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Singers will take audience ‘On Wings of Song’ at Nanaimo concert

Concert will feature Vancouver-based singers Emma Parkinson and Chloé Hurst
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Chloé Hurst, left, and Emma Parkinson will appear in Nanaimo to perform a concert called ‘On Wings of Song’ at St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Oct. 23. (Photo by Martin Renner Wallace)

In the latest Giocoso Productions concert on the Island, two Vancouver-based sopranos will “take the audience on a journey” in five languages.

Emma Parkinson, Chloé Hurst and Carol Fetherston will perform On Wings of Song this weekend in both Parksville and Nanaimo.

“On Wings of Song, we’re going to be taking [the audience] on a journey on our wings through all the songs we’ll be singing – a journey through the ages and through the different poetry,” Hurst said. “Also making sure that we’re exploring the different languages – especially in our art song half because you can hear the varied styles from the composers from different countries and different eras.”

The first half of the performance, Hurst said, will consist of all “art songs” that were written outside the context of a larger piece, and will be mainly comprised of duets. Hurst and Parkinson will have one solo each in the first half, as will Fetherston on piano, who will also accompany them. The second half will consist of operatic duets and Hurst and Parkinson will perform one opera aria each. Fetherston will also play a piano rendition of a famous aria as well in the second half.

“We are featuring music that spans pretty much the ages of what we consider our more classical music, from the Baroque era up into the 20th century. Wide range of styles and languages as well, including English, French, Italian, German and Spanish,” Hurst said.

In both halves of the concert, Parkinson said the theme of love is prevalent.

“Different kinds of love though, there’s different types of stories of love, of romantic love and unrequited love. There’s a story about sisters. So there’s all different sorts of love,” she said. “I quite like the Handel duet that we’re singing in the second half … from an opera called Giulio Cesare … because we get to sing a lot of notes together in the same rhythm. So it’s kind of fun to hear that for the audience.”

Hurst will be returning to Nanaimo from a previous performance with Giocoso Productions she had done in November last year. Parkinson hasn’t been to the Island since a performance in Qualicum Beach in 2015.

“We’re really excited to take some of these duets we’ve been doing for years. Some are completely new to us, so we’re just excited to be able to take all these works that we’ve been learning together to different places outside of the mainland,” Hurst said.

The Nanaimo concert will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23 at St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Chapel Street, and in Parksville at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 at the Knox United Church on Pym Street.

On Wings of Song will feature duets by George Handel, Henry Purcell, Johannes Brahms, Camille Saint-Saëns, Wolfgang Mozart and Jacques Offenbach, as well as the flower duet from Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini.

“I hope we can reach a few people’s hearts, as cheesy as that sounds. But that’s really the goal with the music that we sing … And I do think that there’s going to be something for everybody in this concert,” Parkinson said.

Ticket information can be found online at www.porttheatre.com.

READ MORE: Opera Nanaimo presents ‘La Bohème’ at Malaspina Theatre


mandy.moraes@nanaimobulletin.com

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Mandy Moraes

About the Author: Mandy Moraes

I joined Black Press Media in 2020 as a multimedia reporter for the Parksville Qualicum Beach News, and transferred to the News Bulletin in 2022
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