Vancouver Chamber Choir sings ode to Handel and Bach at DIXIT DOMINUS, March 20 at the Orpheum
The composers’ early works bring Baroque beauty to the historic theatre
Post Sponsored by Vancouver Chamber Choir
Handel’s DIXIT DOMINUS will push the Vancouver Chamber Choir singers to their limits.
The Orpheum is the perfect, ornate setting for Vancouver Chamber Choir’s upcoming celebration of two Baroque legends, Dixit Dominus.
The concert is an ode to George Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach’s early choral works and their lives as young composers who have become two of the most enduring favourites of the Baroque genre.
The music of this concert showcases the immense talent that both these composers had in their early 20s. All the works that will be performed demonstrate mastery of counterpoint, harmonic, and melodic invention, and the powerful dramatic gesture that has become distinctive of the Baroque style.
As choir artistic director Kari Turunen says, “We tend to think of Johanne Sebastian Bach and George Friedrich Handel as older Baroque composers who wore curly wigs. However, they were once young composers who were just trying to get their ‘big break’. Dixit Dominus contains music by two precocious youngsters in their early twenties, on their way up in the musical world. All the music for this concert is from 1707; it is full of youthful exuberance and energy—and of astounding quality. “
The title work of this concert, Handel’s momentous Dixit Dominus, is a showpiece that pushes the Vancouver Chamber Choir singers to the limit. The complex nature of the piece is a testament to Handel’s natural musical instincts as a composer, which can also be heard in his later works.
Elsewhere on the program are Bach’s Cantata BWV 4 ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden and Handel’s Trio sonata in g minor, HWV 391.
Join the Vancouver Chamber Choir in a celebration of Bach and Handel’s early works on March 20 at 2:30 pm at the Orpheum Theatre.
You can find more information here.
Post sponsored by the Vancouver Chamber Choir.