The first concert of the new year at St. Michael’s Church in Chemainus features the KeyWinds Trio, with guest soprano Kelly Coubrough.
The Chemainus Classical Concerts program, billed as If Music be the Food of Love, will feature a blend of music for different combinations of voice, piano, French horn and clarinet. It takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15 at St. Michael’s Church, 2858 Mill St.
The KeyWinds Trio’s Margaret St. Cyr performs on horn, Yvonne Gillespie on piano and Annick Richardson on clarinet, with Coubrough appearing as vocalist.
The program goes through the ages with composers and musicians who have been motivated to create music that illuminates how love, in its many forms, affects the human heart and actions. Celebrating the many facets of love, the program is made up of vocal and chamber works written by composers from the Romantic Era, including Schubert, Berlioz, Donizetti, Rossini and Voigt.
“One of my personal favourites is The Shepherd on the Rock, a song for voice, piano and clarinet – written by Franz Schubert during his last months of life, at his creative best,” noted Rykie Avenant, artistic co-director for Chemainus Classical Concerts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tInWNnXcsKs
Another exciting selection, she added, is Dvorák’s Cigánské Melodie op. 55 (Gypsy Songs) – seven songs that celebrate the nomadic lifestyle and show his mastery of absorbing folk idioms into his compositions.
“The most famous of these is Songs my Mother Taught Me,” she indicated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQjpd3zHvOE
Tickets for this special musical offering are $20 in advance and can be reserved by calling Eleanor Montour at 250-748-8383. Tickets at the door are $25 and Under 18 admission is $10.
Avenant added a spring special is being offered, a package of four tickets for $76. The tickets can be used for four separate concerts or grouped together to invite friends to one specific performance.
