Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

When conductor Peter Butterfield and the VPC presented the Victoria premiere of this stunning work in 2013, it became one of the most highly-acclaimed concerts in the choir’s history. So we’re doing it again – twice!
La Rose des Vents, the Montreal-based sackbut and cornetto ensemble that has made these Vespers a central part of its touring repertoire, once again joins the orchestra for our performances.
Isaiah Bell, a Canadian-American tenor recently hailed by the New York Times for his exquisite performance in Mark Morris’ production of Curlew River, and tenor Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure, who appears with the Canadian Opera Company, are among our soloists, including sopranos Anne van der Sloot and Abby Overman, countertenor Zachary Windus, and basses Nathan McDonald and Paul Boughen.
The collection of instrumental pieces, psalms and songs which make up the Vespers is sacred music on an operatic – even epic – scale. It may be the most creative job application in history, composed in the hope that it would impress the Pope enough to lead to work for Monteverdi in the music department of the Vatican. While that didn’t work out, it did eventually lead to the top position at San Marco basilica, Venice, where Monteverdi spent the remainder of his life. The Vespers shows the composer’s mastery of Renaissance and Early Baroque polyphony (interweaving vocal lines that create complex harmony) and lays the groundwork for the next 400 years of western European music, especially for the development of opera. With the VPC in a double-choir formation, it has choruses that split into as many as ten parts, wild instrumental fanfares, magical 17th century sound effects, and some jazzy, modern sounding bass lines.
The resonant acoustic of St. Andrew’s Catholic Cathedral is as close as Victoria gets to San Marco – just close your eyes, and you’ll be transported!