Choirs and Christmas go together like popcorn and string – they’re both completely biodegradable, and evoke simpler times, when cellphones and thoughts of work were happily turned off for time with family.
Those few hours, spent in an acoustically-blessed arena like a church or concert hall, letting the power of the human spirit wash over you, are arguably the best gift you can give yourself as the rest of the world goes Christmas ham.
But all anyone has these days is a few hours, so if you’re only going to see one choral performance this season, which should it be?
Well, if there’s one singular piece of holiday music that resonates in communities around the world, it’s Handel’s Messiah. From the sleek black halls of Reykjavik’s opera house upwards into the gilded dome of Vancouver’s Orpheum this Christmas masterpiece rings out. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
You should experience it at least once in your life, if only to know what the rest of the two-hour oratorio sounds like. But if you, like me, are of the mindset that maybe once is enough, and that maybe it’s time for something a little less cliché, then these three upcoming shows are for you:
J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
You might know Bach from your days minueting your way up and down the piano, but this guy was actually busy becoming famous for the cantatas (vocal compositions) he wrote as a cantor in Leipzig, Germany, in the 1700s. In the beginning of his churchly duties, Bach wrote a staggering new composition a week.
“If there was ever an argument for our potential as humans, it is embodied most perfectly in J.S. Bach’s cantatas,” writes Early Music Vancouver artistic director Michael White. “These works are a never-ending source of inspiration and happiness.”
Only 209 survive, but among them is Bach’s transcendent six-part Christmas Oratorio, and Early Music Vancouver has chosen three of its most festive cantatas to perform. And, to make this a regional affair, EMV has invited Stephen Stubbs, co-artistic director of Boston’s Early Music Festival and seasoned conductor based out of Seattle, to take the reins.
“One of the reasons that makes our presentation special is the fact that the Christmas Oratorio is rarely done. Secondly, it’s never done like this,” says Stubbs, “with a totally professional crew of baroque musicians and singers who really know what they’re doing.”
Featuring acclaimed soloists Teresa Wakim, Krisztina Szabo (who holds the distinction of having once brought me to tears with her high note), Zachary Finkelstein, and Sumner Thompson, a 28-piece orchestra, and the all-professional EMV vocal ensemble, expect a sense of the sublime.
J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio - Cantatas 1, 3, 6 takes place Sunday, Dec. 21 at 3pm at the Chan Centre. Tickets from $36, available at ChanCentre.com.
A Christmas Story
Fans of Vinyl Café and anyone with a holiday story they call their own will appreciate A Christmas Story – Musica Intima’s coalescence of sung music and shared moments.
Throughout the year, the Juno-nominated vocal ensemble solicited friends and fans on social media to get involved.
“We asked our audience to submit their favourite stories, whether they be personal stories or text, poems – anything Christmas related that has meaning to them and tradition for them,” explains artistic manager Joanna Dundas.
Among the chosen include the poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” (In the bleak mid-winter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone…) and a personal story written by a man for his grandchildren. Vancouver actress Rebecca DeBoer will serve as narrator, sending the words out amongst traditional Yuletide music and contemporary holiday marvels.
“We’re okay with it being a Christmas concert,” says Dundas of the song selection, “We try to focus on creating a place of space and sound that allows people to be present in the moment, and turn off the worries of the modern world, so to speak.”
In addition to respite, Musica Intima also offers the opportunity to discover sounds from our aural history, sung like they were freshly written, that might never be heard by you again. That’s particularly true of one seasonal selection – a lullaby by Vancouver composer Craig Galbraith.
“It’s an incredible sound” gushes Dundas, “Very usual, and yet really pleasing to the ear. It’s so surprising, and beautiful in how he writes, and his chord changes. So it’s a piece that I think people will not expect, but also be really happy to hear, because it’s something unusual, something they won’t hear anywhere else. Certainly not if they’re attending Christmas carol concerts,” she finishes with a smile.
Musica Intima’s A Christmas Story takes place Friday, Dec. 19 at 7:30pm at St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Tickets from $30, available at MusicaIntima.org.
All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
It’s a story we’ve all heard tale of: The atmospheric motif of German and British soldiers singing “Silent Night” to each other from across No Man’s Land during the first Christmas of the First World War.
To mark the centenary of this miraculous event, Chor Leoni brings the legend to life in its first fully-staged musical, featuring professional actors and the men’s choir belting out the actual songs sung by the soldiers in the trenches, backed by the words they wrote about their historic truce.
“The more we stay true to the story,” enthuses co-creator and Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte, “the more miraculous and fantastical it seems to be.”
From jingoistic ditties like “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary” and “Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag” to the holiday satisfaction of “O Holy Night” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” this a cappella musical, Chor Leoni’s most sought after engagement ever, tells the story of how common soldiers defied authorities on both sides and shared Christmas together.
“The history of war tends to be about generals and strategy and this sorts of things,” says Lichte, “and the people that you hear from in this show are none of those. They would never have a place in history otherwise, and we felt it was really important to name those names and put a human face on this war.”
In fact, it was the very human ability to be moved by music that Lichte credits with the truce taking place at all.
“I think all of us – believers, non-believers – we all sort of hope for some sort of transformation at Christmas,” he explains. “All of the good stories have that – Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, you name it. That’s what happened in real life with these men. They were soldiers, and they put down their weapons to share Christmas with one another for those couple days.”
All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 runs Dec. 19-21; times vary. Tickets start at $27, available at ChorLeoni.org.
