Choral music abounds in November!

There is something about the cooler days of November that makes me want to enjoy the glorious sound of a great choir singing some of the great choral masterpieces in a church somewhere.  Although many choirs today utilize a more modern setting if available, I still enjoy sitting in church pews and revelling in the sound of voices filling a beautiful sacred space.

There are three great choirs scheduled to perform this month I want to write about in this space today, and all three are worthy of your attendance if you have the time and inclination.

This weekend, Chorus Niagara kicks off their new season at Calvary Church in St. Catharines, with a programme entitled Handel - Grand and Glorious!  Sure, Handel is known for his oratorio Messiah, but he wrote so much more.  His list of oratorios alone is large, including Athalia, Israel in Egypt, Jephtha, Judas Maccabeaeus and many more; his Coronation Anthems are also exceptional works.  Let's not forget his many operas, orchestral works and more.  In short, Handel was certainly a musical genius.

Many of those choruses, airs and overtures will be featured this weekend as Artistic Director Robert Cooper celebrates his 25th season with the Chorus, and his programming talents in the past suggest this will be a well-balanced and varied programme.

Also performing will be the Talisker Baroque Players along with soloists Isaiah Bell, tenor, and Meredith Hall, soprano.

The concert is Saturday evening at 7:30, and tickets can be had from any Chorus Niagara member, or by calling the Brock box office at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257.

Another choir I have long admired and enjoyed is the Guelph Chamber Choir, directed by Gerald Neufeld.  Smaller in size than Chorus Niagara, the Guelph Chamber Choir still manages to fill a hall with the wonderful sound of voices ringing out, as they will when their new season gets underway Saturday, November 9th at St. George's Anglican Church in downtown Guelph.  I have visited this magnificent church many times for performances, and it is acoustically and artistically a jewel in the Royal City.

The concert will feature a special screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Dreyer's haunting 1928 silent film, with live music performed by the choir and organ.  Should be quite interesting.

Incidentally, the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs was held recently, and the Guelph Chamber Choir placed second in the competitive mixed-voice adult choir category just behind Calgary's Spiritus Chamber Choir, the overall winner of the competition.

Gerald Neufeld commented after the announcement "We are an amateur choir but strive for a professional level performance that is achieved by the hard work of the singers in our choir."  And that is the joy of hearing a choir such as Chorus Niagara or the Guelph Chamber Choir:  they are amateurs, albeit very accomplished amateurs, and they sing simply for the love of it.  Doesn't that make the experience all that more special and even richer knowing that fact?

Anyway, the performance begins November 9th at 8 pm and tickets are available through the River Run Centre box office, but calling 519-763-3000 or going to www.riverrun.ca.

Locally, another amateur choir worthy of note will perform November 16th at 7:30 pm at St. Thomas Anglican Church in downtown St. Catharines.  The Avanti Chamber Singers, conducted by Dr. Harris Loewen will be accompanied by the St. Catharines Chamber Music Society Strings and organist Lesley Kingham.

The programme will include the concert premiere of John Butler's beautiful Requiem, and the choir will launch their latest recording, Voices of Niagara 4:  The Gate of the Year.  Naturally, the concert will feature selections from the new CD as well.

The Avanti Chamber Singers is made up of members from Brock University's Department of Music, and they perform regularly in the area, most often at St. Barnabas Church on Queenston Street.  This concert will be a little different as they moved the venue to St. Thomas, a larger church at the other end of the downtown.

Tickets to the concert are available at the door or in advance from any choir member or at Ryson's Music Studio on Court Street downtown.

So there you go:  three great amateur choirs, two in the area and one outside the area, and all worthy of your patronage during the month of November.

Enjoy!

October 31st, 2013.