Crossing The Andes – CANCELLED

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

CONCERT CANCELLATION

Sadly, due to artist scheduling conflicts beyond our control, we have had to cancel the May 26th performance of Crossing the Andes. Ticket holders will be refunded. We apologise for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

Artists: Constantinople directed by Kiya Tabassian; Federico Tarazona, 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 Tarazona 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...

Schubertiade with The Leonids and Chor Leoni

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...

The Birds Concert

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

Artists: La Rêveuse – Sébastien Marq, flûtes à bec; Florence Bolton, pardessus de viole & basse de viole; Jean-Miguel Aristizabal, clavecin; Benjamin Perrot, théorbe

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...

Online Concert: Beethoven & Liszt: A Musical Affinity with Olga Pashchenko

April 5, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | This concert was originally performed on April 8, 2022 at Christ Church CathedralOnline

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in Bb Major, Op. 106 is extreme in every way – tremendously long and a challenge to the limits of both piano and pianist with its wide dynamic and pitch range; virtuosic, constantly shifting musical textures; almost unbelievably fast metronome markings and tumultuous expressivity. Having become completely deaf by 1816, Beethoven also suffered frequent illness and the piece is marked by struggle throughout, exemplified in the unusual conflict between two keys a semitone apart: B-flat Major and B minor.

Details...

Digital Concert: Raise, raise the voice

Mar 24, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | This concert was originally performed live Friday, February 3, 2023 at Christ Church Cathedral in VancouverOnline

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.

Read the recent interview with Mr. Mobley in Stir Vancouver here.

This concert is generously supported by Janette McMillan in memory of Douglas Graves.

Details...

Angela Hewitt: Bach, Brahms, and Scarlatti

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

Please note: Tickets will also be available to purchase at the door on concert day starting 02:00 p.m.

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...

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...

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)

Immediately following the performance there will be a Post-Concert Talk with Suzie LeBlanc and members of the Quartet.

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

Details...

Online Concert: Concerto D’Amore: Overcoming Rivalry

Tuesday, February 14, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | This concert was originally performed on February 12, 2022 at St. Andrew's Wesley United Church.Online

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

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...