STRANGE BEASTS 7:30PM | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2019 KOERNER RECITAL HALL, VANCOUVER ACADEMY OF MUSIC VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIR Artistic Director Kari Turunen began leading the Vancouver Chamber Choir - one of Canada’s premier professional choral ensembles - in Board of Directors September 2019, its 49th concert season. George Laverock Jon Washburn founded the choir in 1971 and it has President become an amazing success story, ranking with Dr. Jeanette Gallant (Oxford) the handful of North America’s best professional Vice President choruses and noted for its diverse repertoire and Adam J. Garvin, CPA, CMA performing excellence. The choir has presented Treasurer concerts at home in Vancouver and on tour across Brent Hunter Canada. International excursions have taken them Secretary to the USA, Mexico, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Finland, France, Germany, Matthew Baird the Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Anne Bonnycastle Dr. Donna Hogge Honoured with the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence by Chorus America, the choir Wendy Kish has performed countless concerts and broadcasts, released 36 recordings and received numerous Colin Miles awards. Foremost supporters of Canadian music, they are responsible for commissions and Alexandra Nicolas premieres of 334 choral works by 145 composers and arrangers, most of whom are Canadian. Over Dr. Robert Rothwell the years the choir has sung over 4,000 performances of works by Canadian composers, in addition Dolores Scott to their extensive international repertoire. Anthony G.V. Tobin Cara Ventura The choir’s award-winning educational programs include the Conductors’ Symposium for advanced Marianne Werner choral conductors, Interplay interactive workshops for choral composers, Focus professional Jennifer Wilnechenko development program for student singers, OnSite visitations for school choirs, the biennial Young Honorary Patrons Composers Competition, and many on-tour workshops and residencies. John Bishop Stephen Chatman Tama Copithorne KARI TURUNEN, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR David Cousins Dr. Stephen Drance, O.C. Sam Feldman Kari Turunen is the new Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Charles Flavelle Choir and the former artistic director of the male chorus Akademiska Violet Goosen Sångföreningen, Kampin Laulu chamber choir, the choir of the cantors Janis Hamilton of the Finnish Lutheran Church, Chorus Cantorum Finlandiae, the all- Ben Heppner, O.C. male Ensemble Petraloysio and the Spira Ensemble. He has won numerous Don Hudson prizes at national and international festivals with his groups. He was Doris Luking named choral conductor of the year in Finland in 2008. Dr. John MacDonald, O.C. Viviane Nitting Dr. Turunen was educated at the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Imant Raminsh Academy. He has a Master’s degree in choral conducting and a Doctorate in Elizabeth Rathbun early music performance practice from the University of the Arts, Helsinki. R. Murray Schafer He tries to balance scholarly activities with his artistic work and firmly Administrative Staff believes that scholarship and performance can greatly benefit each other. Dr. Kari Turunen He is a sought-after guest conductor, adjudicator, clinician and teacher of choral conducting, both in Artistic Director Finland and abroad. He has also acted as the chairman of the Finnish Choral Directors’ Association Steven Bélanger from the mid-90s until 2017 and is the artistic director of Aurore, an annual Renaissance music Executive Director festival in Helsinki. Jon Washburn, C.M. Founder & Conductor Emeritus Before becoming a full-time conductor, Dr. Turunen taught choral conducting and was the head Nat Marshik of choral activities at the School of Music of the Polytechnic University of Tampere from 2001 to Bookkeeper/Office Coordinator 2011. He is also a founding member of Lumen Valo, a professional vocal ensemble of eight voices. Karen Seaboyer Lumen Valo has been a driving force on the early music scene in Finland since its conception in Manager, Communications & Production 1993 and has made a name for itself in almost 250 concerts around Finland and Europe. The group has recorded nine CDs, all of them critically acclaimed for their fresh programming and quality of Vancouver Chamber Choir singing. 1254 West 7th Avenue Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6H 1B6 Tel: 604.738.6822 • Fax: 604.738.7832 The Vancouver Chamber Choir acknowledges that it operates and performs on the unceded Indigenous land ̓ ̱ [email protected] belonging to the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We are grateful for this privilege. www.vancouverchamberchoir.com 2 VANCOUVER VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIR CHAMBER CHOIR KARI TURUNEN, CONDUCTOR s o p r a n o s Beth Currie (Buono) Emily Cheung STRANGE BEASTS Christina Cichos Lorraine Reinhardt Capricciata & Contrappunto bestiale alla mente Adriano Banchieri Madeline Lucy Smith (1568-1634) a l t o s The Silver Swan Orlando Gibbons Dinah Ayre (1583-1625) Maria Golas Martina Govednik Selections from Bizarre Bestiaire Philippe Bodin Fabiana Katz (b. 1960) Dolores Scott Le Couscous Tacheté Le Dugong t e n o r s Le Lièvre Variable Ian Bannerman Eric Biskupski Le Mouton à Grosses Fesses Tom Ellis Eric Schwarzhoff Quel augellin che canta Claudio Monteverdi Taka Shimojima (1567-1643) b a s s e s Biegga luohte Jan Sandström Steven Bélanger (b. 1954) Jacob Gramit Eric Biskupski, tenor Steven Bélanger, drum Paul Nash George Roberts Wim Vermeulen INTERMISSION Le chant des oiseaux Clément Janequin (c. 1485-1558) At Every Instant (premiere) Paul John Rudoi (b. 1985) Dinah Ayre, mezzo-soprano Ian Bannerman, tenor Sweet Suffolk Owl Thomas Vautor (fl. 1592-1619) Sweet honey-sucking bees John Wilbye (1574-1638) Trois chansons Maurice Ravel Nicolette (1875-1937) Please turn off all phones. Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis Recording devices of any kind Ronde are strictly prohibited. Emily Cheung, soprano Dinah Ayre, mezzo-soprano Ian Bannerman, tenor Steven Bélanger, baritone James Ong Stage Management Pre-Concert Talks Corporate Graphics Graphic Design You are invited to attend pre-concert talks at 6:45pm on most concert evenings. You can Violet Goosen meet Kari Turunen and learn about the evening’s repertoire and composers. Seating Development is general admission at the front of the auditorium. You are welcome to reserve your José Verstappen favourite seats elsewhere so that they are waiting for you after the talk. Program Typography 3 Sun Life Community Outreach Program Sun Life 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. CHRISTMAS ORATORIO 40th Annual Conductors’ OWEN MCCAUSLAND Symposium EVANGELIST FEBRUARY 10-15, 2020 VANCOUVER, BC 7:30PM | FRIDAY, DEC 6, 2019 An intensive workshop with Master Conductors Kari Turunen, Jon THE ORPHEUM, 601 SMITHE ST AT SEYMOUR ST Washburn and one of Canada's premier professional choral ensembles, WITH OWEN MCCAUSLAND, EVANGELIST the Vancouver Chamber Choir. The 40th Annual Conductors' PACIFIC BAROQUE ORCHESTRA Symposium is an opportunity to take part in master-classes as a Three festive cantatas from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (I, III and conductor or observer. Learn choral techniques, conducting gesture, VI) with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra on period instruments – score interpretation and more. Each conductor will conduct before an what could be a better way to open the festive season? With audience, as part of the Choir’s regular concert season. soloists predominantly from within the choir and the softer tone of the period instruments, this aims to be a leaner and lighter For information and an application form: reading of this great classic. [email protected] www.vancouverchamberchoir.com 1.855.985.ARTS (2787) Application deadline: November 18, 2019 vancouverchamberchoir.com 4 NEW HONORARY PATRON Tama Copithorne A testimony: “Encountering the Vancouver Chamber Choir” Earlier this year, Ms. Tama Copithorne (a former board member and President of the Vancouver Chamber Choir) was appointed as one of our Honorary Patrons. She described her history with the choir: “It was in the early 1980s when my late husband, Maurice, and I first heard the Vancouver Chamber Choir. We were still living in Vienna then but spending our home leave holiday in Vancouver. Our good family friends, Peggy and Doug Prior (now deceased but long-time supporters of this choir) took us to a Vancouver Chamber Choir concert. Having been living in Vienna, we were somewhat spoiled by an abundance of excellent concerts. That evening, however, gave both my husband and me a refreshing joy of choral music in the new world! This unforgettable experience led us to become lifelong supporters of this professional choir when we returned to live in Vancouver. “My personal experience with choral music goes way back to my childhood during the Second World War in Japan. The war broke up our family, as many tragedies of family separation affected the entire world. Evacuating from the metropolitan Tokyo to a countryside town was, in those days, without exaggeration, like going to another planet. There was a vast cultural difference between the two regions. However, singing was one activity we were able to share with the locals more easily, as we evacuated from place to place. During the early days of recovery from the war, our school choir used to give ‘concert tours’ to nearby fishing and farming communities. We were only urban elementary school kids but making “concert tours” to schools in the rural area! “Why I think concert tours are important for all concerned is not unrelated to my wartime experience. It gives both singers and listeners an important venue for mutual understanding.