Easter Music is Hopping In!

Even with Christmas less than a month behind us, it's already time for Holy Week and Easter music again! As churches start gearing up for spring and all the exciting activities that come along with the turn of the season, let's take a peek at a few titles from our 2012 sacred summer reading session. 

Chor Leoni's Adriatic Prowl

I'm following the tour blogs of the very fine Men's Choir Chor Leoni from Vancouver as they represent our city, the Province of British Columbia and Canada. They have been on the road since the end of June and they happen to be fortunate enough to have the choral department manager Ray Horst in their ranks. The store hasn't burned down in his absence (although there have been a few close calls).

This is what cultural exchanges are all about! They have already been to Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and are now slumming it in Italy. Can you feel the envy in my writing? This post should be written in green...

Honestly, I believe that music, especially a choir of human voices make such a personal and emotional connection. I am willing to bet that there are a whole slough of people up and down the Adriatic totally impressed and in love with a group of Canadian Lions!

Light and Gold

Never in my life have I seen a choral composer achieve rock star status like Eric Whitacre, who picked up a Grammy for best choral recording just a few weeks ago. When you sing Sleep or A Boy and a Girl you quickly realize why his music has become a worldwide sensation. His innovation in the creation of the virtual choir (view the first and second of these performances on YouTube) brought more than two thousand singers together from fifty-eight countries and has around three million views on YouTube.

The book Eric Whitacre - Selections from Light and Gold is a collection of pieces for mixed choir, suitable for advanced high school or community/university choirs. It is an economical way to purchase 9 songs which will undoubtedly become standard choral repertoire. A second collection, aptly entitled Eric Whitacre Collection, is also available. And if a collection is not in your budget, most of his music is available as separate octavos.

If you have not performed anything by Whitacre, it is time to find out first-hand what all the fuss is about.

Is Ray There?

What's the single most often asked question of the Choral department? I can safely answer without any thread of doubt that it would have to be:

"Hi, is Ray there?"

The question does make perfect sense considering Ray has devoted his life to choirs. He graduated from UBC with a Masters in clarinet performance before he saw the "choral light", and has been the staple of the Choral department at Northwest Music for over 20 years. He can be heard as a soloist singing and playing the clarinet on many CDs released by groups such as Chor Leoni Men's Choir, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, and the West Coast Mennonite Chamber Choir. Whenever Chor Leoni needed a stand-in conductor, it was Ray who got the call. His dedication to music was acknowledged in 2006 by the B.C. Choral Federation when he was given the Herbert Drost Award for distinguished service and support of choral music throughout the province.

I have the fortune to be a singer and librarian with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Every spring the choir tours to a different part of Canada and does workshops and concerts with local choirs. Often when conductors hear that I work at Northwest Music, they tell me how much they enjoyed dealing with Ray.

So no, Ray, I'm not bitter. But I may have stolen your favourite pen...