.jpg)
One of the sweetest events in Winnipeg’s choral music calendar is coming up this weekend.
Prairie Voices will be serving up musical morsels at their annual Tasting Notes dessert concert at Young United Church in West Broadway at 7:30 p.m. on May 9 and 10. With its combination of choir and cakes, it’s an event that choristers and audiences look forward to each year.
“It’s beautiful choral music, new music, pop music... kind of everything, musical-wise!” exclaimed assistant director Madly Friesen in an interview on Morning Light.
Various cakes and dessert items baked by choristers and supporters will be served in a lengthy intermission. Friesen explains that many of the items are inspired by pieces being sung by the choir, which celebrated 25 years of choral excellence in the community earlier this year. That includes Friesen’s own contribution: a persimmon cherry cake, inspired by one of Tasting Notes’ musical highlights.
“Earlier on in our year, we did Eric Whitacre’s ‘Boy and a Girl’ and paired it with [Alberta composer] Stuart Beatch’s ‘Boy and a Boy’,” they explain, “and early on in the programming process, my initial thought was, ‘Where’s a girl and a girl?’.
The choir commissioned local singer-songwriter Amber Landry to write the piece, which will be shared for the first time at Tasting Notes.
“In ‘Girl and a Girl’, there’s the idea of persimmon. There’s a picnic, there’s a persimmon,” Friesen said of their inspiration for their dessert contribution.
At the heart of Tasting Notes is the notion that both taste and sound are such strong triggers for memories and connection. When paired, both senses can enhance the experience of the other. “Art only becomes stronger when you pair it with other media,” Friesen observes, “and we’re often so used to having one type of media presented to us when we’re in a concert, either just sound or just visual. But when you start to pair the visual with sound – or now, in this case, with taste – I think you can access a broader range of reflection and of understanding of art.”
The connection element of the concert comes naturally to Prairie Voices, which places a huge emphasis on community throughout its season. Friesen notes that the tables at Tasting Notes will be arranged in such a way that audience members will likely be seated beside someone they don’t know, bringing people together for a good cause: supporting the choir as they embark on their next chapter.
“This is our first year setting up an endowment fund,” says Friesen of the goals for this year’s fundraiser. “We’re trying to build a base from which the choir can operate in terms of longevity... where we can really focus on what can we invest in terms of chorister support and repertoire and commissions.”
For tickets and more information about Tasting Notes, patrons can visit Prairie Voices’ website.