Viva Voce Choral Series

  • Viva Voce! Choral Series 2013-2014 Presents Brock University Choirs

    Saturday, March 01, 2014 | By

    vv-april-5thThe Viva Voce! Choral Series includes Brock’s student choral ensembles (men’s and women’s choruses) as well as the Avanti Chamber Singers, a community mixed ensemble including many past and present Brock faculty, staff and students. Under the direction of conductor Harris Loewen, the ensembles perform multiple concerts throughout the academic year, and engage in community outreach, collaborative work with other Ontario choirs and special recording projects.

    Click here for the event poster.

    Brock University Choirs – Music Comes…

    Harris Loewen – Conductor

    When: April 5, 2014; 7:30 p.m.
    Location: St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario St., St. Catharines
    Tickets:
    $15.04 (+HST) for adults
    $10.62 (+HST) for seniors/students
    $5 for children 13 and under, and the eyeGo ticket program for high school students.
    Tickets will be available at the door, or from the Centre for the Arts Box Office,
    905-688-5550 ext. 3257, brocku.ca/miwsfpa/music
    Contact: Marie Balsom, mbalsom@brocku.ca

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    Categories: Events, Viva Voce Choral Series

  • Viva Voce! Choral Series & The Regional Women’s Choirs present a concert for International Women’s Day: “She Rises”

    Friday, February 07, 2014 | By

    sherisesThe Viva Voce Choral Series includes Brock’s student choral ensembles (men’s and women’s choruses) as well as the Avanti Chamber Singers, a mixed ensemble including several Brock staff and Music alumni. Under the direction of conductor Harris Loewen, the ensembles perform multiple concerts throughout the academic year, and engage in community outreach, collaborative work with other Ontario choirs and special recording projects.

    When: March 8, 2014 – 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
    Location: St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario St., St. Catharines
    Admission: $17 adults; $15 seniors & students; $5 for the eyeGo ticket program for high school students.

    Click here for the event poster.

    Regional Women’s Choirs present a concert for International Women’s Day: “She Rises”

    On Saturday, March 8, 2014, at 7:30 pm, the Brock University Women’s Chorus hosts guest ensembles: the McMaster University Women’s Chorus and the Queenston Ladies Choir, in a concert showcasing the beauty and power of women’s voices. This event, in celebration of International Women’s Day, takes place at St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario Street, St. Catharines.
    Conductors Lisa Brillon (Queenston), Harris Loewen (Brock) and Rachel Rensink-Hoff (McMaster) will conduct their individual choirs, as well as the massed chorus of over 100 women’s voices, in this rare festival performance by three elite, treble-voice ensembles.
    The concert will have a clearly contemporary flavour. The majority of works to be performed were written in the 20th and 21st centuries – a number of them published in just the last few years. The program will also include works by 19th century composers Bruckner and Mendelssohn, as well as wonderful arrangements of traditional folk songs and spirituals.
    One of the featured works is the Canadian premiere of “She Rises” (2011), a piece for double women’s chorus with lyrics and music by American composer Catherine Dalton. The words speak of the inspiring Celtic sun goddess Brigid, as well as St. Brigid of Kildare (Ireland). The music, a Celtic-style melody accompanied by rich harmonies and creative vocal sound effects, is “a jubilant celebration of the energy and light that resides without and within all of us.”
    Other massed choir works include Eric Whitacre’s lyrical “Seal Lullaby,” Clifton Noble’s exciting spiritual arrangement “Hold On,” Dale Warland’s pensive “Sed Amore,” and Canadian songwriter Leon Dubinsky’s inspiring “We Rise Again,” in an arrangement by Toronto’s Lydia Adams.
    Dr. Harris Loewen, Associate Professor Music at Brock University, states: “This celebratory and wide-ranging program, presented by the very best women’s choirs of the region, will appeal to a really broad audience. If you’ve never been to this kind of choral feast, exclusively by women’s voices, this is a terrific way to celebrate International Women’s Day, and support choral endeavours by women.”
    Concerts in the Viva Voce Choral Series are presented by the Department of Music as a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and Brock University.
    Join us for this moving celebration on March 8 at 7:30 p.m., held at St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario Street, St. Catharines. Tickets are available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office, or at the door.

    For more information contact:
    Marie Balsom, Communications
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    T: 905-688-5550, ext. 4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: brocku.ca/miwsfpa

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    Categories: Events, Media Releases, News, Viva Voce Choral Series

  • Viva Voce! Choral Series- Avanti Chamber Singers – Spring Suites

    Saturday, March 02, 2013 | By

    springsuitesthumbThe Viva Voce Choral Series includes Brock’s student choral ensembles (men’s and women’s choruses) as well as the Avanti Chamber Singers, a mixed ensemble including several Brock staff and Music alumni. Under the direction of conductor Harris Loewen, the ensembles perform multiple concerts throughout the academic year, and engage in community outreach, collaborative work with other Ontario choirs and special recording projects.

    Britten: Gloriana Dances
    Thompson: Frostiana
    Tremain: Shakespeare Songs

    When: April 27, 2013 – 7:30pm
    Tickets: Adults $20, seniors and students $15; $5 for children 13 and under, and the eyeGo ticket program for high school students. Available at the door; Ryson’s Music (downtown St. Catharines); or Niko Music Gallery (Ridley Square, St. Catharines).
    Location: St. Barnabas Anglican Church 31 Queenston Street, St. Catharines
    Cost: $20.00

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    Categories: Events, Viva Voce Choral Series

  • Local choral groups release debut CD of Christmas music

    Thursday, November 08, 2012 | By

    (Source: The Brock News, Thursday, November 08, 2012 | by )

    The Avanti Chamber Singers and Brock University Festival Chorus have released a new CD, entitled Voices of Niagara 3: Glorious Light, which features Christmas choral music written by local Niagara composers.

    This is first CD released featuring the 30-voice Avanti Singers and 60-voice Brock Chorus. Conductor and Brock associate professor of music Harris Loewen leads both ensembles, as well as other regional instrumentalists on the recording.

    The main work on the CD is the six-movement piece Gloria, composed by Peter Landey, associate professor of music at Brock, and sung in Latin by the combined groups. All of the works on this recording are unpublished and presented here for the first time.

    The music on Voices of Niagara 3: Glorious Light was recorded in multiple sessions at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake in May 2011 and May 2012, and at St. Thomas Anglican Church in St. Catharines in November 2011.

    The CD will be launched Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Avanti Chamber Singers concert happening at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, 31 Queenston St., St. Catharines.

    Information about tickets and start times for this event.

    The CD will also be on sale at the Brock University Choirs’ performance of Cantemus that takes place Saturday, Nov. 24 at Knox Presbyterian Church, 53 Church St., St. Catharines.

    The CD is available for online purchase from Brock’s Department of Music and the Avanti Chamber Singers.

    This is the third CD in the Voices of Niagara series. The previous two CDs by the Niagara Vocal Ensemble, also conducted by Loewen, are also still available.

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News, Viva Voce Choral Series

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