The Valley Concert Society is delighted to welcome the Vancouver Chamber Choir to the stage of the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium on Friday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m.
Returning for the first time since their last performance here in 2002, the choir will be led by their artistic director Kari Turunen who was appointed to the role in 2019. He is only the second director in the choir’s history, having taken over from Jon Washburn, the founder and conductor emeritus who led the group for an astonishing 48 years.
The chamber choir will bring a program entitled Sacred and Profane, the name taken from the central work of the evening’s second half. Sacred and Profane is a suite in eight short movements composed in 1975 by Benjamin Britten. Profane, in this case, is used not in the sense of being irreverent but merely secular as opposed to sacred. The texts are medieval poems set in the language of that bygone day. A prayer to Saint Mary and reflections on the death of Christ are interspersed with movements that speak of nature, love, and death.
The program will open with a haunting work by composer-in-residence Andrew Balfour. He wrote Trapped in Stonebased on the story of several thousand Scottish prisoners locked up to die in Durham Cathedral after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
These works and more are part of the a cappella performance by one of Canada’s finest choral ensembles. The choir has won numerous awards, toured internationally, and produced a substantial library of recordings. It is one of Canada’s musical gems.
Tickets for this concert are available online at www.valleyconcertsociety.com at $32 for adults/seniors and $20 for students. For more information call 604-289-3377.
I look forward to seeing you at the concert.
John Wiebe - President
The Valley Concert Society