A musical journey by way of numerous Christmas and vacation traditions — that’s the imaginative premise behind this system for the Higher Canada Choristers and their Vacation Travelogue. Cantemos Latin choir may even be performing, together with particular visitor baritone Bradley Christensen.
Toronto journey blogger Nora Dunn is the tour information for this journey by way of not solely the globe, however the centuries, beginning with an Irish carol that’s about 800 years previous. Musician (and common LvT contributor) Hye Received Cecilia Lee accompanies the choir.
We spoke to UCC’s Inventive Director Laurie Evan Fraser in regards to the music.
Laurie Evan Fraser, Higher Canada Choristers’ Inventive Director – Conductor
Laurie Evan Fraser is a local of Troy, New York, who first got here to Canada to check as a scholarship pupil on the Royal Conservatory of music. She studied piano, organ, and voice, and would go on to grow to be a college member on the RCM, in addition to a collaborative and solo pianist, vocalist, chamber musician and conductor.
She has a longstanding historical past of working in and with choirs, together with as a soprano soloist, music and choir director, and as collaborator in exchanges with different Canadian choirs.
Baritone Bradley Christensen
Along with performing as a vocalist, baritone Bradley Christensen is a voice trainer, and wanted visitor clinician. He earned a BMUS (Hons) in Vocal Efficiency and a BA in Italian from the College of Auckland, adopted by a MMus and a DMA in Voice Efficiency and Pedagogy from the College of Toronto.
He maintains a busy calendar as a performer, together with appearances as a soloist with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Grand Philharmonic Choir of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa Choral Society, and others, together with engagements in New Zealand with the Auckland Choral Society, amongst others. As an opera singer, he’s carried out with Toronto’s Opera Atelier, and within the US with Opera North.
Laurie Evan Fraser: The Program
Winter Fanfare, composed by Laurie Evan Fraser with lyrics by Jacqui Atkin, opens this system. “It’s extra a celebration of winter than something particularly tied to Christmas,” says Fraser. She needed to counter the adverse emotions many individuals have in regards to the season with an upbeat celebration of its glowing snow and magical moments. Jacqui Atkin is a frequent collaborator. “We work very well collectively.”
The piece makes a musical distinction with A Dream of Summer season, the premiere of a bit by UCC tenor Matthew Secaur. His work makes use of textual content from a poem with a theme about optimism by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Secaur, as Fraser explains, has a level in music, however acquired sidetracked right into a profession in IT. When he joined the choir, he was able to get again to music, and to contribute. It’s the second piece he’s created for them.
“It’s charming. It’s a sea shanty,” she says. “It’s a breath of contemporary air.” The piece is scored for bass and baritones, with physique percussion, and a way of humour. “It’s instantly accessible.”
The alternatives on this system journey by way of each time and area. “The oldest one we’re doing is the Wexford Carol,” Fraser says, noting some proof that it dates again to the twelfth century. “Plenty of Celtic music has flattened sevenths. It has that haunting sound that quite a lot of Celtic music has.”
Fraser plans the live shows out two to 5 years upfront, relying on the visitor artists and/or composers. When it got here to baritone Bradley Christensen, when he labored with UCC final greater than two years in the past, she requested him about singing Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols.
“Which is such an excellent showcase for the baritone,” she says. He agreed to come back again for the masterwork. “He has a beautiful voice, fantastic sense of humour,” she provides. “We love singing with him.” Laurie initially met Bradley by way of his mom Elise Bradley, former director of the Toronto Kids’s Refrain. “I used to be the pianist,” she notes. Bradley first educated as a countertenor, then made the change to baritone, and auditioned for the choir. “The remaining is historical past.”
This system does lean closely into traditions from the UK with the Vaughan Williams piece as its highlight. However, together with the historic perspective, Laurie was within the totally different ways in which cultures see the vacation, as expressed within the music. “In Latin America, they sofa it in very private phrases,” she explains.
Cantemos, UCC’s Latin choir, will sing three Venezuelan songs. “The three Venezualen songs we’re singing put the Christmas story into three very totally different areas of Venezuela.” The Aguinaldo Carupanero, as she explains it, places Mary and Joseph within the Caribbean, with the Clever Males ingesting rum.
“Partamos a Belén by César Alejandro Carrillo — it’s a really present have a look at the story.” The tune mentions native culinary treats and traditions of the area. “It makes the story very actual for individuals who come from South America.” It is available in distinction with the standard British vacation fare, the place the beginning of Jesus is seen as an occasion that’s distant in each time and place. “Our view locations it as exoticsim.”
Cantemos may even sing El poncho andino, organized by Carrillo for basses, tenors, baritones, and Ya viene la vieja from Spain.
Gilbert Martin’s Scottish lullaby, Baloo, Lammy (Lullaby, Little Lamb), which he based mostly on a conventional seventeenth century Celtic carol, and Swedish composer Gustaf Nordqvist’s 1921 Jul, Jul, Stralande Jul (Christmas, superb Christmas) are additionally on this system.
Jul, Jul, Stralande Jul, in Swedish by Gustaf Nordqvist is a sort of processional, the place a younger lady adorned with a crown of candles would stroll in a slower rhythm. It’s not, as she factors out, essentially typical of Scandinavian vacation music. “The Swedish tune is so lovely, so stately and majestic.”
Ultimately, it’s about creating an inspiring expertise for the viewers. Fraser says the range of this system displays their audiences. “We take our music out in the neighborhood,” she says. It attracts individuals from a variety of experiences and locales. “It’s very satisfying for them to acknowledge one thing.”
“I like the variability, and the historical past,” she provides.
- Discover tickets and extra data [HERE].
- The live performance may even stream dwell through the choir’s web site or straight on YouTube; there isn’t a cost to stream, however donations are gratefully welcomed.
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
