu
Home  >  Early Music Vancouver Events

The Odyssey of Kryštof Harant

Thursday, December 1, 2022 | 7:30 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral

“… the evening provided what felt like a secret portal into a vibrantly multicultural distant time,” Janet Smith, Stir Vancouver

Artists: Ensemble Cappella Mariana directed by Vojtěch Semerád, Constantinople directed by Kiya Tabassian, and narrator Bill Richardson

The life journey of the Czech nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer Kryštof Harant from Polžice and Bezdružice ended prematurely on the Old Town Square in Prague on June 21, 1621, when he was executed for participating in the Protestant Bohemian Revolt. The goal of this project of Ensemble Cappella Mariana is to present his surviving compositions and introduce listeners to his literary legacy – his record of a unique trip to the Middle East which he chronicled in his book Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea published in 1608.  During the 16th and 17th centuries the vibrancy of music – and art in general – founded on Eastern traditions from Persia to the Eastern Mediterranean, contributed to the creation of multicultural societies. Dialogue and mutual enrichment between artists of different cultures were commonplace. We find evidence of these musical and cultural exchanges in period works that appear in musical manuscripts of 17th century Ottoman, Persian and post-Byzantine origin. In this concert, these compositions will be combined with other masterpieces surviving for centuries through the oral tradition and handed down from one generation to the next; together they provide a comprehensive picture of the atmosphere and local colour of the places Harant himself visited and the music he heard on his travels. 

Harant’s colourful work, narrated by Bill Richardson, will guide you on a musical journey to the exotic lands of Cyprus, Jerusalem, Sinai, and Cairo.  “The Journey is like a beacon which will act as a guide for both ensembles – a geographical, historical, cultural and inner voyage of discovery to distant horizons,” says Vojtech Semerad, director of Cappella Mariana.

Pre-Concert Talk at 7 p.m.: Sylvia L’Ecuyer in conversation with Vojtech Semerad (Director, Cappella Mariana) and  Kiya Tabassian (Director, Constantinople).

This concert is generously supported by Marianne Gibson and Delma Hemming.

This concert is also made possible through the support of the Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic, The Canada Council for the Arts and  the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec.

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription

Festive Cantatas: J.S. Bach Magnificat & Cantata BWV 110 (Let Our Mouth Be Full of Laughter)

Saturday, Dec 17, 2022 | 7:30 p.m. at The Kay Meek Arts CentreSunday, December 18, 2022 | 3 p.m. at The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

NOTE: There is another performance of this concert on Saturday, December 17 at The Kay Meek Arts Centre in West Vancouver. Tickets for that performance must be purchased through the Kay Meek  Arts Centre’s Box Office. This concert is part of both the Masterworks Series Subscription and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Series Subscription.

Artists: The Pacific Baroque Orchestra directed by Alexander Weimann; Hélène Brunet and Arwen Myers, sopranos; Krisztina Szabo, alto; Jacques-Olivier Chartier, tenor; and Sumner Thompson, bass

The boys’ choir of the St. Thomas church in Leipzig was founded in 1212, and to this day, it still is one of the most prestigious ambassadors of musical culture in Germany. Historically, the choir director had to prepare the services in four churches and organize the music for city functions. Bach held the position from 1723 to his death in 1750; he was appointed only after two of his colleagues, further up on the list, Telemann and Graupner, had declined.

There is a Pre-Concert Talk for the December 18 concert at The Chan only and it starts at 2:30 p.m. with broadcaster/author Bill Richardson in conversation with Alexander Weimann and cornetto player Matt Jennejohn.

This concert is generously sponsored by Linda Leonard, Dr. Katherine Paton and Tony & Margie Knox

Details...Single Tickets Dec.18Mix & Match Subscription

Raise, raise the voice

Friday, February 3, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.

Note: This concert is part of both the Cathedral Subscription Series and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Subscription Series

Artists: Reginald Mobley, countertenor; the Pacific Baroque Orchestra directed by Alexander Weimann 

2023 Grammy Awards and 2023 Classical Music Awards Nominee Reginald Mobley returns to Vancouver to share his incomparable artistry with Alexander Weimann and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in a unique recital. Reggie’s strong devotion to social and political activism has helped him focus on a desire to make a
difference within the arts, particularly with the massive inequality regarding race, gender, and sexuality within the classical music industry.

‘Raise, raise the voice’, one of Henry Purcell’s most attractive smaller-scale works, praises Apollo on ‘sacred Music’s holy day.’ This title also serves to remind us of the importance of raising all the artistic voices of our rich and diverse world. 

This concert is generously supported by Janette McMillan in memory of Douglas Graves.
Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription

Online Concert: Concerto D’Amore: Overcoming Rivalry

Tuesday, February 14, 2023 | 7:30 PMOnline

Artists: Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Alexander Weimann, dir., harpsichord

Note: Tickets to this digital concert go on sale on September 7, 2022.

The concerto is all about bringing things together: the term derives from Latin concertare, meaning “to work together with someone,” “to agree.” That same root word, however, also means “to contend, dispute, or debate,” suggesting that the concerto brings its participants into creative tension, even friendly competition. If the Baroque concerto models a kind of relationship, it’s one in which some lively argument is productive, in the end, of a sweeter and more satisfying harmony.

Details...buy tickets

Consone Quartet: BBC New Generation Artists

Friday, February 17, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Consone Quartet – Agata Daraškaite, and Magdalena Loth-Hill, violins; Elitsa Bogdanova, viola; George Ross, cello

London’s Consone Quartet is the first period instrument quartet to be selected as ‘BBC New Generation Artists.’ Praised for their honest and expressive playing; they are fast making a name for themselves in classical and early romantic repertoire. This programme presents works by Mozart, Haydn, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and Fanny Mendelssohn.

“…instantly leaps out of the stereo at you as something special” (The Strad, 2019)

This concert is generously supported by Sharon Kahn and Barrie MacFadden.

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription

On The Breath of Angels

Friday, March 3, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Hana Blažíková, soprano; Bruce Dickey, cornetto; the Breathtaking Collective

During the height of its popularity, from the mid-16th century into the 18th, the cornetto was frequently depicted in art as an instrument of angels. Paintings, sculptures, and engravings abound in which the cornetto takes a prominent place among the choirs of angelic musicians. The connection with angels in this program serves as a point of departure for an aural journey that ranges from 1600 to the present day, exploring the ways in which the cornetto and the human voice can interact, imitate each other, and entwine musically.

Works by illustrious 17th-century composers Francesco Cavalli and Giacomo Carissimi will be heard next to pieces from a recently discovered manuscript from around 1600 that turned up recently in an auction and then promptly disappeared again after the sale. Two new works by Ivan Moody and Julian Wachner will explore both the instrumental-vocal duality and the theme of angels. These worlds will be bridged with a wonderful chanson of Erik Satie called Les Anges. This concert is sure to bring us closer to angelic realms.

This concert is generously supported by Zelie & Vincent Tan

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match

Angela Hewitt: Bach, Brahms, and Scarlatti

Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 3 p.m. The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Angela Hewitt returns to EMV with Scarlatti, Bach and Brahms. Ms. Hewitt has become one of Bach’s foremost interpreters of our time. In her own words “Bach’s music cries out for a keyboard instrument that imitates the human voice. These days, you don’t hear so much discussion (about whether to play Bach on the piano), and there are as many ways of Bach on the piano as there are pianists. What I try to do is not think of it so much as keyboard music but as music that imitates the voice or the orchestra. It’s not piano music in the way Brahms or Chopin is piano music.”

Ms. Hewitt will be playing Bach’s English Suite No. 6 in D minor, preceded by a selection of Scarlatti sonatas and followed by Brahms’ Sonata in F minor Op.5. After her recent performance at Wigmore Hall, Martin Kettle from The Guardian commented “The beautifully sustained andante, which seems to slip in and out of the harmonic world of Beethoven’s Pathétique sonata, was the highlight of the evening. Truly a woman who can play Brahms, too.”

This concert is generously supported by Eric Wyness and Mark de Silva.

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription

The Birds Concert

Friday, April 21, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: La Rêveuse – Florence Bolton, direction and viola da gamba; Benjamin Perrot, direction and theorbo; Clément Geoffroy, harpsichord; Sébastien Marq, recorder

Bird song is very different from the sound of instruments, but no other animal has given such inspiration to musicians and composers, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Through fascination for birdsong this programme brings to life a certain vision of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries focusing on science, nature and culture, illustrated with arrangements for early instruments of some essential pieces of the twentieth century inspired by Couperin, Rameau and Corrette. 

La Rêveuse is an ensemble of solo musicians that works on the heritage of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period rich in artistic experiments and inventions of all kinds.

This concert is generously supported by Anthony Morgan.

Details...Single Tickets

Schubertiad with The Leonids

Friday, May 5, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church

Artists: Chor Leoni and the Leonids under the direction of Erick Lichte; Alexander Weimann, fortepiano

Chor Leoni is one of Vancouver’s most beloved ensembles. They recently created an offshoot of the ensemble – a nine-voiced professional ensemble with the best tenor, baritone, and bass voices from Canada and the US – called the Leonids. Chor Leoni, the Leonids and Alexander Weimann on EMV’s newly acquired Graf fortepiano, propose a memorable and unique Schubertiad with solos, quartets and part-songs sprinkled with piano solos from Schubert’s Moment Musicaux. Jocelyn Morlock’s stunning version of An Die Musik, one of Schubert’s most popular lied, will be part of this wonderful celebration.

This concert is generously supported by Dr. Katherine Paton.

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription

Crossing The Andes

Friday, May 26, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Constantinople directed by Kiya Tabassian; Federico Tarrazona, charango; Jonatan Alvarado, voice and guitar

This concert explores the juxtaposition of indigenous South American musical traditions with the ‘new’ repertoire introduced by the European colonizers in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The two main sources used to explore this repertoire are The Trujillo Codex from Peru and the Codice Luz y Norte published in Madrid but written in Mexico. The charango and pan flutes featured in this concert are played by virtuoso Federico Tarazone from Peru. The charango is a small guitar with five double strings that looks like a Spanish bandurria and is one of the most popular Andean musical instruments. Its resonator, which is rounded, is made from the shell of an armadillo. It has many names and is also known as tatú, atatou, quirquincho, querú, cabasu, piche, mulita, toche, mataca. The Argentinian singer Jonatan Alvarado, specialist of South American repertoire whose passion is to revive the tradition of self-accompanied singing, will join the ensemble to recreate this colourful journey.

This concert is generously supported by Fran Watters & Paul Devine.

Details...Single TicketsMix & Match Subscription