Laudate Singers, Brilliant Baroque: Bach, Vivaldi and Monteverdi at St. Andrew's United Church, Dec. 15, 3 p.m. Tickets $35 /$30/$15/free 12 and under.
The sound of Baroque will fill the air this coming Sunday when the Laudate Singers bring their Christmas concert to North Vancouver.
The Brilliant Baroque concert, featuring pieces by Bach, Monteverdi and Vivaldi, takes place at 3 p.m. Dec. 15th at St. Andrew's United Church. The repertoire will also feature two guest singers, countertenor Mark Donnelly and tenor Mark De Silva.
"We're delighted to have those two join us," says Lars Kaario, artist director and founder of the Laudate Singers.
Kaario says the concert will open with a Bach orchestral composition that he describes as a "high energy, positive piece," then move into a Christmas Oratorio, of which Bach composed six cantatas, one for each Sunday around Christmas. The choir will also be singing Monteverdi Magnificat.
"(It's) very good for the season," says Kaario of the piece.
Kaario has also included "Winter" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons that will be performed by solo violinist Nancy Di Novo from North Vancouver.
"She has always had a great love for Baroque music," says Kaario, adding that Di Novo has been a member of both the Boston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.
Kaario says that one of the choir's mandates is to be celebratory, positive and optimistic but also for their concerts to be engaging for the audience.
"I try to make it interesting and challenging for my singers," he says. "Most of this repertoire is new to them (and) new to me."
The choir will be performing at St. Andrew's United Church, a venue they have performed in on numerous occasions and that has continually been very supportive of the group, says Kaario.
"It has the best acoustics on the North Shore," he says. "Acoustically it's a fantastic place."
Kaario, director of choral studies in the diploma of music program at Capilano University, founded the Laudate Singers in 1995. The choir is composed of eight sopranos, six altos, four tenors and five bass members. The Singers perform a variety of cultures and genres, including Baroque, South African and Coast Salish traditions to name a few.
They also commission and perform new Canadian compositions every season.
Kaario says the group will be releasing a CD of their Voice of the Tango performance from this past May and will be recording their upcoming performance for a future release.
"I want to produce a Baroque CD from our live concerts," says Kaario, adding that he would like to make it an amalgamation of their different performances.
