A collaboration between Early Music Vancouver, the Pacific Baroque Festival, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria.
Upcoming Events
THE PACIFIC BAROQUE SERIES
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Crossing The Andes - CANCELLED
May 27, 2023
This concert explores the juxtaposition of indigenous South American musical traditions with the ‘new’ repertoire introduced by the European colonizers in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The two main sources used to explore this repertoire are The Trujillo Codex from Peru and the Codice Luz y Norte published in Madrid but written in Mexico. The charango and pan flutes featured in this concert are played by virtuoso Federico Tarazone from Peru. The charango is a small guitar with five double strings that looks like a Spanish bandurria and is one of the most popular Andean musical instruments. Its resonator, which is rounded, is made from the shell of an armadillo. It has many names and is also known as tatú, atatou, quirquincho, querú, cabasu, piche, mulita, toche, mataca. The Argentinian singer Jonatan Alvarado, specialist of South American repertoire whose passion is to revive the tradition of self-accompanied singing, will join the ensemble to recreate this colourful journey.
Past 2022/23 Season Events
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FESTIVE CANTATAS: J.S. BACH MAGNIFICAT & CANTATA BWV 110 (LET OUR MOUTH BE FULL OF LAUGHTER)
December 16, 2022
The boys’ choir of the St. Thomas church in Leipzig was founded in 1212, and to this day, it still is one of the most prestigious ambassadors of musical culture in Germany. Historically, the choir director had to prepare the services in four churches and organize the music for city functions. Bach held the position from 1723 to his death in 1750; he was appointed only after two of his colleagues, further up on the list, Telemann and Graupner, had declined.
One of Bach’s major tasks was to provide annual cycles of cantatas for each Sunday. In his first year of taking up the post, Bach set the text of the (Latin) Magnificat with four inserted (German) hymns for a performance at Christmas, giving birth to one of his most popular and festive compositions. In this performance, we pair the famous Magnificat with cantata 110, which Bach composed for Christmas 1725, in his third year as cantor and director of the St. Thomas church. Vancouver’s Pacific Baroque Orchestra is joined by three natural trumpets, as many baroque oboes, and a stellar cast of singers, under the inspired direction of Alexander Weimann.
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BOCCHERINIANA
October 15, 2022
Boccheriniana celebrates one of the most delightful and original voices of the classical era, Luigi Boccherini, alongside European composers from the same era: W.A. Mozart, J.C. Bach, and Maddalena Lombardi Sirmen. During this era, famed for its elegant ‘galant’ music, Boccherini championed his instrument, the cello and played as a travelling virtuoso until he settled in Madrid as court composer. This concert showcases a variety of chamber music favourites: flute quintets, string trio, oboe quartet, and quintets with oboe, flute and strings. The programme reunites string players Laura Andriani, Rossella Croce, Isaac Chalk, and Elinor Frey, together with the celebrated traverso player Jan De Winne, flute professor at the Paris and Brussels conservatories.
TREASURES FROM BYZANTINE MANUSCRIPTS
September 23, 2022
Based in Thessaloniki, Greece, En Chordais is active in the learned and popular multicultural musical traditions of the Mediterranean. The ensemble fuses contemporary musical trends with Byzantine art music and Greek regional idioms and will present works from newly discovered Byzantine manuscripts dating from 1480 to 1800.