Vespers
April 2, 2023 @ 4:00pm
At St. Anne’s Anglican
VESPERS is a choral concert experience designed to bring a moment of rest and spiritual reflection to all who attend.
Settle in for a beautiful program featuring excerpts from Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil surrounded by music by Ukrainian, Latvian, and Canadian composers on themes of evening prayer, seeking peace, and reconciliation. We are delighted to partner with the Guelph Chamber Choir for this joint concert.
The world premiere of “will I, night” by Ian Cusson, with poetry by Marilyn Dumont, brings Indigenous ways of knowing to the concert’s themes of healing and restoration. Music by Larysa Kuzmenko, Iryna Aleksiychuk, Shavon Lloyd, Uģis Prauliņš, Francesca Hauser, and Jon Washburn weave amongst the Rachmaninoff and Cusson to create a transportive musical experience ending just before sunset on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday.
Complimentary tickets are available for refugees and newcomers to Canada. To inquire, please contact tickets@amadeuschoir.com.
A digital version of this concert will be made available to Friends of Amadeus (donors of $50 or more) and participants in our school workshops after the live performance date.
CONCERT REPERTOIRE
Sergei Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil
Shavon Lloyd Alleluia
Ian Cusson will I, night (world premiere)
Larysa Kuzmenko Sviatyi Bozhe
Uģis Prauliņš The Way Children Sleep
Iryna Aleksiychuk Holy is the Lord of Hosts
Francesca Hauser Twilight
Jon Washburn Dona Nobis Pacem
Special Guests: Ian Cusson and the Guelph Chamber Choir
Ian Cusson is a Métis and French Canadian composer whose work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures.