A SEASON OF SINGING
Pro Coro choir releases 2022-23 concert lineup
When Michael Zaugg takes the stage at the Polish Hall this Sunday for the opening Pro Coro Canada concert of the season, he'll be marking 10 years as artistic director of the acclaimed Edmontonbased choir.
Well, almost. For the pedants it will be exactly nine years and 361 days, but why quibble when you can just celebrate?
“My first official show with the choir was on Sept. 29, 2012,” Zaugg notes. “When we were starting to plan this out before the pandemic we had quite grand ambitions for a tour and a stage production. So, we've had to adjust a little and do what is possible.”
What Zaugg refers to as “doing what is possible” is still an entertaining season by anyone's accounting.
The Sunday concert in particular will be hitting all the feels for fans of the choir, bringing in a number of old favourites, and a commissioned work called a boy & a boy, by Stuart Beatch. Front and centre is The Nightingale, by Latvian composer Ugis Praulins.
As Zaugg points out, Pro Coro has had an established relationship with Praulins for quite a number of years, the composer serving as composer-in-residence for the choir from 2017 to 2019. The Nightingale itself was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2012; Pro Coro has performed it in the past, and is once again bringing back recorder virtuoso Matthias Maute for the lead instrumental role.
“The piece itself is a fairy tale about a nightingale, and it's very prescient,” Zaugg says. “It's about a king who prefers a mechanical nightingale made of diamonds, gold and jewels over the real one. When he falls ill on his deathbed it's only the actual nightingale who can bring him back with his song. It's very curious; we have nature and we try to recreate nature in
a virtual environment instead of simply walking in the woods. It's not a political statement, but it's very layered in meaning.”
In this musical scenario Mautte, who teaches at Mcgill and also works with Baroque society Vox Saeculorum, is the voice of the nightingale.
“He's mind blowing,” says Zaugg. “When it comes to recorder I always think of playing it in elementary school, but when Matthias comes out and you watch him you think, how does he do that? So even just hearing him is worth it.”
After the season opener, Pro Coro has six more concerts in the Experience series featuring the main group, as well as one featuring their ensemble for emerging singers, and their traditional Little Match Girl Passion and New Year's Eve concerts.
Petite Messe Solennelle on Nov. 26 brings in classical accordionist Matti Pulkki and a number of vocalists from the U of A's voice
department, including noted tenor John Tessier.
Moonshot VI: The Day King takes choral music to the edge with the Growlers Choir from Montreal on Feb. 11 and 12, while The AllNight Vigil on March 11 sees Pro Coro teaming up with Da Camera Singers.
Good Friday on April 7, Missae IX on May 6 and The Tower and The Garden, featuring instrumental support from the Vaughan String Quartet on June 10 completes the season. Check the website for season passes, individual tickets, and venues.
HEAVY METAL THUNDER
Easily the most unique concert of the 2022/23 season for Pro Coro will be Moonshot IV: The Day King, featuring Growlers Choir, the only choir in the world made up of extreme metal vocalists.
The Montreal-based ensemble has been adding a deathly rasp to experimental pieces by founder
Pierre-luc Senécal since 2019, and on Feb. 11 and 12 they'll be performing Senécal's hair raising piece The Day King, with spoken word poet Fortner Anderson narrating.
Sounds a little on the edge? Well yes, but it's also not like anything you've ever heard before, unless you have Cannibal Corpse and Bestial Warlust albums next to your Pergolesi and Bach.
“The leader is actually a classical composer and he's worked with us on a piece earlier in the year,” Zaugg explains.
“The Growlers will come out here and basically the two groups will perform together. It's two worlds colliding or clashing, but they actually work really well together, classical singing and growling. It's super unique. We're in touch with people in Edmonton's metal scene, and depending on logistics we're hoping that they can participate.”