The Bach Elgar Choir’s Handel homage
There’s no getting around it. “Messiah” is ubiquitous in the run-up to the Christmas season. And because of its countless performances worldwide, you could be forgiven for thinking that this oratorio was the only work ever composed by George Frideric Handel.
However, the Halle-born Handel was no one-trick pony. And the Bach Elgar Choir under artistic director Alex Cann will vouch for that in their concert entitled “Handel’s Choral Masterpieces” on Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, 357 Wilson St. E., with guest soprano Bethany Hörst, tenor Jean-Philippe Lazure, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
“This concert is based on the prototype of all large-scale choral concerts, a (“commemoration”) concert held in London’s Westminster Abbey (in 1784) on the 25th anniversary of Handel’s death,” said Cann. “It featured large performing forces and a selection of his most beloved works. It was a major occasion and led to a series of concerts on the same theme over the next few years, growing in size until thousands of performers took part. These concerts played a significant part in encouraging choral singing in Britain and elsewhere. They played a role in founding modern choral culture.”
Cann has culled the selections for the BEC’s Handel homage from a 36-year compositional period ranging from the chorus “Judicabit in nationibus (He shall judge the nations)” from the “Dixit Dominus (The Lord said)” (Psalm 110) composed in 1707 during the composer’s sojourn in Italy to the celebratory “And we worship thy name” from the “Dettingen Te Deum” written in Great Britain in 1743, two years after “Messiah.” Along the way, there’ll also be the 1717 version of the Chandos Anthem “As pants the hart” (Psalm 42), the wellknown coronation anthem “Zadok the Priest,” plus several movements from “Alexander’s Feast” and the “Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline,” among others, including — yes, you guessed it — the “Hallelujah” from “Messiah.”
Visual projections will outline Handel’s life and illuminate the stories behind his music.
Tickets at bachelgar.ca or call 905304-3232: $45, 25 and under $25.
Sunday at 2 p.m., the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, 126 James St. S., presents “Voices of the Harp: Music and Poetry United” with harpist Matt Dupont and actor Jeremie Roy. Tickets at hcadancetheatre.com or call 905-5284020: $30, senior/arts worker $25, student $15.
Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Church of the Ascension, 64 Forest Ave., Roger Bergs and Musicata — Hamilton’s Voices present “The Joy of Blue — Music for Chamber Choir and Jazz Quartet” featuring Will Todd’s gospel-blues-big band inspired “Mass in Blue” and Javier Vasquez’s “Volver a la Inocencia.” Guest musicians: saxophonist Daniel Rubinoff, pianist Chris Pruden, bassist Andrew Downing, and Mark Longre on the kit. Tickets via musicata.ca: $30, senior $25, student $15, under 14 free.
Sunday at 3 p.m., Music@Central in Central Presbyterian Church, 165 Charlton Ave. W., presents Quartetto Gelato in concert. Suggested donation: $20.
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, 662 Guelph Line, Burlington, the Effusion Chamber Ensemble presents “Remember the Ladies,” a concert featuring works by 18 female composers including Fanny Mendelssohn, Florence Price, Dolores Clayman, Joni Mitchell, Mel Bonis and Laura Nyro in honour of International Women’s Day. Tickets: $30.
Sunday at 4 p.m. and repeated at
7:30 p.m. in Grace United Church, 2111 Walkers Line, Burlington, Joanne Romanow and her 80-plus piece Burlington Concert Band present “Something Familiar” featuring music from TV, film and Broadway. Tickets at door or burlingtonconcertband.ca: $15, 4 for $50.
Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, address above, Jeffrey Pollock leads his Sinfonia Ancaster in a program in honour of International Women’s Day entitled “Half the Sky,” a reference to a quote by Mao Zedong.
The concert will open with American composer Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte for String Orchestra,” created in 2014 after her original 2011 version for string quartet which was inspired by a transitional moment in the Menuetto movement of Haydn’s “String Quartet in F” op. 77 no. 2. In her program notes, Shaw wrote, “I love the way some music (like the minuets of op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolour transition.”
Afterward, SA concertmaster Megan Jones and SA viola coach Elspeth Thomson will take the spotlight in Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” K. 364.
After intermission, Pollock and SA will traverse the “Symphony No. 3” from 1847 by French composer Louise Farrenc, a piano virtuosa and professor at the Paris Conservatoire whose delightful chamber and orchestral works, particularly her third symphony, have enjoyed a recent renaissance.
Tickets via sinfoniaancaster.com or call 905-304-3232: $25, senior $20, under 25 $15 (plus fee and tax).