NEWS

May 11: Magical musical tour with Upper Canada choristers

The Upper Canada Choristers and their Latin ensemble Cantemos share The Magic of Music in their spring concert May 11 at 8 p.m. at Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Rd.

Laurie Evan Fraser conducts both the 40-voice mixed choir and Cantemos, with Hye Won Cecilia Lee at the piano. Joining the choir as guest artists are baritone Bradley Christensen and the Junior and Chamber Choirs of Allenby Public School under the direction of Alison Bannerman.

Tickets are $25 each, children and teens accompanied by an adult free. Patrons are invited to bring a non-perishable item for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Tickets can be reserved by calling 416-256-0510 or emailing info@uppercanadachoristers.org.

You can also check the choir’s website.

CantemosThis concert also marks the 10th anniversary of the choir’s accomplished Latin ensemble, Cantemos.  To mark the occasion, Cantemos will premiere a work it commissioned by Venezuelan composer César Alejandro Carrillo,” La Rosa de los Vientos” (“The Wind Rose”), with lyrics by Cantemos member Jacinto Salcedo.

Cantemos also performs the arrangement created for it by Filipino composer Ryan Cayabyab of his Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika (Our Music is Beautiful); and Noche de Lluvia (Rainy Night) from Canadian composer Sid Robinovitch’s Canciones por las Americas (Songs for the Americas).

In a program Laurie Evan Fraser terms “especially moving and beautiful”, the Allenby School choirs join the Upper Canada Choristers in John Rutter’s The Music’s Always There With You, and Evan Fraser’s arrangement of Ennio Morricone’s Nella Fantasia (I Have a Fantasy).  As well, the UCC sings Something Like a Star from Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, to words by poet Robert Frost; and In the Night We Shall Go In by Canada’s Imant Raminsh, with words by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

Bradley Christensen (www. bradleychristensenbaritone.com ) joins the choir as soloist for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs for baritone and choir.  Christensen was one of 10 artists chosen last fall to work with opera star Brett Polegato and perform in the concert Singing Stars: The Next Generation, presented by the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists.

Under their conductor Alison Bannerman, the children’s choirs will also sing songs of magic and fantasy.