The Upper Canada Choristers and their Latin ensemble Cantemos offer an evening of seasonal and Christmas music on December 5. A highlight of the program is Britten’s joyful A Ceremony of Carols, with a multi-lingual mix of accompanying works.
Laurie Evan Fraser conducts the mixed-voice choir and its Latin ensemble Cantemos, with pianist Hye Won (Cecilia) Lee and guest harpist Liane James.
Personnel
Laurie Evan Fraser
Fraser is the founding artistic director of the Upper Canada Choristers, as well as its Latin ensemble, Cantemos. A busy freelance musician, she also works as a collaborative pianist, teacher, adjudicator and workshop clinician.
A native of Troy, New York, Laurie first came to Canada as a scholarship student at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She has pursued choral music through multiple positions, including as Soprano Soloist and Section Lead at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Forest Hill United Church, Organist and Choir Director at Davenport-Perth United Church, and Music and Choir Director at First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto.
Liane James
Liane James is the Principal Harpist of the Ontario Philharmonic. She also regularly performs with other ensembles, including the Kingston Symphony, Peterborough Symphony, and Orchestra Toronto. Alongside her orchestral repertoire, Liane performs works for choir and harp, and has worked with choral ensembles such as the Young Singers, Espressivo Singers, and the Toronto Beaches Children’s & Youth Chorus, among others.
H.W. Lee
Lee is a diverse freelance musician specializing in piano, harpsichord, and organ, including collaborative Piano/harpsichord/organ and continuo. Lee also works at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto and Glenn Gould School, Royal Conservatory of Music. In addition to her work as a musician, Lee is a regular contributor to Ludwig-Van.
Program
The program offers a wide range of music with a seasonal flavour.
O come, O come, Emmanuel
The concert opens as the audience is invited to join in with O come, O come, Emmanuel (Latin: Veni, veni, Emmanuel). The text for this Advent carol was originally written in Latin in about the 8th or 9th centuries. The melody comes from a 15th century French processional hymn, one that may have been used as a funeral hymn for Francisan nuns.
Philip Stopford: Lully, Lulla, Lullay
Philip Stopford’s 2008 contemporary setting of the 16th-century Coventry Carol follows. The haunting arrangement uses various musical techniques to embody the story of the original Carol — the lament of a mother mourning her child during the Massacre of the Innocents, when King Herod ordered the murder of all male children under the age of two.
Elaine Hagenberg: Sweetest Music, Softly Stealing
American composer Elaine Hagenberg’s Sweetest Music, Softly Stealing is a work for choir and piano celebrating the miracle of Christ’s birth. The hymn-like melody and emotional choral lines were written to the text by G.W. Brindley, an American who wrote the text for several hymns published in 1916.
Laurie Evan Fraser: Dormi Jesu
Cantemos will perform this work by Artistic Director Laurie Evan Fraser. Along with text taken from ancient Latin sources, Upper Canada’s president Jacqui Atkin, a frequent collaborator of Fraser’s, has written additional words in English. The song came out of inspiration from Fraser’s trip to France on summer vacation several years ago. In Paris, she attended a service in Gregorian chant at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, and also visited the 13th-century Carcassonne Cathedral. The experience inspired both the music and text.
César Alejandro Carrillo: Nana para una luna despierta (Lullaby for a sleepless moon) & O magnum mysterium
César Carrillo is a native of Caracas, Venezuela. His studies took him from Caracas to Sweden, Belgiu, the US, and Brazil, and his works have won multiple awards. In addition to his work as a composer and arranger, he is the conductor of Cantarte Coro de Cámara and assistant conductor of Orfeón Universitario de la UCV. His Nana para una luna despierta is set to poetry by his wife, Laura Morales Balza, and is dedicated to his late son, Simon. O magnum mysterium sets an ancient Latin text to music.
Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28
Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 is an extended choral composition that he composed in 1942 on an ocean voyage from the US to England. Written for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp in 11 movements, the text is taken from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, edited by Gerald Bullett. Britten had bought the book while he was on the way of Halifax prior to setting sail. The words are are largely in Middle English, mixed with Latin and Early Modern English.
The composer had originally intended the piece to be a series of unrelated songs, but later unified the work into one piece by adding an opening processional, and closing recessional chant. Both are based on a Gregorian antiphon, and the harp solo is based on the chant, along with other elements.
Originally published in 1942 for SSA (soprano, soprano, alto) children’s choir, it was arranged and published for SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) mixed choir in 1943. The choir and Liane James, as harp soloist, will perform an SATB version written by Julius Harrison in 1955.
It’s a jubilant work, with emotions that range from serenity to ecstatic rapture.
The Concert
Upper Canada Choristers’ Christmas concert, This Little Child takes place on December 5 at Grace Church on-the-Hill in Toronto.
Along with in-person attendance, you can stream the concert live via the choir’s website.
- Free Streaming [HERE] or [HERE].
- Find tickets and other details for the in-person concert [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto City Editor at Ludwig Van. Previously, she was a freelance writer with a specialty in culture and travel for three decades, and a creative writing instructor for Ontariolearn.