As the Russion invasion of Ukraine drags on, a local choir has committed to including Ukraine in every program.
AURA Chamber Choir is ready to share songs of love and springtime with Songs of Nature at Peace Lutheran Church Saturday, April 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m.
The choir will perform a Ukrainian piece in every show until Ukraine prevails.
For Songs of Nature, conductor Terry Pitt-Brooke has prepared an edition of Kyrylo Stetsenko鈥檚 SON (A Dream), a partsong that recounts a prisoner鈥檚 dream of 鈥渁 happy summer time鈥� that crumbles in a bitter awakening. Thanks to Vernon Proms impresario Natalia Polchenko for her help with Ukrainian pronunciation.
鈥淪pring: the season of nature鈥檚 awakening, and the season of love for all mortal beings,鈥� said Dr. Pitt-Brooke. 鈥淎URA Chamber Choir celebrates this 鈥榓morous and fair season鈥� with Songs of Nature, a potpourri of European choral music that spans five centuries.鈥�
The concert title is taken from a set of partsongs by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak that celebrates the wondrous beauty and spirituality of the natural world. AURA will perform three selections from this set, and four of his Six Moravian Lyrics, a lighthearted but touching glimpse of village romance. Both sets will be performed in English.
The program鈥檚 featured work is by Dvorak鈥檚 greatest fan and booster, Johannes Brahms: the Liebeslieder Waltzer (Lovesong Waltzes), op. 52. In this set for mixed chorus and piano four hands, Brahms brilliantly pours the passion of the Gypsy musicians he heard in Viennese cafes into the vessel of the waltz and brews a drink that burns with the intoxication of love in all its forms: blissful and sweet, desolate and bitter, and so much more besides. At the keyboard is AURA鈥檚 award-winning pianist Marjorie Close and special guest Terry Logan, noted voice teacher and choir director in her own right.
In addition, AURA will delight in celebrating founding director Imant Raminsh鈥檚 80th birthday with a performance of his chorus, The Peace of Wild Things, under his own direction.
Tickets, $20 and students free, are available at Wentworth Music, choir members and at the door.
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