Vancouver 1971
Japan 2009
Star Walk 2010
Vancouver 1984
We are Singers/ We are Song! A MESSAGE FROM THE ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear Faithful Concertgoers and Vancouver Chamber Choir Supporters, 2018–2019 is going to be an unusually exciting season. Many changes are afoot with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. The first part of 2018-19 will focus on presenting the last four of our six candidates for the position of Artistic Director, with the chosen successor scheduled to start in the fall of 2019. (Yes, I say six because we’ve unfortunately lost two candidates from the original eight.) But John William Trotter and Timothy Shantz have completed their audition concerts already and they will be joined by Kari Turunen, Kathleen Allan, Nicol Matt and Erick Lichte. These are all fine conductors, each fully capable of taking over the artistic reins of the Choir if chosen. The final decisions of the Search Committee are going to be quite difficult! The second half of 2018-19 will see my own transition from Artistic Director to Conductor Emeritus. It will include several probable “lasts” — my last FOCUS! concert, Messiah, Conductors’ Symposium, Canadian tour, Good Friday concert in the Orpheum and Youth & Music concert and competition. Another element in flux is the name of our long-time concert home, which has changed from Ryerson United Church to Pacific Spirit United Church, still at 45th and Yew in Kerrisdale. Then, starting in January 2019, there will be a closing of the building itself for major renovations. So, that same month we will be moving to Shaughnessy Heights United at Granville and 33rd as our temporary concert home... along with the Orpheum, of course. And so I invite you to join us for this fascinating season of concerts and other events — our 48th! It’s your participation that makes it all 2
Lt. Gov. Steven Point 2012
Jon Washburn 1978 Moscow 1989
Prague 1997 Helmut Rilling 2003
Yokohama 2009
possible. You are not just attending a few concerts and educational events, you are supporting the whole process of change and renewal. Your subscription actually makes you a voting member of the Society, an important part of the organization. This brochure will outline the whole season for you, and I think it is an outstanding one. You won’t want to miss any of the candidate concerts. Your attention and applause will not only welcome and encourage our guests, but is sure to play an important role in the difficult decisions of the Search Committee and the conductors themselves. And I hope you will want to be there as we celebrate the closing of this amazing 48-year journey which I have taken as the Artistic and Executive Director of this remarkable professional ensemble and organization. Mind you, this will not be the last you see of me, for I will be back in future years in my new role as Conductor Emeritus. I’ll get the pleasure of the occasional concert without the burden of heavy administrative duties. We are already planning ahead for a gala 50th Year Celebration, and I wouldn’t want to miss that! But first, let’s do up this 48th season in fine fashion. I promise, you won’t find a better choral season anywhere on this continent! You won’t find a better deal, either. You can choose your most convenient combination of concerts... or go for all of them by choosing the Whole Songbook. (Be sure to include the Good Friday concert and celebration in the Orpheum!) My advice is to sign up now and rest assured that your favourite seats are reserved. Then we’ll be seeing you, starting in the fall, and I’ll have a full year to thank you yet again for your outstanding support over the last five decades.
Jon Washburn Artistic and Executive Director 3
Presenting Kari
Turunen from Finland
8pm Friday, September 28, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church Our opening concert will introduce Artistic Director candidate Kari Turunen from Finland. His repertoire is rich in music from Northern Europe and North America. Featured are Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s evocative Canticum calamitatis maritimae about the sinking of the Estonia, and Canadian/Finnish composer Matthew Whittall’s E. E. Cummings setting love is a place. Other works in this eclectic programme are by Josquin, Lassus, Schütz, Finzi, Kreek, Vasks, Chatman, Elder, Rautavaara, Runestad and Makaroff.
8pm Friday, October 19, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church Jon Washburn combines the Choir’s professional singers with advanced choral students from Vancouver’s university music departments in the annual FOCUS! event. Special guest choirs include the Capilano University Singers conducted by Lars Kaario and the Trinity Western University Chamber Choir conducted by Joel Tranquilla. Choral excitement will be guaranteed with music by Lotti, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Monteverdi, Fauré, Rutter, Beckwith, Erb and more! 4
Presenting Kathleen Allan from Vancouver 8pm Friday, November 9, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church Our audiences are fully aware of Kathleen Allan’s multiple talents as conductor-singer-composer and her long association with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. This concert — her official audition — will feature a full performance of the famous Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin, the most renowned Swiss composer of the 20th century. Between those Mass movements, though, Ms. Allan will introduce a great variety of music — both secular and sacred — by Arcadelt, Lassus, O’Regan, Lang, Sharman, Shaw, Braden, Hawley, and... Allan.
Be sure to visit
www.vancouverchamberchoir.com for complete repertoire information.
Programs are also available to download approximately one week before each concert.
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Nathalie Paulin
Daniel Cabena
Isaiah Bell
Stephen Hegedus
8pm Friday, December 7, 2018 The Orpheum In this 48th season of the Choir, Jon Washburn will conduct his 48th performance of Messiah, Vancouver’s perennial Christmas favourite. It features the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Pacifica Singers, Vancouver Chamber Orchestra and a stellar roster of Canadian vocal soloists — soprano Nathalie Paulin, countertenor Daniel Cabena, tenor Isaiah Bell and bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus.
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Presenting Nicol Matt from Germany 8pm Friday, December 14, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church December’s other Christmas concert will introduce Artistic Director candidate Nicol Matt from Germany. He will be leading a wonderful and diverse Christmas repertoire including Francis Poulenc’s Hodie Christus natus est, Benjamin Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin, Ola Gjeilo’s Spotless Rose, Ivo Antognini’s Laudate Dominum and other seasonal songs and carols by Reger, Rachmaninoff, Busto, Ramírez, Sixten, Chilcott, Berring, Sandström and more.
Presenting Erick Lichte from Portland/Vancouver 8pm Friday, January 25, 2019 Shaughnessy Heights United Church The final audition concert presents Erick Lichte, whom Vancouverites know as the Artistic Director of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir. His mostly contemporary and international repertoire will include John Tavener’s Village Wedding, David Lang’s manifesto, Eric Whitacre’s A Boy and a Girl and more music by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Zachary Wadsworth, Roberto Caamaño, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Eleanor Daley, Jennifer Higdon, Steven Sametz, Felix Mendelssohn and George Gershwin. 7
8pm Saturday, February 16, 2019 Shaughnessy Heights United Church This concert culminates our 39th annual National Conductor’s Symposium. Jon Washburn and five Symposium conductors will concentrate on music by Bach, Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Willan, Wagner, Raminsh, Britten and Orff with music drawn from famous Passions, Oratorios, Masses, Requiems and Operas. Pianist Stephen Smith and the Choir’s many fine soloists get ample opportunity to shine, too!
8pm Friday, March 15, 2019 Shaughnessy Heights United Church The Farewell Tour, which will be toured across Canada, will feature our all-time Top Ten List (by number of performances over the last 48 years) including Bach’s Lobet den Herrn, Debussy’s Trois chansons, Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia and more music by Zoltán Kodály, Imant Raminsh, R. Murray Schafer, Stephen Foster and Loreena McKennitt. This concert will mark the 92 domestic and foreign tours with the Vancouver Chamber Choir which Jon Washburn has led during the last half century. 8
8pm Friday, April 19, 2019 The Orpheum Jon Washburn draws all his soloists, choirs, alumni and orchestra together for a wonderful evening of music to celebrate the passage of his 48 years as leader of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. The music is resplendent J.S. Bach’s marvellous Missa brevis in G minor, Tarik O’Regan’s mystic and evocative Solitude Trilogy and a celebratory massed performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ glorious Five Mystical Songs.
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8pm Friday, May 10, 2019 Shaughnessy Heights United Church This biennial event — co-sponsored by the Canadian Music Centre BC Region — highlights the finalists and winners of our 14th Young Composers’ Competition, while Jon Washburn’s Vancouver Chamber Choir and Carrie Tennant’s Vancouver Youth Choir celebrate the wonderful combination of Youth & Music with music by Tavener, Rutter, Sandström and Washburn. There will be four newly-commissioned pieces from young professionals we’ve discovered. If you love music and you believe in young people, this concert will warm your heart.
VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIR RECORDINGS JON ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS Q: How many CDs has the Vancouver Chamber Choir recorded over the last 47 years?
A: 36, though the first few were LPs. Q: How many of those are still available? A: 22, if you want to have the entire collection. Q: When will your next CD be released? A: This fall, during the first half of the 2018–2019 concert season.
Q: What’s it called? A: The Love that Moves the Universe. It’s our fourth allSchafer recording, featuring the title work, Narcissus and Echo and The Star Princess and the Waterlilies.
Q: How can I get a copy? A: Go to www.vancouverchamberchoir.com/recordings and order from there or phone the Choir’s office at 604.738.6822. 10
Our Guest Conductors Kari Turunen from Finland The Heart’s Reection September 28, 2018 Kathleen Allan from Vancouver For Love is Strong November 9, 2018 Nicol Matt from Germany A Joyful Christmas December 14, 2018 Erick Lichte from Portland/Vancouver Love and Mercy January 25, 2019
Stay Connected! www.vancouverchamberchoir.com
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Enjoy the Benefits of Subscribing • • • • • • •
Up to 30% discount on single ticket prices It’s your choice: 4 concerts? All 10? It’s up to you! Priority seating at the Orpheum Invitations to special events and receptions Order extra discounted tickets for friends at the same time (Series B prices) Exchange your tickets for another concert if your plans change Easy lost ticket replacement
Subscribe Today in Four Easy Steps 1. Select a concert series and your preferred dates. 2. Consider adding a tax-deductible donation to the Vancouver Chamber Choir. 3. Add $5.00 for the handling fee. 4. Provide your contact and payment information and submit your order for processing by: mail to 1254 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1B6 phone our office at 604.738.6822
Seating Plans If you have a seating preference at the Orpheum, please use this chart to help describe the section where you wish to have your seats located: Upper Balcony Orchestra
Lower Balcony Dress Circle
Venue Locations All concerts start at 8pm. Pacific Spirit United Church and Shaughnessy Heights United Church offer general admission seating only. Pacific Spirit United Church (formerly known as Ryerson United Church) 2205 West 45th Avenue (at Yew) The Orpheum 601 Smithe Street (at Seymour) Shaughnessy Heights United Church 1550 West 33rd Avenue (at Granville) 12
Subscription Order Form This is a Renewal New Subscription/Change in Seating 1. Select concert series A or B. A - THE WHOLE SONGBOOK
Concerts
No. Adult No. Sr/St
ALL TEN WONDERFUL CONCERTS!
@ $310
B – CHOOSE 4 OR MORE CONCERTS Concerts No. Adult No. The Heart’s Reflection 8pm Sept 28 @ $28 We are Singers/We are Song @ $28 8pm Oct 19 For Love is Strong 8pm Nov 9 @ $28 Handel’s Messiah 8pm Dec 7 @ $48 A Joyful Christmas 8pm Dec 14 @ $28 Love and Mercy 8pm Jan 25 @ $28 Masterpiece 8pm Feb 16 @ $28 Music Sea to Sea 8pm Mar 15 @ $28 Music for a Very Good Friday @ $48 8pm Apr 19 Youth & Music 2019 8pm May 10 @ $28
Subtotal
@ $270
Sr/St Subtotal @ $24.50 @ $24.50 @ $24.50 @ $43 @ $24.50 @ $24.50 @ $24.50 @ $24.50 @ $43 @ $24.50
Subscription Subtotal 2. Please include a tax-deductible donation of: 3. Calculate the total amount of your order 4. Add $5.00 for the handling fee GST & facility fees included. TOTAL AMOUNT $
$
$5.00
5. Provide your contact and payment information and submit your order for processing. Last Name
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Submit your order for processing by: mail to 1254 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1B6 or phone our office at 604.738.6822 Please Note: All telephone orders must be accompanied by a credit card number and expiry date. Subscription prices reflect up to a 30% discount on single ticket prices. GST and theatre surcharges (where applicable) are included. Programmes and artists may be subject to change without notice. We cannot refund your series tickets, but will be happy to make exchanges or replace lost ones. You will receive confirmation of your booking and your ticket order by mail. Please note that subscription ticket prices are different from single ticket prices. If you wish to purchase tickets to individual concerts, they will be available in August through Ticketmaster. Thank you.
Charitable Registration Number 11928 1392 RR0001 13
The Vancouver Chamber Choir will be honouring Jon Washburn’s contribution to the Canadian choral landscape on this coast-to-coast tour in February/March 2019. We will visit the Prairies, Central Canada and Atlantic Canada, so please go to www.vancouverchamberchoir.com/touring to find a performance near you.
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GOVERNMENT & FOUNDATION SUPPORT
Alan & Gwendoline Pyatt Foundation Andrew Mahon Foundation | Chan Sisters Foundation The Christopher Foundation | Diamond Foundation John Hardie Mitchell Family Foundation Kinder Morgan Foundation Martha Lou Henley Charitable Foundation Mary & Gordon Christopher Foundation The McLean Foundation | The S.M. Blair Family Foundation The Simons Foundation 15
If you receive more than one copy of this brochure, please share with a friend. For electronic updates, please email us at info@vancouverchamberchoir.com
1254 West 7th Avenue Vancouver, BC Canada V6H 1B6