PREVIEW
Men Sing, doh!
Men of EdMetro Chamber Choir
Sunday, April 29 at 3 p.m.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church
10037 – 84 Ave.
Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at door. Call 780-420-1757 or www.tixonthesquare.ca
Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus usually performs as a mixed chorus. But tomorrow, the Men of EdMetro Chamber Choir sing their inaugural all-male concert.
The choir will conjure up a world of voices that could be split into three themes: religion and spirituality, battle and war, love and relationships.
For this concert only, St. Albert's Trent Worthington will take over conducting duties from artistic director David Garber.
A teacher at Sir George Simpson School, Worthington is a consummate vocal performer, arranger, composer and conductor with an encyclopedic knowledge of music.
In the past two decades he performed and provided expertise to Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree, PreTenors and VOCE The a cappella experience.
Although Worthington has sung with Edmonton Metropolitan's main choir and conducted clinics and workshops, this is his first time conducting.
“When David and I sat down and picked the music, we picked it based on the merits of the music,” Worthington said.
The men’s choir will premiere two of his compositions: the battle-scarred Les Plaines d’Abraham and the art song, Darkness to Stars, based on Catherine Sparks unpublished poetry.
The opening repertoire focuses on two spiritual and religious chamber works. Singing in Latin, the choir starts with Brazilian composer Ernani Aguiar’s Salmo 150 (Psalm 150).
This rhythmic work with rapid articulations is an exciting piece for a cappella choirs. With a distinctive Latin American vibe, it easily lights a fire for those who hear it.
The second work is Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, originally written as a lush, intense choral piece layered on top of a sparse accompaniment.
“Fauré had such lovely lyric lines and there’s such a fluid piano part. Everything just comes together.”
The grouping of battle themes features the contemporary Les Plaines d’Abraham, originally written for Canada’s 150th anniversary.
It leads into several equally strong pieces including Augustana University’s Ardell Ries’ arrangement of The Armed Man.
“It’s cleverly modified so the piece has a regular metre so it can be sung in unison or in canon form.”
The third grouping looks at love songs, love lost and relationships, a universal topic everyone connects with. There’s a touch of romance in Now When the Rain Falls from The Scarlet Pimpernel, and When You Are Old, based on a reflective William Butler Yeats poem.
The program closes with a Morten Lauridsen classic, Sure On This Shining Night, the third movement of his flowing song cycle Nocturnes.
‘Lauridsen always writes beautiful choral music. This piece is beautifully fluid. It’s very well put together.
Passionate about articulating music for male choirs, Worthington hopes audiences will be captivated by the selected repertoire's charm and wonder.
“It has variety and options with three main topics. It’s definitely introducing a wide breadth of music.”
