The human voice is being celebrated this weekend as choral singers, choir leaders and clinicians from around the province file into Vernon for the B.C. Choral Federation’s annual Chorfest.
Those participating in the singing convention, which includes a massed choir concert Sunday afternoon at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre, may want to stick around for another week, as one of Canada’s and the world’s most celebrated female choirs is coming to town.
Elektra Women’s Choir performs the last concert of the North Okanagan Community Concert Association’s 2014-2015 season, May 23 at the Performing Arts Centre.
The Morning Star recently spoke to Elektra’s director/conductor Morna Edmundson about her 28-year involvement in the choir, and some of her favourite songs for female voice.
MS: I was lucky enough to interview the late Diane Loomer (Elektra’s former artistic director who co-founded the choir with Edmundson) when she brought her men’s choir, Chor Leoni, to Vernon a few years before her death (in 2012). How was it for you to fit into her role as artistic director?
ME: We co-conducted the choir for 22 years before I became artistic director. This happened around 2009 when she decided to do one less thing. We had that conversation a few times, but this time she said she really needed to (step down). Her last concert with Elektra was in the spring in 2009. The choir was so used to both of us, it was an easy transition.
MS: How does one audition for Elektra, or do you pool your resources from other female choirs?
ME: A typical Elektra singer has lots of experience: Some have music degrees, can read music, and are experienced singers. Some are a pharmacist or a teacher and want to sing. They have to audition. You usually know something about a person when they join a choir. They are all bringing their musical history to the choir. It’s a wonderful community. If you talk to anyone involved in a choir, it’s like a garden, a place where people can strive. We try to make it like that. It’s our 28th season, so we have found out who we are and what are priorities are.
MS: It’s not all about the bass here. Most of your singers perform in the higher range. How do you make the choir well rounded in that sense?
ME: If you go right back to the beginning, Diane and I had a glass of wine and said ‘let’s start a women’s choir.’ Many women’s choirs never really started because people were trying to find tenors and basses. We felt we didn’t need to do that. We fell into a niche that a women’s choir could do challenging, mixed repertoire and not be a mixed choir.
Because of the Internet, our reach goes beyond where we live. We can now find choir repertoire on the ‘net and are very connected. We are well known in the U.S. even though we haven’t been there a lot. Now it’s easy to borrow ideas from other choirs, and they can borrow from us.
MS: How do you select your repertoire for performances? Do you look specifically for treble or do you have to have most pieces arranged for the choir?
ME: We perform all treble repertoire, but (on the Vernon program) there is one piece that was written first for mixed choir originally, but then arranged for treble voices. Ola Gjeilo’s Northern Lights was written for mixed choir – a lot of choirs sing this piece. He saw that there were a lot of treble voices out there and he contacted me and wanted Elektra to do the first performance of his new arrangement for treble. It just premiered at Christmas this past year and then was recorded for release on iTunes.
MS: I can’t even pronounce the title of the Russian folk song (Ne po pogrebu Bochonochek Kataetsja) you will be performing. How does language fit into the importance of repertoire selection?
ME: This piece has the soloists do most of the heavy lifting… I would prefer to do something in its original language if I can. This one would sound ridiculous if it was in English. We usually find someone who speaks the language and then they help the choir with pronunciation. We also listen to a recording of a person reading the words. There is an importance of singing it right. One of our members is also big on languages and also helps as a linguist.
MS: Your signature piece has become David McIntyre’s Ave Maria. I’ve listened to it and it is very complex with lots of layers. Your sopranos are hitting some extremely high notes there. What is the secret to getting the singers prepared for such a challenging piece?
ME: “We just did it here (at the International Tapestry Festival for Women’s Choirs in Vancouver) with over 120 singers. It’s such an amazing piece, a little piece of perfection… My daughter is in the choir now. She’s 19 and anyone who is under 27 in Elektra, and there are a few, wasn’t born when we first started performing it. My daughter sang Ave Maria for the first time this past year. She said she thought she knew her part, but then realized there are two parts in the high register. You have to do a lot of vocal calisthenics.
MS: You will be joined by a local choir, Ancora Women’s Ensemble from Armstrong, to perform Ave Maria. Will you have a full rehearsal with them, and how will they fit into the piece?
ME: Ancora will hopefully have heard us do the warm up and know the sound we’re after. They also will have listened to the recording, so they can have a sense for it. All of us are looking for a similar tone. They are classically-based singers, so I’m sure they are up to the challenge.
MS: Any other piece on your program for Vernon that has a special connection?
Elektra recently performed Eatnemen Vuelie by Frode Fjellheim with Cantus (conducted by Tove Ramlo-Ystad) at Tapestry.
Cantus’ version of the song can be heard on the soundtrack for Frozen, one of top selling recordings of 2013. Disney was looking for reference points to use in the movie and bought a CD by this Norwegian women’s choir. After listening to it they said, ‘This is what we want.’ They wanted the sound of a Scandinavian choir.
Ramlo-Ystad conducted the piece with our 120 singers (at Tapestry), so to perform with them was amazing.
The Vernon concert is going to be an enjoyable night. Some of my favourite songs are on the program.
Elektra Women’s Choir, accompanied by Dr. Stephen Smith, takes to the risers at the Performing Arts May 23 at 7:30 p.m. Opening is 16-year-old piano protégée Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, of Salmon Arm. Individual tickets are $35/adult and $17.50/student, available at the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
