The mid to late 1800’s America witnessed a surge in publications of “popular” music: Civil War songs, slave songs, cowboy songs, minstrel plays and parlor songs, along with hymns and revival tunes. For a time Foster himself made a living composing minstrel shows, but in later life turned back to his earlier “art song” tradition of parlor music.
After being selected to participate in the first Le Jardin des Voix with William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants, tenor Jeffrey Thompson has appeared with virtually all of the biggest names in early music. For his Vancouver debut he will perform a program of music by Henry Lawes accompanied by the Paris-based instrumentalists, La Rêveuse.
Steven Isserlis has described playing the Beethoven Sonatas as “a journey through a life.” In this endlessly moving and thought-provoking series, the duo traverses through the early, middle, and late periods of the monumental composer’s life.
South African-born, London-based Kristian Bezuidenhout is ranked among the leading keyboard players of his generation. Although he’s best known for his fortepiano interpretations of music by Mozart, his repertory also includes works by Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. EMV is thrilled to collaborate with the Vancouver Recital Society in bringing this inspiring and captivating young artist to Vancouver.
Charles Daniels is one of the most respected tenors of his generation. He has made over 100 recordings as a soloist including Handel’s Messiah with the Gabrieli Consort for Deutsche Grammophon and more than twenty discs of Purcell’s music, mostly with The King’s Consort. In this intimate recital of English song he is joined by renowned harpsichordist and conductor Alexander Weimann.
Theodora is of one of Handel’s largest-scale oratorios for soloists, choir and orchestra and was his personal favourite. Featuring some of the composer’s most glorious music, this tragic work depicts the self-sacrificial love between a Christian virgin and a Roman imperial bodyguard. It serves as a timeless parable of spiritual resistance to tyranny and an indictment of persecution, topics that still resonate with audiences today. This production features 28 members of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, 40 members of the Vancouver Cantata Singers and five international soloists, all under the direction of Alexander Weimann.
In 1785 Josef Haydn wrote a chamber work based on the Biblical seven last words spoken by Christ on the cross. Traditionally, the words or phrases are spoken, followed by a meditation on those words, then by the music. EMV, in collaboration with Green College at UBC, have invited renowned BC poets Robert Bringhurst and Jan Zwicky to prepare poetry for each of the seven movements that stimulates a dialogue based on the universal human qualities in the text and also in Haydn’s deeply affecting music.
Bach’s great Christmas Oratorio begins and ends with a clamour of trumpets and a great clatter of kettledrums. Celebrate the holiday season with a collection of North America’s most celebrated period instrumentalists and soloists in this festive performance of three of Bach’s six Christmas Oratorio Cantatas.
Claudio Monteverdi’s Eighth and last book of Madrigals includes his most revolutionary and stirring music. In these works, Love and War become indivisible metaphors that Monteverdi evokes with the most exciting musical devices of the period. Book 8 represents the pinnacle of 17th-century musical expression and still has the power to move listeners today.
The four extraordinary players of the Quatuor Mosaïques return to Vancouver with a thrilling recital of music by Haydn, Mozart, and Schumann. Join us and experience the richness and vitality of this splendid repertoire.
Working closely with internationally renowned American tenor Michael Slattery, Montreal’s La Nef lend some of John Dowland’s music a simple Celtic flavor and breathe life into the possibility that one of the greatest English composers was actually an Irishman.
Join EMV’s Artistic Director Matthew White and PBO’s Artistic Director Alexander Weimann for an open rehearsal by PBO’s musicians, followed by an interactive discussion of plans for future regional collaborations. Admission to this Culture Days event is free.
