Although we might shiver at the thought of short, cold days and long, dark nights, we know there is much to enjoy about winter.
With the wish that our feelings of love and peace might last long beyond Christmas, Island Voices presents Such Spirit Through the Year, featuring a wide variety of music about Christmas and winter.
“Winter can be a time of Christmas celebration and gathering as family, but it can also be a time of contemplation and introspection,” says choir director Jenn Forsland. “It can be a time of laughter and song around a bonfire, or a time of great beauty and silence during a gentle snowfall.”
The works she has chosen evoke feelings of love and peace, as well as just plain fun. Listeners will hear familiar carols, as well as works calling to mind medieval and Renaissance churches, songs about the starkness of the frozen earth, and the happiness of skaters on a pond. Musical styles will vary – from the warmth of John Rutter’s All Bells in Paradise, to the ethereal harmonies of Eric Whitacre’s Lux Arumque, to a big gospel version of O Come All Ye Faithful. And given the concert title, of course there will be the famous opening song from A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas Time is Here.
In keeping with the choir’s mandate to promote Canadian music, Director Forsland has chosen several works by Vancouver composers, including Trent Worthington’s Three Winter Songs, Larry Nickel’s Miles to Go Before I Sleep, and Diane Loomer’s Yule-tide Fires.
Island Voices invites you to enjoy Such Spirit Through the Year, presented at Comox United Church at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6. There will also be a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Campbell River.
Tickets are $25 for adults, and $10 for students 18 and under, and will be available at Blue Heron Books (Comox), Benjamin Moore House of Color (Courtenay) and The Music Plant (Campbell River). For more information, call 250-203-0471 (Campbell River) or 250-898-4773 (Comox/Courtenay).
