Vancouver Chamber Choir

Nicol Matt, conductor

8pm Friday, December 14, 2018 | Pacifi c Spirit United Church

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VA N C O U V E R C H A M B E R C H O I R

The Vancouver Chamber Choir is one of Canada’s national treasures, an outstanding professional vocal ensemble noted for its diverse repertoire and performing excellence.

The Choir has been performing to audiences at home in Vancouver and on tour across Canada since it was formed in 1971 by conductor Jon Washburn. International excursions have taken the Vancouver Chamber Choir to the USA, Mexico, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Finland, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

Honoured with the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence by Chorus America, the Vancouver Chamber Choir has to its credit countless performances and broadcasts, over 30 recordings and numerous awards. Foremost supporters of Canadian music, Jon Washburn and the Choir have commissioned and premiered more than 250 Canadian choral compositions. Over the years they have sung nearly 3,000 performances of 350 pieces by 120 Canadian composers in addition to their extensive international repertoire.

The Choir’s award-winning educational programs include the National Conductors’ Symposium for advanced choral conductors, Interplay interactive workshops for choral composers, Focus! professional development program for student singers, OnSite visitations for school choirs, the biennial Young Composers Competition, and many on-tour workshops and residencies.

J O N WA S H B U R N , A R T I S T I C & E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

Jon Washburn is the longtime Conductor and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Well known internationally for his mastery of choral technique and interpretation, he travels widely as guest conductor, lecturer, clinician and master teacher. He is also an active composer, arranger and editor and has had many compositions published, performed and recorded around the world.

In 2001 Mr. Washburn was named a Member of the Order of Canada (the nation’s highest civilian honour) and in 2002 received Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his lifetime contribution to

Canadian choral art. Mr. Washburn received a Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors in the spring of 1996 and the Louis Botto Award from Chorus America in June 2000, in recognition of “innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in the development of a professional choral ensemble of exceptional quality.” He was given the Friends of Canadian Music Award 2000 by the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and the Canadian League of Composers in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canadian composers’ music. In the fall of 2009, he was named a CMC Ambassador and in 2010 received a star on the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame’s Starwalk. In 2012 Mr. Washburn received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In June 2014 he received the Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, presented by Chorus America.

Board of DirectorsGeorge LaverockPresident

Dr. Jeanette Gallant (Oxford)Vice President

Kassia Grewal, C.P.A., C.A.Treasurer

Brent HunterSecretary

Janis HamiltonPast President

Matthew BairdJoAnne BarnumAnne BonnycastleCameron HaneyDr. Donna HoggeWendy KishEmily McClendonColin MilesLaurent MunierYuliya NeverovaDavid RosboroughDr. Robert RothwellCara VenturaMarianne WernerJennifer Wilnechenko

Honorary PatronsJohn BishopMaurice Copithorne, Q.C., LL.D.Dr. Stephen Drance, O.C. Sam Feldman Charles Flavelle Ben Heppner, O.C. Don Hudson Dr. John MacDonald, O.C. R. Murray Schafer

Administrative StaffJon Washburn, C.M.Artistic & Executive Director

Steven BélangerGeneral Manager

Nat MarshikBookkeeper/Office Coordinator

Karen SeaboyerManager, Communications & Production

Vancouver Chamber Choir1254 West 7th Avenue Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6H 1B6

Tel: 604.738.6822 • Fax: 604.738.7832info@vancouverchamberchoir.com

www.vancouverchamberchoir.com

Wendy D Photography

Photo: Yukiko Onley

The Vancouver Chamber Choir acknowledges that it operates and performs on the unceded Indigenous land belonging to the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We are grateful for this privilege.

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VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIR

s o p r a n o sBeth Buono

Emily CheungChristina Cichos

Lorraine ReinhardtMadeline Lucy Smith

a l t o sDinah Ayre

Fabiana KatzKaren MangDolores ScottKaryn Way t e n o r sTom Ellis

Matt GaskinCarman J. Price

Eric SchwarzhoffGrant Wutzke

b a s s e sJacob Gramit

Cameron HaneyPaul Nash

George RobertsWim Vermeulen

affiliate conductors

Kathleen AllanFiona BlackburnGeorge RobertsCarrie TennantJoel Tranquilla

James Ong Stage Management

Corporate Graphics Graphic Design

Violet GoosenDevelopment

José VerstappenProgramme Typography

Please turn off all phones.Recording devices of any kind

are strictly prohibited.

Weihnachten Christmas Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy(1809-1847)

Ave Maria Hail, Mary Javier Busto(b. 1949)

Bogoroditse Devo O Virgin Mother of God Sergei Rachmaninov(1873-1943)

Unser lieben Frauen Traum Our dear Lady’s dream Max Reger(1873-1916)

A Hymn to the Virgin Benjamin Britten(1913-1976)

Quartet: Madeline Lucy Smith, Fabiana Katz, Eric Schwarzhoff, Wim Vermeulen

Sleep, sweet Child Peter Berring(b. 1954)

Laudate Dominum Praise the Lord Ivo Antognini(b. 1963)

La Peregrinación The Pilgrimage Ariel Ramírez(1921-2010)

Alleluia Fredrik Sixten(b. 1962)

INTERMISSION

Hodie Christus natus est Today Christ is born Francis Poulenc(1899-1963)

Spotless Rose Ola Gjeilo(b. 1978)

Dolores Scott, alto

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Lo, how a rose e’er blooming Jan Sandström(b. 1954)

Quartet: Christina Cichos, Dinah Ayre, Carman J. Price, George Roberts

O magnum mysterium O great mystery Morten Lauridsen(b. 1943)

The Gift Bob Chilcott(b. 1955)

The Twelve Days of Christmas Geoffrey Keating(b. 1937)

Mary, did you know? Buddy Greene & Mark Lowry / arr. Jamey RayCarman J. Price, tenor

O sanctissima O most holy Jon Washburn(b. 1942)

Beth Buono, Emily Cheung and Christina Cichos, sopranos

VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIRNICOL MATT, GUEST CONDUCTOR

A JOYFUL CHRISTMASPresenting Nicol Matt from Germany

PROGRAMME

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1.855.985.ARTS (2787)vancouverchamberchoir.com

8pm Friday, April 19, 2019The Orpheum

Vancouver Chamber Choir

Pacifica Singers

Vancouver Chamber Orchestra

Jon Washburn, conductor

Choirs, soloists, alumni and orchestra

are drawn together for a resplendent

evening celebrating Jon Washburn’s 48 years

leading the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

Hear 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.

RECORDINGS FOR SALE IN

THE LOBBY

*

NEW RELEASE ! h The Love that Moves the Universe * R. Murray Schafer, Vol. 4: Three outstanding major

works recorded in 2018 for the composer’s 85th birthday: the title piece for choir and orchestra, plus The Star Princess and the Waterlilies and Narcissus and Echo.

The Healing Seriesh Music for Healing Box Set All of the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s remarkable healing CDs in

one collection, including the original 2-disc “Family Set” of volume II. h Finding the Still Point music for healing * A healing ambience of calm, warmth and

consolation projected through 15 beloved choral favourites with interconnecting Gregorian chants.h Unexpected Gifts music for healing II * Familiar folk music in choral arrangements with

several meditations for harp based on the same themes.h A Quiet Place music for healing III * An outstanding collection of choral treasures

chosen to help find peace, quiet and healing in today’s hectic world.

The Masters Seriesh BaroqueFest Festive music of Bach, Purcell, Handel and Monteverdi from a gala Expo 86

concert, with Jon Washburn and Michael Corboz conducting their professional choirs from Canada and Switzerland.

h Bach - The Six Motets * Jesu, meine Freude; Komm Jesu, komm; Singet dem Herrn; Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden and Fürchte dich nicht.

h Missa Brevis Four contrasting short masses by Haydn Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Fauré Messe basse, von Weber Jubelmesse and Christoph Bernhard Missa Durch Adams Fall.

h Music to Hear Renaissance, Classical and Modern vocal chamber music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Shearing, Beckwith, Janequin, Crequillon and de Sermisy.

h Simple Gifts Canadian, American and Scottish folksongs in a variety of attractive modern settings by Imant Raminsh, Mack Wilberg, Louis Applebaum, Aaron Copland and Ian McDougall.

The Canadian Composer Seriesh A Garden of Bells * R. Murray Schafer, Vol. 1: Early choral works including Miniwanka,

Epitaph for Moonlight, Snowforms, Gamelan, Sun, Fire, Felix’s Girls and A Garden of Bells.h Once on a Windy Night * R. Murray Schafer, Vol. 2: Four major mid-career choral works

including A Medieval Bestiary, Seventeen Haiku, Vox Naturae and the tempestuous Once on a Windy Night.

h Imagining Incense* R. Murray Schafer, Vol. 3: Recent choral works including Magic Songs, Three Hymns, Rain Chant, Alleluia, Beautiful Spanish Song, Imagining Incense and other works.

h Songs of the Lights Imant Raminsh, Vol. 1 Magnificat, Ave verum corpus, Ave Maria, The Great Sea and more.

h Earth Chants Imant Raminsh, Vol. 2 Missa Brevis in C Minor, Earth Chants & smaller works.h Due West Stephen Chatman, Vol. 2 With oboist Roger Cole and pianist Linda Lee Thomas. h Due East Stephen Chatman, Vol. 3 The Canadian composer’s latest pieces since 2000.h Rise! Shine! * Music of Jon Washburn Including The Star, A Stephen Foster Medley, Chinese

Melodies, Rossetti Songs, God’s Lamb, Noel Sing We!, Behold I build an house and Rise! Shine! h Love Songs for a Small Planet Alexina Louie Love Songs for a Small Planet, Srul Irving Glick

Canticle of Peace, R. Murray Schafer Magic Songs and Imant Raminsh In the night we shall go in.

The Christmas Recordingsh A Dylan Thomas Christmas * The Vancouver Chamber Choir’s signature performance of

A Child’s Christmas in Wales, read by Welsh actor Russell Roberts with special carol settings by Jon Washburn.

h A World Christmas Carols and seasonal songs of many lands from guitarist and arranger Ed Henderson, the Worldfest Ensemble and the Vancouver Chamber Choir with Jon Washburn conducting.

h The Miracle of Christmas Christmas music with a colourful Central and South American flavour played by the ensemble Ancient Cultures with several tracks featuring the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

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Sun Life Community Outreach Program

Sun Life Financial is pleased to provide a Community Outreach Program through which the

regular season concerts of the Vancouver Chamber Choir are made available to hundreds of

people with health related disabilities.

Non-profit organizations involved with community health join with the Vancouver Chamber Choir

to help distribute tickets. For more information on this program or to register your organization,

please call the Vancouver Chamber Choir office at 604-738-6822 and speak with Steven Bélanger.

NICOL MATT, GUEST CONDUCTOR

German conductor Nicol Matt is the founder and conductor of the Chamber Choir of Europe and was the conductor of the Amadeus Choir. He studied church music, conducting, piano, singing and vocal coaching at the music academies of Stuttgart, Trossingen and Strasbourg. He regularly receives invitations to

perform at established concert series such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the SWR Festival, the MDR Musical Summer in Germany, and in many other countries. As a producer Mr. Matt developed and initiated many new projects for the international TV and music industries to support choirs and a cappella singing worldwide. As a lecturer and judge he is regularly invited to international choral competitions, festivals and universities to teach workshops and masterclasses for conductors and singers.

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Peter R. Allen The Banks of Newfoundland

Peter R. Allen, who was born and educated in Wales, came to Canada in 1969. He has a Doctorate in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa, has taught music at universities in four provinces and was active for many years as an adjudicator across Canada. Since 1987 he has been based in Ontario, but this arrangement of The Banks of Newfoundland from 1980 is one of several written around the time he spent teaching at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

The springtime of the year is come,Once more we must away;Out on the stormy Banks to go,In quest of fish to stay.

Where seas do roll tremendously,Like mountain peaks so high;And the wild seabirds around us,In their mad career go by.

Out there we spend our summer months,Midst heavy fog and wind;And often do our thoughts go back,To the dear ones left behind.

CALLING STUDENTS OF ANY AGE!

For only $15, you can enjoy some of Canada’s finest choral concerts when you purchase rush tickets to Vancouver Chamber Choir regular season performances.

All students and youth (26 and under) are welcome.

Tickets are available one hour in advance of this year’s Dunbar Ryerson United Church and Orpheum concerts.

Thank you, John and Leonora Pauls

The Vancouver Chamber Choir appreciates your support of printing

tonight’s concert programand for attending

We hope to see you again this spring!

And when those summer toils are o’er,We return with spirits light;To see our sweethearts and our wives,Who helped us in the fight.

From where the wild sea billows foam,There by cold breezes fanned;Out on the stormy billows,On the Banks of Newfoundland.

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We are delighted that you’ve enjoyed our music over the years, and we appreciate your support

of so many of our events.

See you at Divertimento in the spring!

Thank you,Brent Hunter,

for supporting the printing of tonight’s program.

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P R O G R A M M E N O T E S , T E X T S & T R A N S L A T I O N S

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Weihnachten

Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. He was an amazing child prodigy from a cultured Berlin family which included his grandfather Moses Mendelssohn, a renowned Jewish philosopher, and his elder sister Fanny Hensel, who was also a very talented musician and composer. Although he died relatively young at age 38, he composed a large corpus of music in every genre except perhaps opera. Mendelssohn’s family had converted to Christianity when he was young and he eventually married the daughter of a French Protestant clergyman and proceeded to write a great amount of Protestant church music and other choral music of various types. This short but vivacious anthem is one of six he composed for the Berlin Cathedral Choir in the years 1843-46, near the end of his life.

Weihnachten Christmas

Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden, Rejoice, you people on Earthund preiset Gott! and praise God. Der Heiland ist erschienen, The Saviour has appearedden der Herr verheissen. that God has promised.Er hat seine Gerechtigkeit He has revealed to the worldder Welt offenbaret. all his majesty! Halleluja! Hallelujah!

Javier Busto Ave Maria

Javier Busto was born in the Basque region of Spain. Although he is a medical doctor with a degree from the University of Valladolid, he is revered by the Basques as their most ebullient and ubiquitous choral musician. During his student days, he directed the Ederki Choir made up of Basque students. He studied conducting with Erwin List and in 1978 created his choral ensemble Eskifaia Abesbatza. This beautiful piece is a setting of the beloved Latin prayer Ave Maria (Hail, Mary, full of grace).

Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum. Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee.Benedicta tu in mulieribus Thou art blessed among womenet benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. and blessed is Jesus, the fruit of thy womb.

Sancta Maria, mater Dei, Holy Mary, mother of God,ora pro nobis peccatoribus, pray for us sinnersnunc et in hora mortis nostræ. now and in the hour of our death. Amen. Amen.From the Roman Catholic liturgy.

Sergei Rachmaninov Bogoroditse Devo

Sergei Rachmaninov was a brilliant Russian pianist and composer known primarily for virtuosic concertos and solo pieces for piano. Although he composed little in the period after the outbreak of the First World War, he did produce his finest unaccompanied choral work, the All-Night Vigil, during a two-week creative burst in the early part of 1915. This is the most famous movement from that larger work, a Hail Mary intoned three times and signifying the end of the Vespers portion of the work. It is based on old Slavonic liturgical sources, but treated by Rachmaninov with what was at that time a new harmonic freedom.

Bogoroditse Devo, raduysia, Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos,Blagodatnaya Mariye, Ghospod s Toboyu. Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee.Blagoslovenna Ti v zhenah, Blessed art Thou among women,i blagosloven Plod chreva Tvoyego, and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb,yako Spasa rodila yesi dush nashih. for Thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls.

Russian Orthodox liturgy

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Max Reger Unser lieben Frauen Traum

Max Reger was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor and teacher who worked as a concert pianist, as musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig and as music director at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen. Today he is remembered as a distinguished composer of Lieder, chamber, choral and orchestral music as well as works for piano and organ. Unser lieben Frauen Traum (Our dear Lady’s dream, Op. 138, No. 4) is a sacred motet for six-part unaccompanied mixed choir. The German text is derived from folksong sources and is appropriate to the Advent season. Written in 1914 during the beginning of World War I, it was published in 1916 after Reger’s untimely death as part of a set called Eight Sacred Songs in which Reger abandoned much of his familiar chromatic style for what he intended as a “new simplicity”. It depicts a dream of Mary’s about a great tree that shelters all lands, a foreshadowing metaphor for Jesus on the cross as “our salvation and consolation”.

Und unser lieben Frauen, Our Lady lay a-sleepingder traumet ihr ein Traum: And dreamed a dream, as e’er ‘tis said:wie unter ihrem Herzen That there beneath her heart laygewachsen wär ein Baum. A tree that grew with branches outspread.

Und wie der Baum ein Schatten gäb And lo, the tree its shadow gavewohl über alle Land: To shelter ev’ry, ev’ry land:Herr Jesus Christ der Heiland Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour,also ist er genannt. That tree is he, and aye shall stand.

Herr Jesus Christ der Heiland Lord Jesus Christ, our saving health,ist unser Heil und Trost, Hears us when we call:mit seiner bittern Marter By his most bitter Passionhat er uns all erlost. He hath redeemed us all.

Author unknown, English translation by Catherine Winkworth

8pm Friday, January 25, 2019

Shaughnessy Heights United Church1550 West 33rd Avenue at Connaught Drive

Vancouver Chamber Choir | Erick Lichte, conductor

The final audition concert presents Erick Lichte, whomVancouverites know as Artistic Director of Chor Leoni Men’sChoir. His mostly contemporary and international repertoirewill include Tavener’s Village Wedding, Lang’s manifesto,

Whitacre’s A Boy and a Girl, Rautavaara, Wadsworth,Caamaño, Ešenvalds, Daley, Higdon, Sametz,

Mendelssohn and Gershwin.

1.855.985.ARTS (2787)vancouverchamberchoir.com

Presenting Erick Lichtefrom Portland/Vancouver

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Anne Bonnycastle and Matt Powell

for your generous support

Benjamin BrittenA Hymn to the Virgin

Benjamin Britten made an auspiciously early connection with the Muse - he was born in Norfolk on November 22, the feast day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music. He started writing music at the age of fi ve, at fi rst simply drawing patterns on paper, but later composing

“tone poems” for piano lasting 20 seconds! His fi rst major success in 1933 was a set of choral variations called A Boy was Born, a somewhat diffi cult piece but, nevertheless, an auspicious debut for a 20-year-old. Th e next year he revised an even earlier piece for publication: A Hymn to the Virgin for double choir, based on a text he had found in the Oxford Book of Carols. Th is time he showed the sensitivity to textual meaning and nuance that became the hallmark of his career. Aft er that, he maintained a steady production of popular choral works such as Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Ceremony of Carols, Rejoice in the Lamb, Spring Symphony and War Requiem, which established him as one of the 20th century’s foremost composers of choral music. And when it came time to lay him to rest in 1976, it was this very Hymn to the Virgin with its intertwining English and Latin poems that was sung.

Of one that is so fair and bright,Velut maris stella, [Like a star of the sea,]

Brighter than the day is light,Parens et puella: [Both mother and maiden:]

I cry to thee, thou see to me,Lady, pray thy Son for me,

Tam pia, [So pure,]Th at I may come to thee.

Maria! [Mary!]

All this world was forlorn,Eva peccatrice, [Because of Eve, a sinner,]

Till our Lord was yborn,De te genetrice. [Th rough you, his mother.]

With ave it went away,Darkest night, and comes the day

Salutis; [Of salvation;]Th e well springeth out of thee.

Virtutis. [Of virtue.]

Lady, fl ower of everything, Rosa sine spina, [Rose without thorn,]Th ou bare Jesu, Heaven’s King, Gratia divina: [by divine grace:]Of all thou bearest the prize,Lady, queen of paradise,

Electa: [Chosen:]Maid mild, mother.

Es eff ecta. [You are made.]

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Peter BerringSleep, sweet Child

Peter Berring was born in Winnipeg but has lived in Vancouver since his university days. He is a freelance composer, arranger, pianist and producer with a particular fondness for choral music. His choral scores have been commissioned and performed by a host of organizations including Vancouver Chamber Choir, Vancouver Cantata Singers, Elektra, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Niagara Symphony and the CBC Radio Orchestra. Th is carol was written for the Vancouver Chamber Choir in 1989, commissioned by the Choir and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was part of a multi-composer set using poems by Canadian poet and lyricist, Margaret Fleming. She and her husband, composer Robert Fleming, had originally used the poem for one of their yearly homemade Christmas cards.

Sleep, sweet Child, your Mother watches roundyour manger cradle.

Sleep, my Child, the oxen lowing guardyour gentle slumber.

Sleep, blest Child, no harm befalleth;God is watching o’er you.

Margaret Fleming

CALLING STUDENTS OF ANY AGE!For only $15, you can enjoy some of Canada’s fi nest choral concerts

when you purchase rush tickets to Vancouver Chamber Choir regular season performances.

All students and youth (26 and under) are welcome.

Tickets are available one hour in advance of this year’s Shaughnessy Heights United Church and Orpheum concerts.

10

Ivo Antognini Laudate Dominum

Ivo Antognini was born in Locarno, Switzerland, in 1963. He studied piano first in Lucerne, and then at the Swiss Jazz School in Berne. He is, however, mostly self-taught in composing, something he has been doing since childhood. He has composed much music for television and film, releasing three jazz albums with original works: The Dark Cloud (1993), Inspiration (1998), and Feggàri mou (2005). Since 1987 he has also been Professor of ear-training and piano in the professional training level of the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano where he regularly holds master classes on improvisation for pianists. An informal meeting in 2006 with the children’s choir Coro Calicantus and its director, Mario Fontana, led him to discover the field of choral music. He immediately became composer-in-residence of that group, which subsequently presented his compositions at the 8th World Symposium on Choral Music in Copenhagen. This exposure has led to many successful choral competitions and commissions in the last few years. This setting of the familiar Psalm text Laudate Dominum (O praise the Lord) features a beautiful melody and harmonization as we now associate with Antognini. It was written as a memorial for a dear friend of the composer and is filled with delicacy and joy.

Laudate Dominum omnes gentes: O praise the Lord, all you nations:laudate eum omnes populi. praise Him, all you people.Quoniam confirmata est For confirmed over us issuper nos misericordia ejus: His mercy:et veritas Domini manet in æternum. and the truth of the Lord remains for ever.

Gloria Patri et Filio Glory be to the Father, and to the Sonet Spiritui Sancto. and to the Holy Ghost.Sicut erat in principio, As it was in the beginning, et nunc, et semper, is now and ever shall be:et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. world without end. Amen.

Psalm 116

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11

Ariel RamírezLa Peregrinación

La Peregrinación (Th e Pilgrimage) is one movement from Navidad Nuestra (Our Nativity), a set of villancicos (Christmas carols) created for a local tableau. It is the result of the collaboration of two Argentineans, composer Ariel Ramírez and the historian and poet Félix Luna. Th rough the use of texts, songs and dances from a wide range of northern Argentine musical traditions, each of the six episodes of the Mystery of the Incarnation is given a distinct regional voice. Th e hard journey to Bethlehem (La Peregrinación) is set as a huella (path or track) across the frozen Pampas, through thistles and stinging nettles. Th e unborn Christ child is likened to the clavel del aire – a delicate-looking “air plant” that can survive in this hostile environment without soil, deriving all of its nutrients from water and air alone. In place of the stable of the Biblical story, the Holy pair fi nd shelter in un ranchito de quincha, a wattle and daub hut with a thatched roof, typical for that part of the country.

La Peregrinación Th e Pilgrimage

A la huella, la huella, José y María, On the road, on the road, Joseph and Mary,por las pampas heladas, cardos y ortigas. Th rough the icy pampas, thistles and nettles.A la huella, la huella, cortando campo, On the road, on the road, cutting through the plains.no hay cobijo ni fonda, sigan andando. Th ere’s no shelter, nor inn, keep on walking.

¿Florcita del campo, clavel del aire, Little fl ower of the fi eld, carnation of the air si ninguno te aloja, adónde naces? If no one shelters you, where will you be born?¿Dónde naces, fl orcita, que estás creciendo, Where will you be born, little growing fl ower,palomita asustada, grillo sin sueño? Frightened little dove, sleepless cricket?

A la huella, la huella, José y María, On the road, on the road, Joseph and Marycon un Dios Escondido nadie sabía. With a God hidden within her and nobody knew.

A la huella, la huella, los peregrinos, On the road, on the road, the pilgrims,por los pampas heladas para mi niño. Th rough the icy pampas, for my child.A la huella, la huella, soles y lunas, On the road, on the road, through suns and moons,los ojitos de almendra, piel de aceituna. Th e little almond eyes, olive skin.

¡Ay burrito del campo! ¡Ay buey barcino! Oh, little donkey in the fi eld! Oh, reddish-grey ox!¡Que mi niño ya viene háganle sitio! Make room for my child who comes!Un ranchito de quincha sólo me ampara, A thatched hut is the only shelter I have,dos alientos amigos, la luna clara. Two friendly breaths, the bright moon.

Fredrik SixtenAlleluia

Sven Fredrik Johannes Sixten is a Swedish composer, cathedral organist and conductor. He was born in 1962, in Skövde, Sweden and earned his Bachelor of Arts at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm, in 1986. Having studied composition with Professor Sven-David Sandström, Sixten is now recognized as one of Sweden’s best-known composers, particularly of church music. His works have received acclaim throughout the world in recent years and his music is now published by all the major publishing houses in Sweden. He was the conductor of Gothenburg’s boys choir between 1997 and 2001, but today holds the position of Cathedral Organist of the Cathedral in Härnösand, on the coast North of Stockholm.

Alleluia! Hallelujah!

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Francis Poulenc Hodie Christus natus est

Francis Poulenc was the brilliant and iconoclastic Parisian composer of this century who first came to attention in 1918 as a member of the group Les Six, which also included Milhaud and Honegger. Influenced by Satie and Ravel, and by his own pianistic virtuosity, Poulenc’s early works - piano pieces, incidental music and chamber works - aimed at sophisticated entertainment, earning him somewhat of a “enfant terrible” reputation. Notable were his songs on poems by Ronsard, Apollinaire, Éluard and others, the lyrical yet piquant melodies outfitted with accompaniments in his idiomatic keyboard style. His sacred choral music shows other aspects of his personality, ranging from the brooding to the ecstatic.

Hodie Christus natus est: Today Christ is born:hodie Salvator apparuit: Today the Saviour appeared:hodie in terra canunt Angeli, Today on Earth the Angels sing,lætantur Archangeli: Archangels rejoice:hodie exsultant justi, dicentes: Today the righteous rejoice, saying:Gloria in excelsis Deo, alleluia. Glory to God in the highest, hallelujah.

Ola Gjeilo Spotless Rose

Norwegian composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and the Royal College of Music in London before moving to New York City where he completed a Master’s in composition at the Juilliard School. He is now a full-time concert music composer and recording artist based in New York. Spotless Rose is his simple, melodic setting of a well-known 16th century German song.

A Spotless Rose is blowing,Sprung from a tender root,Of ancient seers’ foreshowing,Of Jesse promised fruit;Its fairest bud unfolds to lightAmid the cold, cold winter,And in the dark midnight.

Jan Sandström/Michael Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Jan Sandström is a Swedish musician and composer who grew up in Stockholm and studied there at the Royal College of Music. He joined the faculty of the Piteå School of Music in the 1980s and was appointed professor of composition in 1989. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (1990) is one of his best known works, based on a chorale setting of the tune by 17th-century German composer Michael Praetorius. Sändstrom uses two groups of singers – a quartet which sings the chorale with the German words, and a larger choir which hums an extended “slow motion” version of the same material producing a wonderful mystical effect.

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,aus einer Wurzel zart, From tender stem hath sprung.wie uns die Alten sungen, Of Jesse’s lineage coming,von Jesse kam die Art. As men of old have sung;Und hat ein Blümlein bracht It came, a flow’ret bright,mitten im kalten Winter, Amid the cold of winter,wohl zu der halben Nacht. When half spent was the night.

The Rose which I am singing,Whereof Isaiah said,Is from its sweet root springingIn Mary, purest Maid;Through God’s great love and mightThe Blessed Babe she bare usIn a cold, cold winter’s night.

English version by C. Winkworth (1869)

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Morten Lauridsen O magnum mysterium

Morten Lauridsen was born in Washington, raised in Oregon and for over 30 years has been professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. His choral music occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire in the United States. In 2006, he was named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2007, he received the National Medal of Arts (the highest award given to artists and arts patrons in the USA) from the President in a White House ceremony. This motet sets the beautiful manger text O magnum mysterium as a quiet song of profound inner joy.

O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, O great mystery, and wondrous sacrament,ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, that animals should see the new-born Lordjacentem in præsepio. lying in their manger.Beata Virgo, cujus viscera Blessed is the virgin whose wombmeruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia! was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

Bob Chilcott The Gift

English composer Bob Chilcott has been involved in choral music for most of his life. He was a chorister and choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and for 12 years was the tenor in the famous King’s Singers. Since 1997 he has worked as a full-time composer/conductor and has written a wide variety of choral music, including a significant amount of music for young choirs. He has over 125 pieces published by Oxford University Press, and versions of several of his pieces are published in German, Swedish, Norwegian, Slovenian, and Icelandic. Since 2002 Chilcott has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers in London. He has also conducted many other distinguished choirs including The RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jauna Musika in Lithuania, the World Youth Choir, the Tower New Zealand Youth Choir, and the Taipei Chamber Singers. This piece is an adaptation of Chilcott’s arrangement of the familiar Shaker song Simple Gifts to a new Christmas text by Tony Vincent Isaacs.

In the gift we deliver, in the gift we receiveis the living spirit Mary did conceive,the royal gift of love incandescent flameis given to all mankind in his name.

Joy, joy, it is our true delightto give and receive on this wondrous night;a boy child to Mary is bornand his light will shine on beyond the dawn.

Words by Tony Vincent Isaacs based on the traditional Shaker song

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Geoffrey Keating The Twelve Days of Christmas

Geoffrey Keating read music at Oxford and after 17 years as Director of Music at Millfield School, Somerset, he took early retirement to concentrate on his various passions - music, photography, sailing and fishing. He is a lecturer with Glasgow University Adult Education and is resident tutor at Rothay Manor Music Holidays in Ambleside. This version of The Twelve Days of Christmas was arranged for and performed by the King’s Singers.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to metwelve lords a-leaping, eleven ladies dancing, ten pipers piping,nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens,two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree

Lowry & Greene/arr. Ray Mary, did you know?

This Christmas song was written in 1990 with words by Mark Lowry and music by Buddy Greene. This recent arrangement (2016) by Jamey Ray, who is an Assistant Professor of Music at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, is famously performed by the vocal ensemble Voctave with Lowry himself as soloist.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will some day walk on water?Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

Oh Mary did you know the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again;The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?This sleeping child you’re holding is the great I Am.

Mark Lowry

Jon Washburn O sanctissima

Jon Washburn is the long-time conductor and artistic director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Over the years he has arranged and composed many Christmas pieces for the ensemble. He first set O sanctissima in 1989 for the Choir to sing as part of the annually televised Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the plaza of the Bentall Centre. Then, in 1998, he revised it for the Choir’s appearance with the touring Boston Pops Orchestra in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena (then known as GM Place). The first verse is in Latin; the second - with its obbligato parts for three sopranos - is in German; the third, based on rich harmonies first used by Ward Swingle, uses a familiar English rendering of the text.

O sanctissima, O du fröhliche, Oh how joyfully, o piissima, o du selige, oh how merrily,dulcis Virgo Maria! gnadenbringende Weihnachtszeit! Christmas comes with its grace divine.Mater amata, Welt ging verloren, Bells of peace are ringing, intemerata, Christ ist geboren: children gladly singing;ora, ora pro nobis. freue, freue dich, o Christenheit! Hail, oh hail the joyous Christmastide.

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NEW RELEASE!

The Love that Moves the UniverseR. Murray Schafer, Vol. 4

The title piece for choir and orchestra is a magnificent setting of selected cantos from Dante’s Paradiso in which the poet tries to look into the face of God. Featured is The Star Princess and the Waterlilies, a delightful creation allegory for alto solo, narrator, women’s chorus and percussion. Also Narcissus and Echo, based on the story as told by the Latin poet Ovid, set for a cappella chorus with baritone and soprano soloists.

This latest addition to the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s outstanding series of Schafer choral works was recorded in 2018 as a special celebration of the composer’s 85th birthday, funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter program.

Artists includeThe Vancouver Chamber Choir and Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, Steven Bélanger (baritone), Fabiana Katz (alto), Christina Cichos (soprano), George Roberts (narrator), Brian Nesselroad and Jonathan Bernard (percussion) and the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s long-time conductor and artistic director, Jon Washburn.

Available at the CD table in the lobby, on iTunes, at www.vancouverchamberchoir.com or by calling 604-738-6822.

r. murray schafer