Friday January 10, 2020 | 7:30PM (Pre-concert talk at 6:45PM)
Christ Church Cathedral

For this intense new program, vocalist and harper Benjamin Bagby will be joined by his Sequentia colleagues Norbert Rodenkirchen, Hanna Marti and Stef Conner, for a program of riddles, charms and elegies of their medieval ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons and the Germanic tribes of the European Northlands.

These are songs of magic, healing, exile, of the uncertainty of fate, of a wandering poet/singer searching for a patron, funeral songs and celebrations of life-giving magic herbs. Their sources are varied: the Old English Beowulf epic, the Old Icelandic poetic Edda, and the few poems surviving in ancient songbooks such as The Exeter Book. Each of these songs is a glimpse into another time far from ours, and into the souls of poets, warriors, valkyries and seeresses, bards and philosophers, whose creations were the first to be written down in English and other Germanic languages. In addition to songs in English, there will be Old High German and Old Icelandic songs of conjuring, magic, and lament as well. The world of the pagan medieval north, just turning to Christianity, will be explored, using the oldest sources known to us today. The featured instruments will include 6-string Germanic harps, triangular harps, wooden flutes and a swan-bone flute.

Details...

Tuesday November 12, 2019 | 7:30PM (Pre-concert talk at 6:45PM)
Christ Church Cathedral

By his twenties, Antonius “Ton” Koopman was already carving a musical niche for himself in which he would rise to become one of the world’s most prominent performers in the early music movement. He founded his first Baroque orchestra in 1966, followed by an exuberant career (40 years and counting) of performance, conducting, and scholarship. He is widely regarded as one the finest organists, harpsichordists and conductors of our time. A frequent guest on EMV’s series over the years, for this recital he will play on a harpsichord by Vancouver-based maker Craig Tomlinson.

Details...

Friday November 1, 2019 | 7:30PM Pre-concert talk at 6:45PM)
Christ Church Cathedral

Star British lutenist Nigel North joins Canada’s now-legendary viol consort, Les Voix Humaines, for a performance of John Dowland’s 1604 Lachrimae. This iconic collection of passionate pavans, galiards, and almands is replete with musical effects, dissonances and suspensions that powerfully evoke the melancholic subjects that re-appear throughout Dowland’s compositions: the agonies of the soul, night, and darkness.

Details...

Saturday September 28, 2019 | 7:30PM (Pre-concert talk at 6:45PM)
Christ Church Cathedral

The legendary violinist and long-time music director of Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon, leads sixteen members of Victoria Baroque in a selection of grand Overture Suites and ravishing Concerti Grossi celebrating the first-ever public concert series in Paris. Formed in 1725, Le Concert Spirituel brought music – previously exclusive to the courts – to the public realm, and became a platform to the finest of the French and touring artists. This concert revels in the splendours of the French Suite and Italian Concerto, contrasting and blending two distinct national styles and celebrates our 50th season opener with the spearheading public concert series that became the most acclaimed and imitated series in 18th century Europe. Music by Telemann, Haydn, Rebel, and more.

Details...