2010/2011 Season
From the shimmering beauty of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, to the exaltation of Vivaldi’s Gloria, to an intimate collaboration of spoken word and music with Canadian broadcasting icon, Shelagh Rogers, our 24th season offers a musical feast featuring the beauty of Elektra’s lustrous sound. The Krutzen/McGhee harp and flute duo join us for Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra, and our co-presentation with Pacific Baroque Orchestra promises the riches of Italy in Spring: O Primavera, while Kindred Spirits brings together a dear friend and Elektra as we share music and insightful readings. Concerts on Vancouver Island, workshops, and reading sessions round out our season. Be part of it and get “Elektra-fied!”
10/11 Season Tickets order form
Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra
The beauty of Benjamin Britten’s timeless classic, A Ceremony of Carols, forms the centrepiece of Elektra’s traditional introduction to the holiday season. Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra ushers in the season with a concert featuring favourite carols in old and new settings, all wrapped in the richness of Elektra’s shimmering sound. Let Elektra set your holiday mood, with a concert of ravishingly beautiful music full of expectation and hope – and as always, there will be treats for the kids!
Spring: O Primavera
Elektra joins Pacific Baroque Orchestra in an exploration of an Italian Spring, with each ensemble featured on their own and in combination. Spring: O Primavera is rich with the glories of Venice, from the exaltation of Vivaldi’s Gloria and the evocation of new growth in his Spring from The Four Seasons, to the plangent strains of choral music from the ospedale, and more. These works promise to transport you to a land of history, beauty and grace.
Kindred Spirits: Elektra & Shelagh Rogers
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Saturday April 30, 2011 7:30 pm
Sunday May 1, 2011 3 pm
Ryerson United Church
2195 W 45th Ave., Vancouver, BC
$28 Adults | $22 Seniors/Students
Purchase tickets
Map to Ryerson United Church
Tickets available through
1-800-838-3006
or from Elektra Office: 604.739.1255
With
the young women of Mira, Elektra’s mentoring programme
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Our final concert of the season brings together Shelagh Rogers, an icon of Canadian broadcasting and dear friend of the choir, and Elektra in a concert that celebrates themes of friendship, love, and life. Shelagh has chosen some of her favourite Canadian readings and Morna has matched those with musical selections that offer illumination, commentary, and beauty. The young women of Mira, Elektra’s mentoring programme for high school students join us in selected works for this stunning concert. Kindred Spirits offers a synergy of music and literature, presented by old and dear friends. Come share the experience with us!
Past Concerts
Welcome the World: A Choral Gala
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 Tuesday, February 9, 2010 ~ 7:30 pm
St. Andrews-Wesley United Church
1022 Nelson Street, Vancouver
$35 general admission
Ticketmaster 604.280.3311
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The 120 voices of four of Vancouver’s top choral ensembles (
Chor Leoni Men’s Choir, Elektra Women’s Choir, musica intima vocal ensemble, and Vancouver Chamber Choir) join forces to welcome all nations and peoples, presented with Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. The distinctive voices of these choirs will resound as they celebrate the ability of song to bridge cultures while highlighting the uniqueness of the world’s many tongues. Planned as a choral showcase and a linguists’ delight, Welcome the World: A Choral Gala will feature each ensemble singing in a multitude of languages while celebrating the universal power of music to make us one.
Click here for a map to St. Andrews-Wesley United Church, with nearby parking facilities
St. Andrew’s-Wesley is on the #22 bus line (there are bus stops on either side of the street either right at the venue or kitty-corner to it, depending on the direction of approach) and a short three block walk (slightly) uphill from the Burrard St Skytrain station. Exit the station and turn right, or board the #22 bus in front of the station and travel two stops.
Click here for more information on getting around Vancouver during the Olympics.
Conductor Mentorship Open Rehearsal
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Monday, March 1, 2010 ~ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Ryerson United Church
2195 West 45th Avenue, Vancouver
Free admission
Map to Ryerson United Church
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Join us for an informal and engaging open rehearsal while our two 2010 Conductor Mentorship Program participants lead Elektra in rehearsal. Come one, come all, and see how the process of encouraging people to sing choral music unfolds.
Holst’s "The Planets"
Elektra is proud to perform again this season with the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Bramwell Tovey. Elektra may perform Gustav Holsts’ epic masterpiece, The Planets, from offstage, but its role in the final movement, Neptune is nevertheless an ethereal experience. These two performances take place in Vancouver and Surrey.
Water’s Edge Festival
Elektra brings its unique take on the choral experience to the second Water’s Edge Festival in Coquitlam. Two fine vocal ensembles share the billing in this 8:00 pm concert: up first is Nght Street vocal jazz ensemble. Then expect everything from folk songs to avant garde to Rodgers and Hammerstein as Elektra offers up the second half.
Canadian Voices
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a co-production of Elektra Women’s Choir and Chor Leoni Men’s Choir
Saturday, April 10, 2010 ~ 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 11, 2010 ~ 3 pm
Ryerson United Church
2195 W 45th Ave., Vancouver, BC
$28 | $23
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Tickets available at Ticketmaster 604.280.3311
or from Elektra Office: 604.739.1255
Map to Ryerson United Church
From Healey Willan to folk to avant garde, Canadian music has it all, and Elektra has teamed up with
Chor Leoni to present a selection of musical colours from this great kaleidoscope of richness in Canadian Voices. Our audience will hear the beautiful tone colours of each choir on their own as well as in a thrilling combination of 80 voices!
Each choir will be unveiling new works written specifically for Canadian Voices by Vancouver composers; Elektra will premiere a piece by Jocelyn Morlock, Chor Leoni will present a new work by Stephen Smith, and in a first for the two choirs, the combined forces will premiere a brand new work for mixed choir by Kristopher Fulton.
New music won’t be the only choice on offer, however. Favourite tunes from such great Canadian songwriters as Ian Tyson, Leonard Cohen and Shari Ulrich, as well as selections from our rich folksong tradition, are bound to get you humming along and your toes tapping. Capping off this exhilarating concert is the finale from Srul Irving Glick’s grand The Hour Has Come.
Glick commented that his goal was “to write a piece that showed celebration in colour, harmony, rhythmic flow, and lush romantic writing. It is not an experimental piece, but rather a celebration of what is – an expression of love…my celebration of life and my vision of beauty.”
To borrow the composer’s words, it would not be too far a stretch to say Canadian Voices is a celebration of the colours, harmonies, rhythms of Canadian choral music, as sung by two of Canada’s premiere choirs. Join us as we unabashedly wave the maple leaf in song!
Women in Song - Seattle 2010
Women’s Choir Festival
Morna Edmundson, Artistic Director
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"Sailing over Seattle" photo by Bala on flickr
Used under Creative Commons
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Showcase Concert
featuring performances by each choir
Friday, April 23 ~ 8:00pm
Plymouth Congregational Church
1217 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA
Festival Choir Concert
Including a performance by Elektra Women’s Choir
Saturday, April 24 ~ 8:00pm
Town Hall
1119 Eighth Avenue
Seattle, WA
Admission is by free will offering for both performances,
with all donations going to Susan G Komen for the Cure
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Featuring
Elektra Women’s Choir (Vancouver, BC)
Cantora Arctica (Alaska)
Southern Arizona Women’s Chorus (Tuscon, Az)
Con Brio Women’s Choir (Seattle, Wa)
Elektra is thrilled to be a featured ensemble for Women in Song - Seattle 2010, a choir festival that brings together women’s choirs from Alaska, BC, Arizona, and Washington state to sing under the direction of our own Artistic Director, Morna Edmundson.
On Friday, Apri 23, Elektra will present a solo set as part of the showcase evening at Plymouth Congregational Church. This evening features performances by each of the four participating ensembles. Then on Saturday, April 24 at Town Hall, the choirs combined choirs will sing a festival concert. Elektra will also be presenting a solo set during this performance as well. This Saturday performance is the culmination of the Women in Song festival, held in Seattle from April 22-25.
The festival concert program will consist of a diverse repertoire including Magnificat by Christine Donkin, Dona Nobis Pacem by Ko Matsushita, as well as a piece by Vancouver composer Tim Corlis called The Garden of Dreams.
For more information, please call (425) 776-3273, or view the flyer as a pdf here.
Presented by acfea tour consultants.
Romance: Schumann, Brahms & Fauré
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Sunday, June 6, 2010 ~ 3 pm
Ryerson United Church
2195 W 45th Ave., Vancouver BC
$26 | $20
with guest artists
Martha Guth, soprano
Heidi Krutzen, harp
Ben Kinsman & Oliver de Clercq, French horn
Stephen Smith, piano
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Tickets available at Ticketmaster 604.280.3311
or from Elektra Office: 604.739.1255
Map to Ryerson United Church
Elektra closes the season with a return to the glorious music written during a compositional Golden Age, the Romantic Era. Morna has opened a treasure chest of repertoire, with selections by Schumann, Brahms and Fauré, to showcase Elektra’s lustrous sound. Joining Elektra for this glittering salon of Romantic music are Martha Guth, soprano and VISI faculty member, Heidi Krutzen, harp, and Ben Kinsman and Oliver de Clercq on French horn, and pianist, Stephen Smith. All will be performing solo works which will highlight the afternoon’s program.
The central work of the concert is Brahm’s Four Songs for Women’s Chorus, two horns and harp Op. 17. Lyrical, subdued and full of warm nostalgia, the vocal lines are masterfully set amongst the rich sonority of their accompaniment.
Elektra is delighted to welcome the young women of Mira, the choir’s mentorship program to participate in this concert. These high school-aged singers have rehearsed selected repertoire from this program and will sing with Elektra for parts of this performance.
Romance offers an early summer afternoon’s entertainment, and an invitation into a musical age where fantasy, imagination, and a quest for adventure and far away lands played an important role. Come and be born away into the golden reveries of Romance: Schumann, Brahms, & Fauré.
Romance is part of The Songfire Festival of Song, presented with the Vancouver International Song Institute.
Simply Elektra
Benefit Dinner for Elektra
Tickets $125 each. *A portion of the ticket price is tax-receiptable.*
It is our pleasure to invite you to Simply Elektra, an intimate benefit dinner for the choir following our final concert of the season, Romance. As the title implies, this evening is simply a time to mingle with the choir, enjoying great food, great music and great company. The program will include a live and silent auction, wine raffle, and the musical stylings of select "Elektralites". This event is the perfect end to an amazing 2009-2010 season and we hope you will be able to join us.
For more information please contact Bernice Slemko, Elektra's General Manager. Tickets may also be purchased by credit card by calling the choir office at 604-739-1255.
