DREAMSONGS, Sat., May 5, 2018
On Saturday, May 5, 7:30 pm, at our “DREAMSONGS” concert, the VOCA Chorus of Toronto was thrilled to present the Canadian Premiere of DREAMWEAVER by the world-renowned composer, Ola Gjeilo, featuring our accompanist Elizabeth Acker, with soprano soloist Ellen McAteer and the VOCA Chamber Strings Orchestra.
Dreamweaver is a lush and evocative setting of a Norwegian medieval poem, ‘Draumkvedet’, an epic text with an expressive English adaptation by poet and composer Charles Anthony Silvestri.
Also featured that evening was a Toronto (and possibly Canadian) premiere of Ola Gjeilo’s SATB setting of his stunning Song Of The Universal, scored for choir, string orchestra and piano, with an exquisite text by Walt Whitman.
Other works included Mr. Gjeilo’s The Lake Isle, for steel-string guitar, piano and string quartet, with text by William Butler Yeats; The Lake Isle of Innisfree, Toronto composer Eleanor Daley’s setting of the same text; Gordon Lightfoot’s classic, Pussywillows, Cat-tails, arranged by another Toronto composer, Bonnie Penfound; Ottawa’s Laura Hawley’s jazz-inspired setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43 (All Days Are Nights); Kingston composer Mark Sirett’s arrangement of the traditional Irish ballad, Carrickfergus.
Guest artists: Ellen McAteer, soprano; Jason Fowler, guitar; Jeremy Potts & Jennifer Burford, violin; Alex McLeod, viola; Mary-Katherine Finch, cello; and the VOCA Chamber Strings orchestra.
It’s A Grand Night For Singing
Saturday, October 6, 2018
On Saturday, October 6, 7:30 pm at the Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth Ave., VOCA Chorus of Toronto soprano Emily Vick Agnew and artistic director Jenny Crober (at the piano) performed “It’s a Grand Night For Singing!”, a tribute to the brilliant team of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Our show, a fundraiser for VOCA, included 3 of our talented leads as guests: Sonya Harper Nyby, Janaka Welihinda and Nicholas Borg.
WINTERSONGS, Sat., Dec. 8, 2018
The VOCA Chorus of Toronto performed “WINTERSONGS” at 7:30 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2018.
VOCA presented an engaging and eclectic array of seasonal songs that evening, featuring Celtic and other choral and instrumental selections, with music by Sarah Quartel, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Mark Sirett, Matthew Emery, Jenny Crober, La Bolduc, David Mooney and others.
Our special guests were Sybil Shanahan (cello) and Celtic multi-instrumentalists Saskia Tomkins (violin, nyckelharpa, Celtic harp) and Steáfán Hannigan (Irish flute, bodhrán, Uilleann pipes).