Harp & Voices, featuring harpist Heidi Krutzen and Capilano University choirs, Saturday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. at the North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts. Tickets, $25/$20/$10, visit capilanou.ca/nscucentre.
WHEN famed British composer Benjamin Britten stopped in Halifax during a journey by sea between the United States and his native England in 1942, he stumbled upon a text that would have a lasting impact on his musical legacy.
In a shop, Britten discovered a book of poetry, The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, edited by Gerald Bullett and was written in Middle English.
"It's what inspired "A Ceremony of Carols," says harpist Heidi Krutzen, who is set to perform the multi-movement work for harp and choir with singers from Capilano University tomorrow and Sunday at the North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts.
"I like that, that it came from Canada," says Krutzen of the popular piece of music that's often performed at Christmas, adding it's "one of the gems in the harp repertoire."
The centenary of Britten's birth is fast approaching, to be marked Nov. 22, 2013. "I think you're going to be hearing a lot of Benjamin Britten in the city in the next year, so we're just starting a little bit early," she says.
Also on the program at the Capilano University show, Harp & Voices, set for Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., are movements from Marjan Mozetich's "Songs of Nymphs" for solo harp and selections from John Rutter's "Dancing Day. "It's based on Christmas carols and it's also another Christmas favourite," says Krutzen.
Harp & Voices is being conducted by Lars Kaario, Capilano University's director of choral studies, and founder and director of Laudate Singers.
"I tend to work with Lars very often," says Krutzen.
The concert will feature approximately 150 performers, members of the Capilano University Singers and Capilano University Festival Chorus.
"I'm really looking forward to it," says Krutzen.
"I think it will just be a really vibrant and fun concert and a nice way to begin the season," she adds.
Kruzen, currently a Vancouver resident, grew up in West Vancouver. She's the principal harpist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and plays with a number ensembles, including Couloir with North Vancouver cellist Ariel Barnes, Trio Verlaine and Vancouver's Turning Point Ensemble. She teaches at the University of British Columbia and is an avid humanitarian through her work with Malambo Grassroots, a non-profit volunteer-run organization dedicated to community development in southern Zambia. Malambo Grassroots (malambograssroots. ca), is a member-project of Rose Charities Canada.
"Our main focus is on education because when you help educate people you're giving them immense opportunities to forge their own way and create change in their lives. Our scholarship program is probably one of our biggest focuses," she says.
Krutzen has a busy holiday season concert schedule ahead of her. In addition to her shows in North Vancouver this weekend, she is set to perform Friday, Dec. 7 at 7: 30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 9 at 3: 30 p.m. with the Valley Festival Singers at Trinity Christian Reformed Church in Abbotsford.
On Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7: 30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 16 at 3 p.m. Krutzen will join the Richmond Chorus at Gilmore Park United Church.
Finally, from Dec. 19 to 23 she will join the production of The Nutcracker being presented by the Goh Ballet and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.
In the New Year, Krutzen and Barnes will pick up where they left off this fall, having spent November travelling throughout Louisiana for a Piatigorsky Foundation Tour with Couloir. Krutzen has worked with the New York City-based foundation for a number of years.
"Gregor Piatigorsky was a famous cellist and the stories about him were he'd be travelling the country on the train and the train would stop in a tiny little town and he'd just get off the train and play his cello to anybody who was there," she says. "It inspired him to make sure that people always had the opportunity to hear great music no matter where they lived. His grandson Evan Drachman has started this foundation based on his grandfather's philosophies and ideals and they send out musicians all through the States on tours and mostly into smaller communities."
As part of the tour, Krutzen and Barnes played a series of free concerts to people from all walks of life in various communities from Monroe to Shreveport.
"We really had a wonderful time in Louisiana. I had been there seven years ago just after Hurricane Katrina and it was in a state of emergency," she says, adding to go back now and see how far they've come proved incredibly powerful.
Outside of the foundation tour, they also performed a show in Baton Rouge, and led some master classes before returning to the Lower Mainland. In January, the Couloir due will embark on a Prairie Debut Tour, which will keep them busy with a host of dates in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba until they'll return for two concerts in Vancouver in March 2013.
They're anticipating the release of two freshly recorded albums, Couloir's debut releases, ideally by March at the latest. Wine Dark Sea will feature their three first commissions, including "Three Meditations on Light" by Jocelyn Morlock, and the second record, Clear Music, will include "Serere," a piece by Vancouver composer James Maxwell written for harp, cello and electro-acoustics that was commissioned by Ballet Kelowna. For more information, visit couloir.ca.
