An interdisciplinary premiere and much more as Elektra Women's Choir announces 2022-23 program
Season launches with The Lost Words: A Spell Book, with works by 10 Canadian composers inspired by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s art-filled bestseller
ELEKTRA WOMEN’S CHOIR has announced it will open its 2022-23 season on October 1 and 2 with the world premiere of The Lost Words: A Spell Book, a musical interpretation of the bestselling book by author Robert Macfarlane and visual artist Jackie Morris.
The book of “spells” and watercolours had referred to words about nature removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary in 2007 and replaced with new digital-age jargon.
In Elektra’s concert, under artistic director Morna Edmundson, readings from the book by actor Laara Sadiq will be followed by 10 new compositions by Canadian composers, performed by Elektra and six instrumentalists, while Morris’s paintings of flora and faun dance across the screen. The performance takes place at Pacific Spirit United Church.
It’s followed by the holiday show Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra on November 26 at Pacific Spirit United Church and 27 at South Surrey’s Good Shepherd Church. It features saxophonist Julia Nolan in a program of traditional and newer works.
In the new year, on March 10, Elektra explores the human condition in a concert called Humanity, with music by Zanaida Robles, Claudio Monteverdi, Marie-Claire Saindon, Libby Larsen, and more, with a focus on recent works by Canadian composer Laura Hawley. Commissioned works by Toronto-based Palestinian-Jordanian composer Natalie Fasheh and Ukrainian composer Iryna Aleksiychuk round out the program, which is brought to life with projected photographs by South Hazelton photographer Elizabeth Larsen. Elektra’s Mira Youth Mentorship Program joins the performance.
Elektra wraps the season by joining forces with the Women’s Chorus of Dallas, led by Melinda Imthurn, and Finland’s groundbreaking Philomela, under founding director Marjukka Riihimäki. Together, the three choirs perform a free Choral Threads concert on May 5, and the finale Celebration Concert on May 6.
Tickets for this 36th season, as well as single concert tickets, are on sale now at www.elektra.ca.
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