I must admit I am a bit of a slow starter when it comes to delving into my Christmas music library. Though extensive, I usually wait until December before I start pulling out my favourites to listen to again. I just can't get into the spirit of the season until December, no matter what the merchants might otherwise wish.
So it was on December 1st I started listening to some of my evergreen favourites and feeling a little bit warm and fuzzy inside. But to experience the extreme warm and fuzzies, you have to get out there and experience some live music with some like-minded souls.
Fortunately right now there's a wealth of concerts and events coming up sure to fire up the holiday magic for even the most jaded listener. Herewith a look at a few of my favourite things coming up this week, beginning with tonight...
The Brock University Choirs directed by Harris Loewen presents a concert entitled Laudate: Praise! tonight at 7:30 in the Cairns Recital Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.
Along with guest instrumentalists, the choirs will perform seasonal and other choral selections by a number of composers including several from Niagara, including Blake, Butler, Loewen, Phelan and Royal. Many of those names will be familiar to anyone following the Niagara choral music scene over the years.
The concert, part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts Viva Voce! choral series, is very affordably priced at $15 for adults and only $10 for students and seniors, and only $5 for those connected to the eyeGo high school program. You can pick up tickets at the door or in advance by calling the box office at the PAC at 905-688-0722.
Two other concerts with the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts come up this Tuesday at the PAC as well. The final RBC Foundation Music@Noon recital for the fall season takes place Tuesday at noon in the Cairns Recital Hall, and it is absolutely free of charge. This one will feature piano and guitar students from the School of Fine & Performing Arts. And Tuesday evening at 7:30 The Sounds of Music will come alive in Partridge Hall. That's the title of the concert featuring the University Wind Ensemble from Brock's Department of Music, conducted by Zoltan Kalman.
Billed as "an evening of brilliant works", the concert will include works by Verdi, Richard Rodgers, Frank Ticheli, a World Premiere by Michael Kositsky, and the ever-popular Trumpeter's Lullaby featuring soloist Graham Young. There will also be a number of Christmas selections featuring the children's choir "Enchorus" directed by Catherine Richardson.
Seating is by general admission and tickets are only $10 for adults and $5 for children 14 and under or those participating in the eyeGo program. It's totally free for current students of the MIWSFPA with a valid student ID card.
Sunday afternoon up in Guelph the Guelph Chamber Choir presents their annual Carols for Christmas concert at St. George's Anglican Church at 2:30 pm. St. George's is one of the truly magnificent churches in all of Ontario with an warm ambiance and lots of old wood and marble. It is a joy to hear choral music there, and you'll hear a wealth of it tomorrow as the choir is joined by the Winter Trio, made up of Sharlene Wallace on harp, Ben Grossman on hurry-gurdy and percussion and Ron Korb on flute.
There will be traditional and not-so-traditional seasonal music along with readings appropriate for the season featuring a number of readers from the community. Tickets are available now by calling 519-763-3000 or you can pick them up at the door tomorrow afternoon.
Next weekend a couple of family-friendly Christmas concerts will take place at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, beginning with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra's first Classical Family concert of the new season. Entitled A Symphony of Stories, the performance will feature the NSO conducted by Bradley Thachuk along with narrators William Vickers and Karen Wood. They'll present a couple of very popular children's classics, Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and William Blake's perennial favourite The Snowman.
The concert will take place in Partridge Hall at the PAC on Saturday and Sunday afternoon with both start times at 2:30 pm. Pick up tickets at the door or call the PAC box office in advance at 905-688-0722.
Finally, the Christmas Tidings Tour is in full-swing across Ontario and comes to the PAC next Sunday evening at 7:30 pm. The concert features Ensemble Vivant led by Toronto-based pianist Catherine Wilson, who have performed together for over 25 years now. They are well-known for their chamber music work across the country and were referred to by the Toronto Star as "Canada's Chamber Music Treasure."
It will most certainly be a holiday-themed show, so be prepared to become un-Grinchified next Sunday night at the PAC. The addition of local children's choirs for the concerts wherever they perform pretty much guarantees that.
I've known Catherine for a lot of years now, having met in Elora about 1991 when Catherine was giving a recital for the late, lamented Guelph Spring Festival. We kept in touch over the years since then and renewed acquaintances a couple of years ago when she performed at Brock as part of the ENCORE! music performance series hosted by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.
Catherine is coming to town with her group and I am especially looking forward to the visit! You can call the PAC box office for tickets at 905-688-0722, and in fact if you are a Groupon fan they have a sweet deal available right now, as you can get half-price tickets to the concert through Groupon and then picking them up at the PAC box office.
So there you go - a wealth of concerts that won't break the bank this holiday season. Even the Grinch could appreciate that!
Have a great weekend!
December 3rd, 2016.
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