Two accomplished Sunshine Coast choral groups are combining their musical muscle to present an 18th-century masterwork this month.
The Suncoast Phoenix Community Choir and the Coast Messiah Choir will perform Gloria by Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi in two concerts on April 29 and 30. The work is a setting of a fourth-century hymn often included as part of the Latin mass liturgy, and was one of three interpretations penned by Vivaldi during his lifetime.
The Coast Messiah Choir and Orchestra, led by Sarah Poon, is an ad hoc ensemble with a 10-year history on the Coast. The group regularly stages segments of George Frederic Handel’s Messiah oratorio during the Christmas and Easter seasons. The group also performed J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in 2019 during a festival dedicated to the Baroque composer’s repertoire.
The Suncoast Phoenix Community Choir, directed by Sara Douglas, meets and performs year-round. “We got cut off because of COVID,” said Douglas. “Our spring 2020 concert got cancelled. Then we learned that the Messiah choir and orchestra wanted to do a project. And we just decided the easiest thing to do would be to work together.”
“It just seemed like the natural thing to do,” said Poon. “And for me personally, building community is such an important part of my music-making. So I really think that bringing these two choirs and this orchestra together is a huge part in achieving that.”
The Gloria was written by Vivaldi for an all-female chorale and instrumentalists at the Ospedale della Pietà, a convent and orphanage in Venice where he served as resident composer. Although originally arranged for alto and soprano voices, the Sunshine Coast rendition will be performed by men and women in four-part harmony.
The concerts will also feature Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins, played by local string instructors and professional musicians Serena Eades and Tegan Ceschi-Smith.
The choral ensemble and orchestra members have been rehearsing at Living Faith Lutheran Church in preparation for performances at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Sechelt. Douglas serves as the group’s rehearsal conductor and will sing the Gloria’s alto solo. Sopranos Pamela Wood and Chelsea Reubens, both from the Suncoast Pheonix Community Choir, will also be featured soloists.
Poon, who directs the massed choir and orchestra, keeps her cello close at hand to tune the orchestra players.
“For me, the attraction [of this piece] is being able to hear the instruments and the voices have equal measure of the beauty,” said Poon. “The way the parts interact with one another, listening to the dissonances and consonances and the way they resolve, is just such a pleasure that it fills my body with joy.”
“It’s the light and brightness of the Gloria that rings through to me,” added Douglas. “Whether you’re playing it or listening to it or singing it you cannot help but be transported by this music.”
Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and the Concerto for Two Violins will be performed on Saturday, April 29 (7 p.m.) and April 30 (2 p.m.) at St. Hilda’s. Tickets ($25 in advance, $30 at the door) are available from Strait Music or online via coastmessiahchoir.ca.
