FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Anything Can Happen” at next Island Voices concert
Audiences at an Island Voices concert have come to expect the unexpected. But when the a cappella chamber choir calls their next concerts “Anything Can Happen”, they raise the surprise factor to a new level. Choir director John Hooper noted, “It is quite an eclectic collection—noises under your bed when you were a child, thoughts of a dying satellite travelling through space, ancient Latin prayers set by modern composers. It is a programme meant to evoke strong images, challenging us to look beyond fear to life in other places, to see a blessed port beyond the horizon.”
Chorister Alan Brown was surprised by his emotional reaction to one of those pieces, I am Voyager, saying, “In basic terms, it’s a song about a machine gliding through interstellar space. But at an emotional level, it imagines that Voyager knows it is reaching the end of its life, and vows to forever carry a message of peace and hope to the stars. I cried the first time I sang this.”
The choir will also set the words of 19th-century poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson to rhythmic drive and harmonic nuances, bringing new colour and meaning to their work. To reinvigorate an ancient sacred text, the choir will sing two versions of Ave Maria—one by the men, the other by the women.
Traditionally at concerts, the choir sings to the audience. But during the performance of Earth Song, a piece that is quickly becoming a local favourite, Island Voices will invite members of the audience who are familiar with it—both former members of the choir and members of other choirs who have sung it—to join them.
Undoubtedly there will be other unexpected surprises during the concert—a jive about the love of coffee? A message inscribed on a seashell? A Norwegian alleluia? Who knows? After all, “Anything Can Happen.”
Island Voices presents “Anything Can Happen” on Saturday, March 15 at 2:30 p.m. at Comox United Church and on Sunday, March 16 at 2:30 p.m. at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Campbell River. Tickets ($25 for adults, $10 for youth) are available through the choir’s website at islandvoiceschamberchoir.bc.ca.
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Media Contact:
(This information is provided for the use of media representatives, and is not for publication)
Orlando Wiebe, President, Island Voices Chamber Choir
Email: president@islandvoiceschamberchoir.bc.ca
Website: islandvoiceschamberchoir.bc.ca