Vancouver Chamber Choir returns from the Yukon to perform True North, October 24

Nature-inspired program includes compositions by Veljo Tormis, R. Murray Schafer, and Nico Muhly

By emily lyth

Vancouver Chamber Choir. Photo by Saphren Lise

The Vancouver Chamber Choir presents True North at St. Philip’s Anglican Church on October 24 at 7:30 pm

THE VANCOUVER CHAMBER Choir’s latest program is dedicated to the beauty of northern nature—so it’s only fitting that earlier this week, the choir boarded a flight to the Yukon. The singers will be performing True North, a concert featuring works by composers from Canada, Denmark, Latvia, and other northern countries, at the Whitehorse United Church on October 18.

Among the works in store is Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’s seven-part choral series Autumn Landscapes and R. Murray Schafer’s Snowforms, a serene piece about winter landscapes; it was inspired by the late Canadian composer’s views from his Ontario farmhouse, and by a memorable 1971 flight over Greenland (presumably, he had the window seat). Then there’s Nico Muhly’s Rough Notes, a more sombre work that draws on journal entries by the explorer Robert Falcon Scott on his fatal Antarctic expedition in 1912.

The Yukon is home to some stunning natural beauty, from snow-dusted mountains to boreal forests, and it is one of the best places on Earth to view the majestic purple and green hues of the aurora borealis. Moose, hilariously, outnumber humans in the territory—about 70,000 of the majestic animals are wandering the land, while just 46,000 humans live there.

So expect to find the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s singers rejuvenated and inspired by all that nature when they return home to perform the True North program at St. Philip’s Anglican Church on October 24. Doors open at 6:45 pm, with the show starting at 7:30 pm.

Choral music fans in B.C.’s Interior are in luck, too—the singers are also slated to perform the program in Kelowna at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. That concert will take place a bit later in the season, on December 6.  

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