Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610
Artists: Hana Blažíková & Sherezade Panthaki, sopranos; Nicholas Burns & Emma Parkinson, altos; Charles Daniels, Haitham Haidar, & Oliver Dalton, tenors; Steven Bélanger, baritone; Drew Santini & Jonathon Adams, basses; Bruce Dickey & Matthew Jennejohn, cornettos; Catherine Motuz, Maximilien Brisson, Ellen Marple & Jeremy Berkman, trombones; and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra directed by Alexander Weimann
Pre-Concert Chat: 7pm with Charles Daniels and Bruce Dickey hosted by Suzie LeBlanc at the RBC Cinema
Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 is an undisputed masterpiece of spiritual and emotional depth, at times intimate and reverent, grand and dramatic, thrilling and sensual. Brilliant instrumental writing paired with impressive choruses and solos create an opulent tribute to the Virgin Mary, a testament to Monteverdi’s attention to the expressive power of music.
In this performance of this rarely-performed work, Alexander Weimann leads ten international soloists and a collection of 17th-century instrumentalists, including the peerless Bruce Dickey on cornetto.
Generously sponsored by The Graham & Gayle Cooke Foundation
Runtime: 100 min + intermission
PROGRAMME
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Deus in adiutorium
Domine ad adiuvandum
Psalmus 109: Dixit Dominus
Concerto: Nigra sum
Psalmus 112: Laudate pueri
Concerto: Pulchra es
Psalmus 121: Lætatus sum
Concerto: Duo seraphim
Psalmus 126: Nisi Dominus
Concerto: Audi Cœlum
Psalmus 147: Lauda, Jerusalem
Interval
Sonata sopra “Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis”
Hymnus: Ave maris stella
Magnificat
I Magnificat
II Et exultavit
III Quia respexit
IV Quia fecit mihi magna
V Et misericordia
VI Fecit potentiam
VII Deposuit potentes
VIII Esurientes implevit bonis
IX Suscepit Israel
X Sicut locutus est
XI Gloria Patri
XII Sicut erat in principio
Hana Blažíková, soprano
Hana Blažíková was born in Prague. As a child she sang in the children’s choir Radost Praha and played the violin. Later she turned to solo singing, graduating in 2002 from the Prague Conservatory in the class of Jiří Kotouč and undertook further study with Poppy Holden, Peter Kooij, Monika Mauch and Howard Crook.
Today Hana has achieved high acclaim as a leading specialist in the interpretation of Baroque, Renaissance and medieval music, performing with ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Bach Collegium Japan, Sette Voci, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, L’Arpeggiata, Gli Angeli Genève, La Fenice, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Tafelmusik, Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, L’Armonia Sonora and others.
In 2010 and 2013 she took part in a highly praised world tour of the St. Matthew Passion under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe and in 2011 she made her debut in Carnegie Hall with Masaaki Suzuki´s Bach Collegium Japan. In 2017 she appeared in major venues all over Europe and North America in the trilogy of Monteverdi operas mounted by John Eliot Gardiner for the composer’s 450th birthday. In the three operas she sang six roles including the title role in Poppea.
Hana appears on more than thirty CDs, including the well-known series of Bach cantatas with the Bach Collegium Japan. She also plays gothic and romanesque harp and presents concerts in which she accompanies herself on this instrument. In addition she is a member of the Tiburtina Ensemble, which specializes in Gregorian chant and early medieval polyphony.
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki enjoys ongoing international collaborations with many of the world’s leading conductors including Mark Morris and Nicholas Kraemer to name two. Celebrated for her “full, luxuriously toned upper range” (The Los Angeles Times), and “astonishing coloratura with radiant top notes” (Calgary Herald) particularly in the music of Bach and Handel, recent seasons have included performances with many of the world’s leading orchestras the New York Philharmonic, Bach Collegium Japan, Wiener Akademie (Austria), NDR Hannover Radiophilharmonie (Germany), the Boston Early Music Festival and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Canada) amongst others.
Ms. Panthaki is no stranger to classical and modern concert repertoire; she is in high demand for her interpretations of Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Poulenc, and Orff, as well as numerous new music premieres. Born and raised in India, Ms. Panthaki holds graduate degrees with top honors from the Yale School of Music and the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor’s from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is a founding member and artistic advisor of the newly-debuted Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble – a vocal octet celebrating racial and ethnic diversity in performances and educational programs of early and new music and she currently heads the Vocal Program at Mount Holyoke College.
Nicholas Burns, alto
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, countertenor Nicholas Burns has been described as possessing a “thrilling voice” and past performances have been described as a “revelation” (Opera Canada). As an artist at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Nicholas performed Bach cantatas under Philippe Herreweghe. He has appeared with Early Music Vancouver for several iterations of the Christmas Vespers and summer Bach Festivals. Nicholas has also appeared with the American Bach Soloists, Arion Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, The Theatre of Early Music, le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, L’Harmonie des saisons, and l’Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil. On the opera stage, Nicholas has performed in numerous Handel operas including the title role in Giulio Cesare, Bertarido in Rodelinda, and the world premiere of a new opera, L’Orangeraie. Upcoming engagements include performances of Bach cantatas at the BachFest Leipzig, and a programme of Monteverdi with the American Bach Soloists. Aside from singing, Nicholas is an accomplished bagpiper, having won the World Pipe Band Championships in 2012.
Emma Parkinson, alto
Chinese-Canadian mezzo-soprano Emma Parkinson has performed across Canada and internationally, she has been hailed as "an outstanding voice" (La Scena Musicale). This season, Emma performed in the world premiere of Chinatown with City Opera Vancouver, and in the Canadian premiere of Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone with re:Naissance Opera and Sound the Alarm Music Theatre. Past seasons have seen Emma perform with Vancouver Opera as Jade Boucher in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, and with Pacific Opera Victoria in the Canadian premiere of Rattenbury. Emma has appeared with Burnaby Lyric Opera in the title role of Carmen, and, as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. As an alumnus of the Atelier lyrique of Opéra de Montréal, she performed Orlofsky in Opéra de Montréal’s production of Die Fledermaus. In Europe, Emma debuted with Seefestspiele Berlin as Mercédès in Carmen, and performed a concert with Les Chorégies d’Orange in France. Her concert highlights include soloist appearances with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Vancouver Bach Choir, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Métropolitain, under the baton of Yannick Nézét-Seguin. Emma was honoured to perform as a special guest soloist for Ballet BC’s 35th Anniversary Gala.
Charles Daniels, tenor
Charles Daniels is a noted interpreter of Baroque music, though his narrative gifts are praised for music as diverse as Machaut Virelais and Graham Treacher’s Visions (2016). His recordings include Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Andrew Parrott, Bach’s Matthäus Passion with the Bach-Stiftung; Schütz Weihnachtshistorie, Monteverdi’s Vespers and Purcell’s Fairy-Queen with the Gabrieli Consort; Heracleitus with the Bridge Quartet and Lambert airs with Fred Jacobs; Kilar’s Missa Pro Pace with the Warsaw Philharmonic; much Bach and recent Purcell releases with the King’s Consort.
He created the dual role of Ulisse and John Gregory Dunne to critical acclaim in last year’s Bayerische Staatsoper production of Il Ritorno d’Ulisse/Jahr des magisches Denken His concert appearances span the intimate and the grand, from BBC Radio 3 recitals with lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, domestic music of Bach for Nederlandse Bach Vereniging and Handel Chandos Anthems in their original setting of the Canons Estate church, to performances of Britten’s War Requiem (Canterbury, Lille) and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (Cardiff, Wroclaw). Recent concerts include Dowland in Japan with Les Voix Humaines, Viadana in Verona and Switzerland with Bruce Dickey, a Weckmann programme in Vienna’s Konzerthaus and the 50th birthday celebration in Oxford of Andrew Parrott’s Taverner Consort.
Charles’ reconstructions of Gesualdo’s Sacrae Cantiones à6 have been premiered by the Gesualdo Consort of Amsterdam and his completion of Purcell’s court Ode Arise my Muse was broadcast on Radio-Canada during the Montréal Baroque Festival. He is delighted to return to EMV for this summer’s Festival.
Haitham Haidar, tenor
Haitham Haidar is a Lebanese-Palestinian Canadian tenor based in Montreal. He is a proud graduate of Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, McGill’s Schulich School of Music, and the University of British Columbia. Praised for his ‘ductile,’ ‘bright,’ and ‘robust’ tenor, Haitham enjoys performing oratorio, opera, and chamber music across North America, Europe, and Asia. Haitham is also a proud member of Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble (KVE), whose mission aims to present vocal music with the highest artistic excellence, while celebrating racial, ethnic, and gender diversity.
Haitham has been seen as a tenor soloist on a US and European tour with Apollo’s Fire and as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion at the Winnipeg Baroque Festival. He has also been a recent soloist and ensemble member TENET Vocal Artists, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Arion Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Evangelist in Schütz’s Weinachtshistorie with Folger Consort. Haitham is a featured soloist on Conspirare’s Grammy nominated album House of Belonging. Haitham has also performed as a soloist and ensemble member with groups like Seraphic Fire, Skylark Ensemble, and Ensemble Arion.
Haitham’s approach to performance has always been humanity first. Being an Arab immigrant in North America comes with its unique set of oppressive challenges and it is because of that and what he sees around him in the field, that he aims to touch people’s hearts with music and compassion and make change in the world the best way he knows how.
Oliver Dalton, tenor
Tenor Oliver Dalton has performed with many ensembles throughout Vancouver and Canada, including Vancouver Chamber Choir, musica intima, Phoenix Chamber Choir, and Vancouver Youth Choir. He was selected as a member of the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2020 and 2022, and he was selected as a member of the World Youth Choir in 2024. As a choral singer, he has performed in France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Estonia, Turkey, and all throughout North America.
Oliver is a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a double major in Math and Philosophy, and he is now studying at UBC's Allard School of Law.
Steven Bélanger, baritone
Baritone Steven Bélanger is a graduate of Queen’s University and McGill University and has performed with ensembles of all sizes and genres across Canada. He has appeared at music festivals all around North America and has recorded music for film, television, radio and Cirque du Soleil.
Recent solo engagements include Bach’s Easter and Ascension Oratorios with Ensemble Caprice and Carmina Burana with the West Coast Symphony. He can also be heard as one of the soloists on the recording of Christopher Tyler Nickel’s seven-hour oratorio The Gospel According to Mark, recently released on Avie Records.
As a recitalist, Steven has collaborated with pianists Stephen Smith, Corey Hamm, Terence Dawson, Kinza Tyrrell and Jane Coop in programs of English songs, French mélodies and German Lieder. He also frequently works with composer Lloyd Burritt for whom he premiered lead roles in the chamber operas Miracle Flight 571 (based on the Andes flight disaster) and Camouflage Complex: The Art of Deception (based on the life of feminist literary icon Betsy Warland).
Steven currently lives in Vancouver where he holds the title of Executive Director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. In addition to performing both as soloist and ensemble singer with the choir he has appeared with Early Music Vancouver, musica intima, the Erato Ensemble, the Vancouver Cantata Singers, Stellaria, Laudate Singers, ArtSongLab, the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival and Little Chamber Music.
Drew Santini, bass
Canadian baritone Drew Santini performs opera, oratorio and chamber music, and collaborates on a diverse gamut of musical projects. Comfortable in repertoire of many periods, he is particularly known for his stylish, sensitive performances of Bach and his contemporaries performing with such groups as Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Gli Angeli Genève, The English Concert, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, The Orchestra of the 18th Century, Ensemble Masques and Netherlands Bach Society.
The 23/24 season began with a debut appearance with the Orchestra of the 18th Century singing Guglielmo in their tour of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with conductor Manoj Kamps and stage director Lisenka Heijboer Castañón. Other highlights of the season included performances of John Blow’s Venus & Adonis with Ensemble Masques in France and Spain, a tour of Handel’s Messiah with Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht led by Johannes Leertouwer, a program with the Luthers Bach Ensemble and guest conductor Ton Koopman, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Dutch Bach Society led by Johanna Soller and Bach’s Mass in B minor in Hungary with Capella Savaria and guest conductor Bart Van Reyn.
Drew has recorded albums with Gli Angeli Genève, La Bande Montréal Baroque, BachPlus, and Oerknal! New Music Collective. He appears in over 25 works on ‘All of Bach’, a project by the Dutch Bach Society to record the complete oeuvre.
Drew originally hails from Stratford, Ontario. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School (MM) and Manhattan School of Music (BM). He currently lives in The Hague, Netherlands. drewsantini.com
Jonathon Adams, bass
Jonathon Adams is a Cree-Métis two-spirit baritone from amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB). They have appeared as a soloist under Masaaki Suzuki, Philippe Herreweghe, Laurence Equilbey, and Alexander Weimann, among others, with the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the Washington Bach Consort, Tafelmusik, Ricercar Consort, B’Rock, Vox Luminis, the Netherlands Bach Society, and il Gardellino. In 2021 they were named the first artist-in-residence at Early Music Vancouver. They have lectured and led workshops at the Universities of Toronto, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta (Augustana), Bard College, Festival Montréal Baroque, and the Juilliard School.
Jonathon was featured in Against the Grain Theatre’s 2020 film MESSIAH/COMPLEX, in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s MEA CULPA with Ballet Vlaanderen, and on Jessica McMann’s most recent album ‘Prairie Dusk’. They attended the Victoria Conservatory of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, studying with Nancy Argenta, Emma Kirkby and Rosemary Joshua.
Alexander Weimann, director
The internationally renowned keyboard artist Alexander Weimann has spent his life enveloped by the therapeutic power and beauty of making music. Alex grew up in Munich. At age three he became fascinated by the intense magic of the church organ. He started piano at six, formal organ lessons at 12 and harpsichord at university (along with theatre theory, medieval Latin and jazz piano.) He is in huge demand as a director, soloist and chamber player, traveling the world with leading North American and European ensembles. He is Artistic Director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and teaches at the University of British Columbia where he directs the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme.
Alex has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including the Juno-award-winning album “Prima Donna” with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque orchestra. His latest album series “The Art of Improvisation” (Volume 1: A Prayer for Peace; Volume 2: Ad libitum; and Volume 3: Caravan Variations, released on Redshift, 2024) unites his passions for both baroque music and improvisation on organ, harpsichord, and piano.
Pacific Baroque Orchestra
The ‘house band’ of Early Music Vancouver, The Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears.” Formed in 1990, the orchestra quickly established itself as a force in Vancouver’s burgeoning music scene with the ongoing support of Early Music Vancouver. In 2009, PBO welcomed Alexander Weimann as Director. His imaginative programming, creativity and engaging musicianship have carved out a unique and vital place in the cultural landscape of Vancouver.
PBO regularly joins forces with internationally-celebrated Canadian guest artists, providing performance opportunities for Canadian musicians while exposing West Coast audiences to a spectacular variety of talent. The Orchestra has also toured throughout BC, the northern United States, and across Canada. Their 2019 East Coast Canadian tour with Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin culminated in a critically acclaimed album, Nuit Blanches, released by Atma Classique.
