The following review was submitted by Barrie resident Alastair MacLeod.
‘Tis the season for Christmas bazaars, school plays and concerts galore.
In the midst of all that, and playing to a capacity matinee crowd at Collier Street United Church on Dec. 7, the King Edward Choir performed its annual contribution to the season’s festivities.
As it has so often done in the past, the King Edward Choir lived up to its reputation by delivering a quality show that took us just a bit beyond the expectations and traditions of the holiday season.
Along with some time-honoured Christmas music, artistic director Leanne Edwards had the King Edward Choir feature music composed by Sir John Rutter and Canada’s Sarah Quartel.
Accompanied by glorious and rich sounds of The Upper Canada Brass and the choir accompanist Katie Pergau’s mastery of the organ, the choir led off the evening with Rutter’s Gloria (1974) in three movements.
The exuberant Allegro Vivace, with its soaring brass intro and accentuated by the tympani and organ, was a perfect piece to set the mood for the evening.
Ms. Pergau led us into a very quiet and meditative second Andante movement with Jill Shipley-Brown (solo), Marianne Belau and Allison Standen delivering a contemplative interlude as the choir and ensemble offering a balance with melodic harmonies.
The third movement, Vivace, once again had the ensemble and choir in all their brilliance bringing the oratorio to a resounding climax.
To finish off the first half of the concert, the ladies of the choir performed Rutter’s Angels’ Carol (1988) and the men sung the H.R. Wilson/W Ehret arrangement of Go Tell It On The Mountain.
To start the second half, conductor Edwards chose to highlight the talents of the choir on a ‘smaller’ scale by featuring the members in three small groups singing various selections starting with the Appalachian carol I Wonder As I Wander with soloists Shelley Larsen and Carol Jones-Simmons and selected members adding voices.
The second choral group sang the traditional Coventry Carol with the third accompanying soloist Samantha Pergau in Away in a Manger.
A Winter Day is a choral work in five parts composed in 2016 for piano, cello and choir by Canadian composer Sarah Quartel. In composing the score, Ms. Quartel has exquisitely blended her music with text from Lucy Maude Montgomery, Sara Teasdale and Melville Crane to create a tapestry of a classical day in the quintessential Canadian winter.
The choir, with Ms. Pergau at the piano, was accompanied by cellist Alyssa Wright to complete this evocative and introspective composition.
Just in case anyone present wasn’t familiar with a quintessential Canadian winter’s day, there were projected winter images provided by the Barrie Photography Club.
Ms. Edwards closed this portion of the evening with an incidental seasonal song, also by Quartel, called Blow. Blow thou Winter Wind … and since the choir was celebrating the winter season, what better way to end it than with a rousing rendition of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride.
For its well-deserved encore, choirmaster Edwards noted that although it is not her practice to repeat musical works, she chose to discard that tradition by having the choir perform the a capella version of Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, as arranged by Pentatonix, with which they closed off their 2023 Christmas Concert. It was just an absolutely fun way to end the evening.
Congratulations to Leanne Edwards for putting together another unique and amazing show, Katie Pergau for her fabulous accompaniment on the organ and piano as well all the King Edward Choir members and soloists for their outstanding performance. Some of the selections were challenging and to say that the choir responded remarkably was quite evident throughout the performance.
And, of course, it would be remiss to not extend a huge thank you to The Upper Canada Brass and Alyssa Wright for making this performance one for the books.