Choral Concert with host Peter Togni, December 5, 2010 9:00 - 11:00 am, (9:30 - 11:30 NL) on CBC Radio 2

The Elmer Iseler Singers in the “Glory of A Cappella”

This Sunday on Choral Concert Peter Togni brings you the Elmer Iseler Singers straight up, as in “a cappella”, or voices alone without accompaniment. You’ve got to respect and admire any choir that can pull off an entire concert unaccompanied - kind of like Cirque de Soleil performing without safety nets.

The Elmer Iseler Singers are one of Canada’s truly great professional choirs and they rise to both the challenge, and the occasion. As Peter Togni says, this broadcast is deep, rich, resonant and in many places incredibly moving. You'll hear an all Canadian program with music by Eleanor Daley, Healey Willan and John Estacio.

You’ll also hear a true gem from the past. It’s a recording from 1963 with the Festival Singers of Toronto (which was then conducted by Elmer Iseler himself), the CBC Symphony Orchestra (which was then based in Toronto) together in a rare performance of a movement from Igor Stravinsky’s beautiful work the “Symphony of Psalms”.

Finally, in honour of the fact that December 5th is the 219th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, we will open and close the show with his “Ave Verum”, considered to be one of the last pieces he wrote.

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