March 2012 Concerts

Oriana: Voices of Women
March 3rd, 2012 8:00 pm
Grace Church on-the-hill 300 Lonsdale Road Toronto


Please join us, organist Michael Bloss and Mezzo Soprano Andrea Ludwig in a concert celebrating the strength of Women’s Voices and International Women’s Day. The programme will include the Faure Requiem, Mozart's Laudate Dominum and Raminsh's Missa Brevis.
Visit Oriana at: www.orianachoir.com 




Vancouver Chamber Choir On Tour
March 1–10, 2012

In March 2012 the internationally acclaimed Vancouver Chamber Choir will visit New Brunswick, Maine and Nova Scotia on their tour A Choral Panorama. Featuring Canadian and international composers, the tour programme has the season's greatest variety of music for a cappella fans, providing a panorama of choral styles, moods and flavours. Tickets are available in advance and at the door for all performances. Please contact local presenters for details. The Vancouver Chamber Choir will perform:

March 1 - Fredericton, NB, The Playhouse presented by The Fredericton Playhouse
March 2 -  Saint John, NB, Imperial Theatre presented by Imperial Theatre
March 3 -  Bangor, Maine, St. John's Episcopal Church presented by Collins Center for the Arts
March 4 -  Portland, Maine, Merrill Hall presented by Portland Ovations
March 6 - Antigonish, NS, St. Ninian's Cathedral presented by Antigonish Performing Arts Series
March 7 - Wolfville, NS, Festival Theatre presented by Acadia Performing Arts Series
March 9 - Lunenburg, NS, St. John's Anglican Church presented by St. Cecilia Concert Series
March 10 - Halifax, NS, St. Patrick's Church presented by St. Cecilia Concert Series



Elektra Marks 25th Anniversary with Pure Elektra 
Sunday, March 4, 2012   3 pm    
Ryerson United Church, Vancouver

Pure Elektra is a concert that celebrates Elektra’s leading role in the development of women’s choral  music and showcases a choir that is renowned internationally and treasured locally. By turns serene,   gripping, beautiful, and surprising, Pure Elektra will surround you with beauty in a program of works   full  of the radiant “Elektra sound” that has captivated audiences for 25 years.  

The focal point of the concert is From Behind the Caravan: Songs of  Hâfez by American composer, Abbie Betinis. This  five  movement work for women’s voices, cello, oud, and  percussion, is sung in Farsi and is symbolic of  Elektra’s commitment to the exploration of new    works  for women’s choirs.   

Tickets are (Adults $28 Seniors $22) are available through Brown Paper Tickets, the choir office (604-7391255) or chisters.






Pacifica Singers Performs at Concerts for the Community
Sunday, March 4, 2012  3:00 pm 
St. Philip's Anglican Church, 3737 West 27th Avenue, Vancouver

John Trotter conducts the Pacifica Singers in the music of Benjamin Britten and Jonathan Dove with organist Michael Murrary. Admission is $20; seniors/students $15. For more information contact:
www.stphilipsdunbar.com or call 604-224-3238.











Organic Voices ~ Laudate Singers and Denis Bédard, organ
Saturday March 10, 2012 at 8pm 
St. Andrew's United Church, 10th & St. Georges, North Vancouver


The program gives opportunity to revel in pure organ with Bédard’s "Fantaisie" and Bales’ "Petite Suite", pure choir with the rich harmonies of Brahms’ "Fest und Gedenksprüche", and organ and choir mixed gloriously together in Bruckner motets and Britten’s two joyful versions of "Jubilate Deo" bookending the concert.

"A Place" is the newest creation by the cross-genre composer team Andrei Diaconu and Taymaz Saba, Laudate’s composers-in-residence. "A Place" uses an inspired modern English text combined with a liturgical Latin section in a rhythmically fascinating setting for choir, organ and pre-recorded sound.

Repeated on March 23 at 8pm at Holy Rosary Cathedral, 646 Richards, Vancouver.



Edmonton Columbian Choirs present Spring Bouquets
Tuesday, March 13, 2012  7:30 pm
McDougall United Church, 10025 101 Street, Edmonton

Spring Bouquets is a concert filled with a mix of sacred and secular music performed by choirs with members aged 6 to adult – the Young Columbian Singers under the direction of Elaine Dunbar, Vocal Motion under the direction of Vern Slipetz and the Chanteuses Ladies’ Choir under the direction of Heather Bedford-Clooney.  Included in the afternoon’s performance are a variety of spirituals, folk and pop songs, as well as other songs perfect for spring.  The evening will also see the première of Mark Sirett’s arrangement of Ian Tyson’s "Four Strong Winds".  This arrangement was commissioned by the Edmonton Columbian Choirs and is dedicated with love and thanks to the memory Paul Bourret, founder of the choirs.

Tickets for Spring Bouquets are $15 and are available by calling Beth Cooper at (780) 430-6806, through choir members and at the door.


This concert is proudly presented by the Edmonton Chapter of the Knights of Columbus, CKUA Radio Network and Vue Weekly.

Vist the web site: www.EdmontonColumbianChoirs.ca 



The Chamber Choir & The Iselers
Friday, March 16  8 pm
Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street at West Georgia, downtown Vancouver

This is the latest in a long series of collaborative concerts by Canada's two outstanding professional choirs - the Vancouver Chamber Choir conducted by Jon Washburn and the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto conducted by Lydia Adams. Each choir sings separately and they also combine voices for Mendelssohn and Willcocks in what is sure to be a magnificent choral experience!

Tickets to THE CHAMBER CHOIR & THE ISELERS are $24.50 - $28, available at Ticketmaster. Student rush tickets are $10 when doors open one hour before the concert. Visit Ticketmaster.ca to purchase online or phone 1-855-985-ARTS (2787).


New Brunswick Choral Federation Spring Choral Fest 30th Anniversary Concert
Sunday, March 25 2:00 pm
St. Paul's United Church, 224 York Street, Fredericton

Commissioned for the millennium by Britain’s Royal Armouries and dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis, this work by Karl Jenkins is a contemporary example of a Mass based on the 15th-century French song L’homme armé (The Armed Man). Set within the framework of the Christian Mass, The Armed Man is a major choral work which uses both sacred and secular texts.

The New Brunswick premiere of The Armed Man will be performed by the SCF delegate choir and instrumental ensemble under the direction of Robert Cooper, who also conducted the first SCF in 1982. Soloists will be Sylvie Boulianne, Mary Blake Bonn, Guyaume Boulianne and Julien Bouchard, New Brunswick representatives to the 2012 National Youth Choir.

Admission: Adults $10; Students $5. Tickets available at the door.