Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra (2014)
November 29, 2014 at 7:30pm
Ryerson United Church, Vancouver
Welcome to “Our House”!
Warmest of welcomes to Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra, our annual celebration ushering in the seasons of Advent and Christmas. With it, we offer familiar carols – melodies that reach back into each of our memories of Christmases past – and new works that bring their own original statement of this season and this celebration. This year, we are thrilled to welcome back our old friends A Touch of Brass, bringing the brilliance of brass to our performance. And warmest of welcomes also to the Eric Hamber Women’s Chorale and their director Les Nerling. Today’s program is rich with the English and German traditions and “the moon of wintertime” threaded through with bells, stars, the wonder of Mary, and the mystery of the birth of the Christ Child.
We are thrilled to present two world premieres today: the snowy and evocative Winter’s Grace by Vancouver’s own Ed Henderson, and a treble voicing, dedicated to Elektra, of Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Northern Lights, performed all over the world in its mixed choir form.
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In addition to the choral works performed by Elektra on its own or with our guest choir, the brass quintet contributed arrangements without choir of “Coventry Carol” (following the first piece of the concert) and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (following Northern Lights). The Eric Hamber Women’s Chorale performed solo pieces:
- Winter SongSara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, arr. Les Nerling
Performance Pieces:
Canadian Work