Soprano Arwen Myers relishes the joy in Early Music Vancouver's Festive Cantatas: J.S. Bach Magnificat
The in-demand Portland-based vocalist is among several guest artists performing Bach’s exuberant Magnificat and Cantata BWV 110 (Let Our Mouth be Full of Laughter)
Arwen Myers.
Early Music Vancouver presents Festive Cantatas: J.S.Bach Magnificat & Cantata BWV 110 (Let Our Mouth Be Full of Laughter) on December 17 at 7:30 pm at the Kay Meek Arts Centre and on December 18 at 3 pm at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts; a pre-concert talk takes place at the December 18 concert at 2:30 pm with broadcaster-author Bill Richardson in conversation with Pacific Baroque Orchestra artistic director Alexander Weimann and cornetto player Matt Jennejohn
PORTLAND-BASED SOPRANO Arwen Myers feels like she was destined to sing. Both of her parents are classical singers, and she was already singing in the church choir in her home city of Augusta, Georgia, by the time she was three. An exceptionally positive experience with her public high-school choir convinced Myers to pursue music as a career, the in-demand artist going on to earn advanced degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. While she’s that rare vocalist who’s as comfortable performing early music as she is taking on contemporary works, Myers admits to being especially excited—as in, really excited—about her upcoming performance north of the border with Early Music Vancouver. She’s among a star-studded roster of guest artists for Festive Cantatas: J.S. Bach Magnificat & Cantata BWV 11 (Let Our Mouth Be Full of Laughter).
“Bach is one of my favourite, favourite, favourite, favourite, favourite composers!” Myers says on the line from her Oregon home in an interview with Stir. “I think he’s perfect. There is something brilliant in the fact that his music is just so complicated but it also sounds so natural, like it always existed, as if someone just happened to hear it and said ‘I should write this down.’ There’s something universal about it.
“It’s also just really joyful music—these pieces [for EMV’s Festive Cantatas] in particular,” adds Myers, whose many roles include executive and co-artistic director of Northwest Art Song. “I think even though he was composing for a churchy audience 400 years ago, they were celebrating, too. It’s a happy time of year, and Bach writes joyful music like nobody else. There’s a lot going on, with lots and lots of notes, but it doesn’t sound complicated. Even though some of it is very complicated, it doesn’t feel hard. When you’re in a Bach piece performing with people you enjoy working with and performing for people, it is so fun!”
Early Music Vancouver artistic and executive director Suzie LeBlanc created the jubilant Festive Cantatas program in collaboration with Alexander Weimann, artistic director of Pacific Baroque Orchestra. Joining PBO and Myers as guest artists are Juno-winning soprano Hélène Brunet; alto Krisztina Szabo, two-time Dora Award nominee; tenor Jacques-Olivier Chartier, winner of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra 2016 competition, who has performed with American Bach Soloists; and bass Sumner Thompson, one of today’s most sought-after baritones.
What’s more, EMV is bringing in musicians who specialize in rare Baroque instruments, such as the valveless natural trumpet (Benjamin Raymond, Simon Tremblay, and Francis Pigeon) and oboe d’amore (Matthew Jennejohn and Sarah Huebsch, who both also play oboe, with Huebsch performing additionally on oboe da caccia, with its large bell). Marea Chernoff joins on oboe as well.
Suzie LeBlanc.
“The Cantatas 110 is a really beautiful piece but it’s not done all that often because Vancouver doesn’t have Baroque oboes or trumpets,” LeBlanc explains in a phone interview with Stir. “Magnificat has the same three trumpet and three oboe parts, so it’s a perfect pairing. We’re bringing in the best wind players from across North America. These are fun instruments to look at, too; you don’t see them often.
“We pull out all the stops for Christmas,” LeBlanc adds with a laugh. “Both pieces are very interesting. They are both intimate and exuberant. There are places that just melt your heart, and other places that will make you want to dance.”
Festive Cantatas is a program that will appeal to longtime fans of early music and those who have never before experienced a concert, Leblanc says. Bach’s Cantata BWV 110, she notes, literally reflects its subtitle, Let Our Mouth Be Full of Laughter.
“It's extraordinary that Bach manages to put into music the sound of laughter,” LeBlanc says. “He really tries to paint that in the music, and it really works. It’s very hard to listen to it and not actually break out in a huge smile and start feeling the joy.
“Bach still speaks to us today, after hundreds of years,” LeBlanc says. “It’s a good way to be brought in [to the genre] because the music is very powerful. And being able to hear it in the Chan Centre, one of the most beautiful concert halls in Vancouver with those acoustics is a must.” (Leblanc reminds that those who are more comfortable at home can experience Festive Cantatas via a digital concert on December 22.)
For Myers, the program’s two pieces are excellent examples of some of the factors that drew her to early music in the first place. There’s the vast range of vocal colours the style can convey, while Baroque music, with its emphasis on the meaning and impact of words, aims to reach audiences on a deep level.
“There are big emotional shifts that really bring the text to life,” says Myers. “With early music, the text is the point.
“I love everything about it,” she says of her work. “There’s something really special about doing what you feel like you were made to do. It’s the ultimate to be able to do this. Aside from the personal side of things, we get to tell stories. We get to connect with people. As a singer, being able to connect with people with words is very, very powerful. Even though classical music can seem to be for certain people–there are barriers of entry that we’re trying to work through as an industry—at the end of the day, it is about communication. The humanity of classical music is expressed so beautifully….Even though it’s 400 years later when the music was composed, they were just humans trying to connect to something bigger and to each other.”
Related Articles
