Stratford Concert Choir event May 25 aims to usher in sounds of summer
Summer Song, the Stratford Concert Choir's May 25 concert, will showcase an award-winning harpist, an aspiring baritone and a wide-ranging repertoire, including the premiere of an original composition by one of its members.
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Summer Song, the Stratford Concert Choir’s May 25 concert, will showcase an award-winning harpist, an aspiring baritone and a wide-ranging repertoire, including the premiere of an original composition by one of its members.
Concert programmer and conductor Stephane Potvin said the selections for the upcoming performance were inspired, in part, by Sumer is Acumin in, a lilting medieval round. He chose other music that also reminded him of summer, including three pieces by Morten Lauridsen, a renowned American composer and academic teacher.
“They all deal with the night,” he said. “May is my favourite time of year. I love to go outside when it’s warm and there’s still some cool air and look at the stars. And those pieces just fit.”
Potvin figured the harp seemed like an ideal instrument to add to the mix, so he called on London’s Kathleen Gahagan, the Forest City Talent Education program’s harp instructor since 2010 and someone with a wealth of experience accompanying choirs.
“There’s something very special about being able to work with singers,” Gahagan said. “Being able to collaborate with people who are using the instrument they were born with – their voice – is something that’s really special to me.”
The harp supports without overwhelming voices, said Gahagan, who will also be playing solos by Irish, French and Canadian composers, plus a couple of pieces from the 13th century.
“I think it takes a special choir to be able to collaborate – a choir with musicians with well-developed ears who can really listen for the gentler supporting harmonies of the harp and use that as a foundation to build their own performance,” she said. “I’m trying to give a nice, broad representation of harp music through the centuries.”
One of the highlights of Summer Song will be Ave Maria, composed by Marco Burak, who sings bass with the choir. When Potvin heard that one of the choristers was a composer, he approached Burak to see if there was anything he had written that the concert choir could perform.
Burak thought Ave Maria, which was initially written as a solo vocal composition for voice and piano, would be the ideal piece to offer his conductor.
“It was designed to be a fairly simple piece, and I actually wrote it as a birthday present for one of my sisters who had recently joined her parish choir,” he said.
When Potvin showed an interest, Burak adapted it first for the choir and then again to include the harp.
“I liked Marco’s style,” Potvin said. “To me, it has just the right combination of something tonal for the uninitiated and yet going far enough off the standard chords that it creates some really interesting harmonies.”
Summer Song will also introduce an aspiring baritone soloist.
Potvin auditioned students from Western University to perform with the choir, and Braylon Belanger – in his first year of the school’s music program – will sing Le Colibri by Ernest Chausson and Le Premier Jour de Mai by Charles Gounod.
“It’s going to be introspective, with lots of rich harmonies and musical colours,” Potvin said. “It’s an eclectic mix, all designed to create a summery mood.”
IF YOU GO
What: Stratford Concert Choir’s Summer Song
When: May 25 at 7 p.m.
Where: Avondale United Church, Stratford
Tickets: $40, available at stratfordconcertchoir.org or at Blowes Stationery, Stratford
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