Victoria’s Linden Singers conclude their 35th anniversary season on May 31 with a performance of music for choir and string quartet by internationally known contemporary composers Jeff Enns, Ola Gjeilo and Tobin Stokes.
With Strings Attached, featuring the award-winning Emily Carr String Quartet, begins at 3:30 p.m., at St. Aidan’s United Church.
The Victoria premiere of Gloria, by Ontario composer Jeff Enns, provides a rich and dynamic opening for the spring concert. Jointly commissioned by the Linden Singers and five other choirs, Enns’ setting of the traditional Gloria text features choir, soloists and string quartet.
Norway’s Ola Gjeilo is one of the world’s most-loved and most-performed living composers of choral music, known for luscious harmonies and rich accompaniments. The Linden Singers look forward to presenting two short works, The Ground (from the larger Sunrise Mass) and Sacred Heart (Ubi Caritas), both featuring choir and string quartet.
Two significant works by Victoria composer Tobin Stokes round out the concert program. The first, entitled Feathers, was commissioned by the Emily Carr String Quartet in 2014.
The second, Tennyson Suite, has both serious and humorous moments that speak to themes of life, death, nature and war, with texts taken from various sources by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Stokes’ composition is musically diverse, with English style part writing similar to Ralph Vaughan Williams to more modern compositional techniques.
The Linden Singers is an auditioned mixed choir of approximately 50 voices has been active in the city for 35 years and has twice received the Canadian Music Festival national award for mixed choirs and has twice been a finalist in the CBC Choral competition.
Emily Carr String Quartet, formed in 2006 by members of the Victoria Symphony, has performed in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and has been featured on CBC radio’s North by Northwest. Its CD Hidden Treasure was nominated for the 2012 classical recording of the year at the Western Canadian music awards.
Tickets are available at the door or online at lindensingers.ca: $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and free for those under 25.
editor@saanichnews.com
