On opening night of the Winnipeg Baroque Festival, the all-male liturgical choir All the Kings Men present 17th Century English music in the resonant acoustic of College Chapel of St. John the Evangelist at the University of Manitoba.
Founded in 1997, All the Kings Men has travelled regularly overseas, performing across England and singing in 25 different cathedrals, abbey churches and great churches.
In their festival debut, the choir of roughly a dozen focuses on music from the “Restoration Period”: the return of Charles II to the throne through the death of Queen Anne.
“This is a period that is very rich in English music,” says director Charles Horton.
In the years of the preceding Cromwell commonwealth, many church choirs were disbanded and organs destroyed, he explains.
“They lost a whole generation of experienced treble singers,” says Horton. “As a practical means, composers in the early years of the Restoration wrote heavily for the men’s choirs. And that’s great for us.”
Spanning nearly that same period, was the life of England’s foremost composer of the era, Henry Purcell. Naturally, it made sense to feature “two great sacred anthems” – including one written especially for men’s voices – as part of the Winnipeg Baroque Festival.
The free or pay-what-you can concert takes place at the University of Manitoba’s St. John’s College Church (92 Dysart Rd) and begins at 7 p.m.
Visit: www.winnipegbaroquefestival.com to learn more!
