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To laugh at winter’s sadnessRob Curtis, conductor

with special guestsll Duo: Ron Long and Clint HagelGail Olmstead, piano

contact@iCoristi.com www.iCoristi.com

Saturday=27 January 2018=7:30 pmHoly Trinity Anglican Church, Edmonton

Friday=26 January 2018=7:00 pmCanterbury Court, Edmonton

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i Coristi Chamber ChoirNow celebrating its 23rd season, i Coristi Chamber Choir is a 24-voice ensemble. Membership is by audition and encompasses a broad cross-section of the population: accountants, teachers, computer programmers, nanotechnologists, designers, theologians, administrators, office personnel - singers for whom music is their vocation, and singers for whom music is their avocation!

The name i Coristi is Italian, “The Choral Singers”. Noted for its unique, eclectic programming, the choir focuses on a

cappella masterpieces from the Renaissance to the 21st century, presented in three main concerts each season; the choir also performs at seniors’ facilities and various local businesses and gatherings. i Coristi has been heard on national and regional broadcasts of CBC Radio.

Twice 2nd-Prize winners (2006 and 2008) in the Mixed-Voice Adult Chamber Choir category of the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs, i Coristi was awarded 1st Prize in July 2013.

i Coristi has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, toured to Ontario and Manitoba, and been invited to perform in Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton at Podium, the national biennial conference of Choral Canada/Canada Choral. During the summer of 2009, i Coristi completed a highly successful tour to England and Wales, which included a performance at the prestigious International Eisteddfod Festival in Llangollen, Wales. In July of 2011, i Coristi performed at Festival 500 in St. John’s Newfoundland.

The choir has recorded four CDs, including Paths, released in 2016.

Founded by Dr. Debra Cairns, the choir is currently led by Music Director Dr. Rob Curtis.

i Coristi Chamber Choir is a proud member of Choir Alberta, and

Choral Canada/Canada Chorali Coristi Chamber Choir

PO Box 52068Edmonton, AB T6G 2T5

780.977.6993www.iCoristi.com

contact@iCoristi.com

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Tenor

Wayne HiebertAdam KristensonSean McMannWayne PoonRussell WilkinsonMichael Woodside *

Bass

Cameron DyckEmilian GrochGord McCrostieZachary RempelErwin Veugelers

Soprano

* Ariane FieldingKari Heise

Odette Lackey* Connie McLaws

Kimberley McMannAynsley Schilbe

Megan Yim

Alto

Amanda DaignaultAriane Lowrey

Alison McInnes* Sharon Tarnawsky

Kirstin Veugelers

i Coristi Chamber ChoirSTAFF

Rob CurtisMusic Director, Conductor

Kimberley McMannAssistant Conductor

Ariane LowreyResident Accompanist

David GarberAdministrative Director

Honorary MembersDr. Debra CairnsPeter MalcolmMargaret ‘Peg’ Matheson

Board of Directors

Aynsley SchilbePresident

Connie McLawsVice President

Amanda DaignaultSecretary

Sharon TarnawskyTreasurer

DirectorsKari HeiseAlison McInnes

* on leave

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Dr. Rob CurtisMusic Director

Born in Edmonton, Rob grew up making music and in 1999 began a degree in piano performance at the University of Alberta, later earning a master’s degree in choral conducting. In November, 2015, he received his Doctor of Music degree from the University of Alberta, where his research centred on elements of place and space in the choral music of Malcolm Forsyth.

Rob has worked with a number of choirs in Edmonton and beyond; from 2006 to 2010 he was the Artistic Director and Conductor of Sine Nomine Chamber Choir, and from 2010 to 2013, the Assistant Conductor of the Richard Eaton Singers. He has also led the Alberta College Women’s Choir, gives frequent

workshops and is an active church musician and festival adjudicator. Rob has conducted the University of Alberta Concert Choir since 2011, and in 2014 he was honoured for his work with that ensemble with the Faculty of Arts Graduate Teaching Award. In addition, he has frequently appeared as a singer with Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton’s professional chamber choir.

In addition to the works of Malcolm Forsyth, Rob’s research interests include acoustics and the science behind choral sound, as well as physical and spatial elements in choral music. He is in great demand as an engaging and dynamic teacher and conductor and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the extraordinarily talented voices of i Coristi Chamber Choir.

Kimberley McMannAssistant Conductor

Kimberley grew up in Riverview, New Brunswick, where she began her performing career as a Celtic musician. After releasing her first recording “The Dark Island,” opening for the late John Allan Cameron, and performing at the Canada Winter Games, she pursued her classical music education at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, studying Vocal Performance.

She then moved to Edmonton and received her Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Alberta in 2011. During that time, Kimberley was the Assistant Conductor of the University of Alberta Concert Choir, the Assistant Conductor of the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, a soloist with Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and

with Edmonton’s award-winning chamber choir i Coristi. In 2011 Kimberley moved to the UK where she taught, directed music at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, and founded Spiritus Community choir. She returned to Canada in August of 2013 and has since been busy working with ensembles such as Pro Coro Canada, Da Camera Singers, i Coristi Chamber Choir, Sine Nomine, Accord Ensmble, and Vocal Alchemy, as a singer, soloist, clinician, and conductor.

Biographies

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David GarberAdministrative Director

David is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University (Virginia), majoring in trombone, with graduate studies in Choral Conducting at the University of Alberta, under Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff.

In addition to being the Administrative Director of i Coristi Chamber Choir, David is the Founder, Administrative Director, Artistic Director & Principal Conductor of Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus (a non-auditioned adult chorus of 120+ singers). He has also worked as manager for Pro Coro Canada, and the Richard Eaton Singers. David has served on peer assessment committees for arts funding agencies at the municipal, provincial, and national levels.

David was a founding member of Pro Coro Canada, and sang with them for 28 seasons. He was also a founder of VOCE - the a cappella experience, and has sung with Da Camera Singers, Richard Eaton Singers, University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, and i Coristi Chamber Choir.

David was the recipient of an Alberta Foundation for the Arts Award for Career Development to study at the Baroque Performance Institute, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the recipient of the Alberta Choral Federation’s Con Spirito Award, in recognition of spirit, dedication and commitment to choral music. David was nominated for a Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction.

Ariane LowreyResident Accompanist

Born and raised in the Smoky River Region of Alberta, Ariane Lowrey received her Bachelor of Music Degree in piano performance at the University of Alberta in 2003, studying with Ayako Tsuruta and Janet Scott Hoyt. In the summers of 2001 and 2002, she attended the Summer Festival at the Orford Art Centre in Quebec, studying with piano professors Jean-Paul Sevilla, Jean Saulnier, and Richard Raymond. After completing her undergraduate degree, Ariane studied at the Université de Montréal with Paul Stewart and completed her Master of Music degree in piano performance in 2005. She then traveled and worked in the UK and Europe before returning to Edmonton in 2007.

Ariane is actively involved in accompanying and collaborative work as well as teaching. She has performed with various chamber groups, choirs, vocalists, solo instrumentalists, dance and musical theatre productions in both Edmonton and Montreal. Her first foray into choral music (both as a singer and accompanist) was with the University of Alberta’s Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Debra Cairns. She then went on to accompany the King’s University College Concert Choir with Dr. Melanie Turgeon where she also worked as collaborative pianist for the voice repertoire class and for instrumentalists. Ariane joined the Alberta College Conservatory of Music Piano Faculty in 2007.

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Programme Notes

They say that the most depressing days of the year are in January; long nights, cold days, Christmas bills and broken resolutions can weigh heavily during this season. What better way to deal with winter’s sadness than to gather with friends to laugh, sing and snack? Tonight’s program is in three parts. First, i Coristi will present a set of pieces on the theme of laughter: three madrigals that have laughter in their texts, and two pieces by the infamous black sheep of the Bach family, P.D.Q. Bach. We are then excited to welcome special guests Il Duo who will have us laughing with their musical comedy. And finally, we invite you all to join us in the Upper Hall for some warm refreshments, and we hope you will all join in as we sing a few more simple, cheerful songs together.

I felt quite proud for thinking up the title of tonight’s concert, until I realized I had purloined it from the text of Now is the Month of Maying, one of the better-known English balletts—but luckily the piece was a perfect fit to start off the program. This song is more bawdy than modern listeners sometimes realize on first hearing, with lyrics such as “playing barley-break” which would translate into Modern English roughly as “having a roll in the hay”. In good madrigal style, much of the innuendo is left up to the imagination; it’s left up to the listeners’ imaginations as to what exactly is transpiring during the many “fa la la”s...

In These Delightful, Pleasant Groves was published a few years after Henry Purcell’s death, in the collection Orpheus Brittanicus. Purcell wrote a substantial amount of incidental music for plays, and this song was written for The Libertine, a story about a character who seems to have been based on Don Juan. Of particular relevance to this program is the evocative setting of the word “laugh”, where scales cascade back and forth between two halves of the choir, creating longer scales that stretch through the choir’s full range.

Luca Marenzio was a prolific and celebrated composer of madrigals in the late 16th century, writing works with extraordinary variety. Due rose fresche contains moments of inventive word-painting, as in the open measures where a pair of roses is depicted in a duet, and on the settings of “riso” and “ridendo” (“smile” and “laughing”) where the quick passagework seems to giggle in a similar way to the Purcell setting heard earlier. Marenzio’s expressiveness and harmonic deftness is heard in places such as the setting of “E stringendo ambedue” (“and embracing both”) where he embraces both major and minor modes, briefly.

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As P.D.Q. Bach’s biographer, Peter Schickele, writes in the score of Throw the Yule Log On, Uncle John: “’Nobody’s perfect.’ There is no more convincing illustration of that adage than P.D.Q. Bach, whose father Johann Sebastian Bach’s track record with regard to bringing beauty into the world was otherwise unblemished and perhaps unequalled. P.D.Q. Bach, who was called ‘a pimple on the face of music’ by his brother J.C. Bach, apparently left no musical form undisturbed. [This piece] was probably composed during the final years of P.D.Q’s stay in Wein-am-Rhein, a time of transition from the clumsy excesses of the Soused Period to the clumsy excesses of the Contrition Period.”

Turning again to Prof. Schickele’s learned words, this time in the introduction to The Art of the Ground Round: “The Art of the Ground Round is uniquely typical among P.D.Q.’s works, especially in its use of the discontinuo. Most baroque pieces had a so-called continuo part, which consisted of a bass line with chord symbols, to be played by a bass instrument and a keyboard; the left hand on the keyboard played the bass line and the right hand improvised on the basis of the chord symbols. P.D.Q. Bach’s problem was that towards the end of his life he got so fat that he couldn’t reach the keyboard simultaneously with both hands. So he simply played the bass line and forgot about the improvising (which was the harder part anyway), or probably more often didn’t play at all, leaving the bass line to the bass instrument and himself free to drink beer. A ground round is a round sung over a ground, or repeated bass line. ... Most of the rounds in The Art of the Ground Round are of a type fancied by certain sixteenth and seventeenth century English composers: they reveal, when sung together as a round, levels of meaning that are not apparent when the parts are sung individually.”

Rob Curtis

www.schickle.com

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Announcing

Inspired by the Latin Mass, Pro Coro Canada’s annual series explores the multitudes of expression of faith through musical works. Over the years, the featured compositions have become larger, and this fifth edition, includes i Coristi Chamber Choir (Rob Curtis, director).

The full feature Missa Signum Magnum by Latvian Rihards Dubra requires a large choir divided into five groups dispersed through the performance venue, the ultimate surround-sound experience.

Tickets

Advance: $30 Adult, $25 Senior/StudentDoor: $35 Adult; $30 Senior/Student

Prices include GSTA processing fee of $1.50 will be added to all orders.

Available by phone 780.420.1247In person #309, 10113 - 104 StreetOnline www.procoro.ca

Box Office hoursMonday - Friday, 9AM - 4PMclosed all holidays and observances

Il Duo

Tenors Ron Long and Clint Hagel, and pianist Gail Olmstead are performers and music teachers based in Edmonton. Together, they have performed as Il Duo since 2010.

The group was met with standing ovations at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. Il Duo has received rave reviews following their many performances before enthusiastic crowds across the prairie provinces.

www.ilduo.com

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NOW IS THE MONTH OF MAYING (1595)Thomas Morley (1557?–1602)

IN THESE DELIGHTFUL PLEASANT GROVES (1692)Henry Purcell (1658?–1695)

DUE ROSE FRESCHE (1585)Luca Marenzio (1553?–1599)

THROW THE YULE LOG ON, UNCLE JOHNP.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742)?

THE ART OF THE GROUND ROUNDP.D.Q. Bach

Matt Nickel, bassoon

Performance by Il Duo

Reception and Sing-along in the Upper HallCatered by Upper Crust Cafe & CaterersMulled wine, warm cider, festive hors d’oeuvres

Programme

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Te xts & Translations

Morley – Now is the Month of Maying

Now is the month of maying, when merry lads are playing,Fa la la...Each with his bonny lass upon the greeny grass,Fa la la...

The Spring, clad all in gladness, doth laugh at Winter’s sadness,Fa la la...And to the bagpipe’s sound, the nymphs tread out their ground.Fa la la...

Fie then! why sit we musing, youth’s sweet delight refusing?Fa la la...Say, dainty nymphs, and speak, shall we play barley-break?Fa la la...

Marenzio – Due rose fresche

Due rose fresche e colte in ParadisoL’altro ieri nascendo il di primo di maggio,

Bel dono e d’un amante antico e saggioTra duo minori egualmente diviso,

Con dolce parlar e con un risoDa far innamorar un uomo selvaggio,

Di sfavillante e d’amoroso raggioE l’un e l’altro fe’ cangiare il viso.

“Non vede un simil par d’amanti il sole,”Dicea, ridendo e sospirando insieme,

E stringendo ambedue, volegasi attorno.Cosí partia le rose e le parole,

Ond’el cor lasso ancor s’allegra e teme.O felice eloquenza, O lieto giorno!

Two fresh roses gathered in ParadiseBloomed the other day on the first of May,A lovely gift from an older, wiser lover,Divided equally between two young loversWith such sweet speech and with a smileThat would make even a savage being love,With its bright and amorous raysCaused each of them to change their aspect.

“The sun has never seen such lovers,”He said, laughing while he sighed,And embracing both, he turned away.Thus the roses and the words depart,The heart is left joyful and in fear.O happy eloquence, O joyful day!

Purcell - In These Delightful Pleasant Groves

In these delightful pleasant groves,Let us celebrate our happy, happy loves;Let’s pipe, pipe and dance, dance and laugh, laugh and sing;thus, every happy living thing revel in the cheerful spring.

Nicolas Lancret Mademoiselle de Camargo Dancing (c.1730)

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i Coristi Chamber Choirextends a sincere Thank you to the many volunteers who generously donated their time to work at our casino events on January 11 & 12, 2018. Their invaluable contributions raised approximately $75,000 toward the ongoing operations of the Choir.

Featuring

Trent Worthington’s “Jag vill möta”Commissioned by i Coristi Chamber Choir

and selections by...Malcolm Forsyth, Jonathan Dove

Ralph Vaughan WilliamsJames Macmillan, Paul Mealor

Charles Villiers StanfordEdward Elgar

Jochen Eggert, Production and EditingCorey Haberstock, Recording Engineer

Available TODAY . . .$20; Subscribers $15

and atThe GramophoneTIX on the Square

New CDPaths

Lorna Arndt, Les Bell, John Crouse, Rob Curtis,Amanda Daignault, Cameron Dyck, Laurier Fagnan,

Alan Fielding, David Garber, Dennis Heise, Erik Heise, Kari Heise, Wayne Hiebert, John Huk, Colleen Jahns,

Douglas Jahns, Odette Lackey, Alden Lowrey, Scott MacLean, Gordon McCrostie, Alison McInnes,

Tony Olivares, Tony Schiebel, Aynsley Schilbe, Chuck Schilbe, Mark Shea, Andy Tarnawsky,

Irena Tarnawsky, Sharon Tarnawsky, Marcia Tyerman, Erwin Veugelers, Kirstin Veugelers, Gail Webb,

Russ Wilkinson

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Donors & Supporters

i Coristi Chamber Choir is grateful for the ongoing support provided by the following government agencies,

and individuals:

Benefactors ($1,000 +)Alberta Foundation for the Arts

City of Edmonton, Edmonton Arts Council

Patrons ($500 - $999)N. Daignault

Sponsors ($250 – $499)

Supporters ($100-$249)Lorna Arndt

David Garber

Friends (to $99)

i Coristi Chamber Choir extends a sincere“Thank You” to the following individuals,

organizations, and business partners:

John Brough and Janette Chambers,Holy Trinity Anglican Church

Corey Haberstock, Recording Engineer

Corporate Copy

Tix on the Square

University of Alberta

Upper Crust Cafe & Caterers

We have made every effort to acknowledge all donations receivedsince July 1, 2017. Please contact us in case of error or omission.

i Coristi Chamber Choir Society is a Registered Charity. Tax receipts are issued for all donations $20 and above,

including donations made in support of the Legacy Scholarships.

i Coristi Chamber ChoirPO Box 52068 Garneau, Edmonton, AB T6G 2T5Phone: 780.977.6993 contact@iCoristi.com www.iCoristi.com

Did you know...Your donations are used to support several valuable programs offered by i Coristi:

Assistant ConductorHiring of a conducting student or recent graduate of the University of Alberta

Legacy ScholarshipsProviding support for four Alberta singers to participate in the National Youth Choir of Canada

Choral CommissionsEnables the composition of new choral music

National Competition in Choral CompositionFinancial award presented to the winner of i Coristi’s biennial competition

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LEGACY SCHOLARSHIPS

After 19 years as visionary Music Director of i Coristi, Dr. Debra Cairns retired in the summer of 2013.

To honour Debbi’s significant contributions to the choral community in Edmonton, the province, and the nation, and in

recognition of her long and close association with Choir Alberta, i Coristi Chamber Choir has established the

Dr. Debra Cairns - i Coristi Chamber Choir Scholarships.

Donations made to i Coristi will be transferred to Choir Alberta to support four Alberta singers

- assisting them in participating in Canada’s National Youth Choir.

Please consider supporting these legacy scholarships, and assisting young Alberta singers, by making a donation.

Make cheques payable to “i Coristi Chamber Choir”; write “Legacy Scholarships”, on the memo line.

Donations may also be made online through www.CanadaHelps.org

Dr. Debra Cairns - i Coristi Chamber Choir Scholarships

Through these scholarships, i Coristi is proud to supportAlberta singers in Canada’s biennial National Youth Choir.

Congratulations to the recipients ofthe 2016 scholarships. . .

Lynnéa Bartel Nickel, Gloria Wan Christian Maxfield, David McCune

VOLUNTEERS

Archivist

Gordon McCrostie

Concert Host

Kirstin Veugelers

Concert Reception

Kari Heise

Alison McInnes, Kirstin Veugelers

Editors

Lorna Arndt, Kirstin Veugelers

Russ Wilkinson

Edmonton Food Bank

Odette Lackey

Front-of-House

Dennis Heise, Mark Shea

Benton Schiebel, Senya Schiebel

Tony Schiebel

Social Coordinators

Kari Heise, Aynsley Schilbe, Megan Yim

Staging

Cameron Dyck, Wayne Hiebert

Wayne Poon, Russ Wilkinson

Erwin Veugelers

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E

with conductorKimberley McMann

Stephanie Bent

Janine BrémaultBamford

Andrea Pinna

Bertrand Malo

The Edmonton MetropolitanOrchestra Presents

Saturday, February 17, 20187:30 pm

McDougall United Church10086 MacDonald Dr NW

Nightat theOpera

Nightat theOpera

Tickets at the door$25 adult

$20 senior/student

Advance tickets through

$22.50 adult$18 senior/student

metropolitanorchestra.ca/

The Songs o

f Love

Thank you to oursponsors:

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Edmonton Metropolitan ChorusEdmonton Metropolitan Chamber ChoirDavid Garber, Artistic & Administrative Director

EdMetro Chamber Choir

Women in Song - AngelsSunday, 28 January 2018, 3 pm = Holy Trinity Anglican Church

Dr. Joy Berg, Guest Conductor

EdMetro Chorus

Music for Chorus & HarpSunday, 11 March 2018, 3 pm = First Presbyterian Church

Kim Denis, Guest Conductor = Keri Lynn Zwicker, Harp

EdMetro Chamber Choir

Men Sing, doh!Sunday, 29 April 2018, 3 pm = Holy Trinity Anglican Church

Trent Worthington, Guest Conductor

EdMetro Chorus

Carmina BuranaSunday, 27 May 2018, 3 pm = First Presbyterian Church

Dr. Danielle Lisboa, Guest ConductorEdmonton Metropolitan ChorusGangneung Civic Choir, Korea = Kikimasu = Shumayela5 percussionists, timpani, 2 pianos, soloists

EdMetroChorus.ca info@EdMetroChorus.cafacebook.com/EdMetroChorus

Tickets on sale NOWAdvance $15=Door $20=Children 12 & under FREETixOnTheSquare.ca 780.420.1757 = Eventbrite.ca

2017 - 2018SEASON

Saturday= 23 June 2018= 7:30 pmHoly Trinity Anglican Church

i Coristi on the MoveTickets=Advance $20= Door $25

TixOnTheSquare.ca= 780.420.1757Sir Winston Churchill Square

Eventbrite.ca

facebook.com/iCoristi www.iCoristi.com contact@iCoristi.com

An eclectic program of songs of travel