UPPER CANADA CHORISTERS AND CANTEMOS TAKE AUDIENCE
“FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT” IN HOLIDAY SEASON CONCERT
The Upper Canada Choristers and their Latin ensemble Cantemos celebrate Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa in a variety of languages in their second pandemic hybrid concert – for both in-person and online audiences.
Laurie Evan Fraser, her 35-voice mixed choir, Cantemos ensemble and pianist Hye Won Cecilia Lee invite audiences on their musical journey, From Darkness into Light, Friday, December 3, 7:30 p.m. at Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto, or online via YouTube or Facebook. Details will be posted on the choir’s website, www.uppercanadachoristers.org.
IN PERSON TICKETS: A limited number of tickets, at $25, will be available to fully vaccinated people aged 12 and up, on a first-come basis from Eventbrite (link TBA).
Performers and in-person audience members will be subject to all public health regulations in force at the time. All in-person audience members will be required to show a valid Ontario Ministry of Health receipt (available via https://covid19.ontariohealth.ca) confirming they have received two doses of an approved vaccine.
The live-streaming concert is free, but donations are welcome to cover expenses.
Further information may be obtained by visiting the choir’s website, emailing [email protected] or calling (416) 256-0510.
ABOUT THE CONCERT
Laurie Evan Fraser quotes the great French writer Victor Hugo: “‘To love beauty is to see light,’” adding, “And we are aiming to offer beauty and light in our concert in these darkest days of the year.”
From Darkness into Light features beloved seasonal baroque favorites including the well-loved chorale Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and two excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. Words by poet Sarah Williams are sung to a Haydn canon. On the contemporary side are Morten Lauridsen’s Sure on This Shining Night (to a poem of James Agee), and two of John Rutter’s enduringly popular Christmas songs. Carols are always part of the choir’s December concert – with We Three Kings, written in 1857 by American John Henry Hopkins Jr., and O Come All Ye Faithful. Moses Hogan’s arrangement of the spiritual This Little Light of Mine completes this portion.
For Chanukah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights (which this year will already be underway), the choir performs We Are Lights and Flory Jagoda’s cheery and fun Judeo-Spanish number Ocho Kandelikas (Eight little candles). The choir honors the African American cultural celebration of Kwanzaa with Harambee (“pull together” in the Kenyan language of Kiswahili), a song reflecting the seven principles of the holiday.
Cantemos offers up three Spanish numbers. Quieres Contar mis Estrellas? (Do You Want to Count My Stars?), composed by Venezuelan Miguel Delgado Estevez, was arranged for men’s voices by Venezuelan composer Cesar Alejandro Carrillo. The other two are aguinaldos (carols) – one by Carrillo, the other Los Reyes del Oriente (Kings from the East), from Puerto Rico. All written in minor keys, they reference the magic of the stars on that most beautiful night when Christ was born.
The Upper Canada Choristers, Cantemos and conductor Laurie Evan Fraser present
From Darkness into Light
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
At Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto
In Person: Limited tickets available ($25), purchased in advance via Eventbrite. Age 12 and up; Covid protocols followed; proof of full vaccination required.
Free Streaming on YouTube and Facebook
Public info: www.uppercanadachoristers.org, 416-256-0510, [email protected]
For further information, contact:
Linda Litwack
416-782-7837
e-mail: [email protected] September 28, 2021
Main Pronunciations
(Laurie) Evan (Fraser) – EE-von
Hye Won (Cecilia Lee) – High Wawn
Cantemos – can-TAY-mohss
Lauridsen – LOR-id-sen
Handel – HAN-dl
Flory Jagoda – FLOR-ee ya-GO-da
Ocho Kandelikas – OH-cho kan-dɘ-LEE-kahs
Kwanzaa – KWON-za
Harambee – HA-rahm-bay
Aguinaldo – a-ghee-NAHL-do
Miguel Delgado Estevez -mee-GEL del-GAH-doh ES-tɘ-vez (Gs as in gold)
Cesar Alejandro Carrillo – say-ZAAR a-lɘ-KHAN-dro ka-REE-yo (rolled R on REE)