Bailey to showcase his conducting talents with Pro Coro

Mark Bailey, one of three candidates vying for the position of artistic director and conductor of Pro Coro Chamber Choir, will wield the baton Sunday in Pro Coro: Musical Dialogues Throughout the Ages at McDougall United Church.

Accompanying Pro Coro are the incomparable organist Jeremy Spurgeon and classical cellist Josephine van Lier.

Bailey has an edge over the other candidates in that he first conducted the choir in a 2010 concert featuring 17th and 18th century Ukrainian repertoire.

“We hit it off terrifically and there is such an enthusiastic Slavic audience in Edmonton. It was a fantastic first,” Bailey said.

The Connecticut-based composer/conductor always keeps the audience in the forefront.

“Music doesn’t live fully until the audience hears it and to have the audience respond so enthusiastically added incredible vitality to the beauty already there.”

Bailey is a recognized expert in 17th to 19th century Slavic music, a passion encouraged by his Ukrainian grandmother.

His professional pedigree is illustrious as artistic director of Yale Russian Chorus, and former music director of the New Haven Oratorio Choir and Westchester Concert Singers. He also served as a faculty member at St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary in New York.

Although Bailey’s specialty is the Slavic repertoire, the upcoming Pro Coro concert spans through centuries, saluting masterpieces from the Renaissance to contemporary classical.

However, Bailey has programmed the music to speak eloquently on many levels. To that end he plans to split the 25-member choir in smaller choral groups to create a musical conversation.

“Music in dialogue shows the way the ensemble can be divided and configured so you have pleasant musical interaction that heightens the appreciation.”

A divided choir opens with Thomas Tallis’ famed 16th century composition Magnificat, a soaring a cappella canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary that segues into three of Carlo Guesaldo’s 16th century motets.

One of his showcase pieces is Artem Vedel’s sacred Choral Concert No. 9 titled Preacher of the Faith, Servant of the Word. Dedicated to the apostle Andrew, this work’s natural lushness is accentuated by two choirs and 14 soloists singing three movements.

He concludes the afternoon’s expressions with excerpts to Maia Aprahamian’s Evening Liturgy. Aprahamian, a friend of Bailey’s, recently passed away, and this is the first performance of her work since her death.

“I hope the audience will leave feeling as part of a really interesting and dynamic conversation and hearing ideas expressed from a new and different view. I hope they feel energized by the great music sung by an equally great ensemble.”