A choir with a 500-year history performs for Nanaimo choral fans.
The Choir of Christ’s College at the University of Cambridge in Britain performs at St. Paul’s church in downtown Nanaimo July 5.
Music has played an important role at the college since its earliest days. Lady Margaret Beaufort, the founder, left the college a bequest of three organs on her death in 1509.
The choir’s main purpose is to sing services in the college chapel. The choir comprises of 28 members, selected by audition and aged between 18 and 23 and includes both undergraduate and graduate students, studying a wide range of subjects.
More generally, the choir makes an important contribution to the life of the college, singing at feasts, weddings, memorial services and other occasions. Today, as one of Cambridge’s finest mixed-voice ensembles, the group also pursues an exciting range of activities outside college, performing concerts in Cambridge and around the UK, recording albums and broadcasting.
The choir has two full programs that will be sung throughout the tour, and these include a broad range of secular church music.
Highlights include Sir Hubert Parry’s Songs of Farewell and Blest Pair of Sirens; Requiem Masses by Herbert Howells and Kodaly; early polyphonic music by Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd; and French Romantic music by Camille Saint-Saens and Gabriel Faure.
The concert in Nanaimo, which starts at 7:30 p.m., is part of a major concert tour of Canada and the U.S. Tickets are $15.