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With so many year-end concerts taking place at the University of Manitoba over the next couple of weeks, it seems logical that ensembles would combine forces to create memorable musical and learning experiences. Such is the case for the University of Manitoba Singers and Wind Ensemble, who will pitch in on each other’s concerts over the next few days.
Those concerts – titled Helios and Sojourns, respectively – share one piece of musical DNA: Viet Cuong’s setting of poetry by William Butler Yeats called “There”.
“The poetry talks about the cycles of nature,” explained Elroy Friesen, director of choral studies at the University of Manitoba in an interview on Morning Light. “It focuses on the sun, the circular nature of the sun, the heat of the sun.”
Once that piece was set, the rest of the Singers’ program fell together with pieces by, among others, Lili Boulanger, Canadian composer Christopher Fulton, and local composers Sid Robinovitch and Ryan Janzen, a recent graduate of the Desautels Faculty of Music.
Friesen notes that each of these composers add to a kaleidoscopic image of how we relate to the sunlight. “Some of it is harsh,” he says, “and some of it is glorious.”
The glorious element of the program is evident in Janzen’s composition, which Friesen admits will be the hardest piece of repertoire on the program. “The ending is the most incredible harmonic progression I’ve experienced with a choir,” says Friesen. “It gives me great joy and I have huge anticipation to see how that is going to go over as well.”
After Helios comes Sojourns, which will see the U of M Wind Ensemble and Concert Band take centre stage. The concert will see a reprise of “There” by Viet Cuong”, as well as a highlighted performance by U of M Concerto Competition winner Joshua Atayan performing the clarinet concerto by Oscar Navarro II.
“One of the intentions has been to meld the choir into the wind ensemble and the wind ensemble into the choir,” says Friesen on the nature of the collaboration and the literal arrangement of the ensembles in both performances. “The choir is standing right up against the chairs of the instrumentalists. The way the choir parts are written, they’re not written in a stereotypical choral way where the choir operates sort of as an independent instrument. They are operating like eight different instrumental sections. It creates an incredible texture that you don’t get to experience in choral music typically.”
The University of Manitoba Singers and Wind Ensemble take the stage at the Desautels Concert Hall for Helios on April 2 at 7:30 p.m., and again for Sojourns on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. with the U of M Concert Band. Tickets and more information on both of these concerts can be found at the Desautels Faculty of Music website.