The Orcas Choral Society will present its annual holiday concert this weekend at Orcas Center.
The 60-voice chorus will be joined by a 10-piece, double choir brass ensemble led by Steve Alboucq. It is also their first concert under the leadership of their new director, Roger Sherman.
Parts of the program were inspired by the musical invocations of 16th century composer Giovanni Gabrieli, who was the musician at the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, Italy. The architecture of San Marco had an unusual feature – balconies on either side of the chancel. Gabrieli’s innovation was to write music for two choirs, in dialog from the balconies, and later, antiphonal music for two brass choirs. This music was so successful that musicians from all over Europe came to St Mark’s and returned to write similar music for their home town churches and cathedrals – getting churches to modify their architecture so that antiphonal music was possible in the chancel area of their church. Churches that had organs on one side of the chancel soon acquired a “mirror” instrument on the other side to play this style of music. In the north of Europe, buildings were built that could accommodate up to eight separate choirs singing in dialog with each other.
The Orcas Choral Society concert will include two antiphonal brass pieces by Gabrieli, and several pieces inspired by Gabrieli: a double-choir piece by 17th-century composer Samuel Scheidt and a 20th century work by Daniel Pinkham which is also significantly influences by American jazz.
The first section of the program features the music of Felix Mendelssohn, including three rarely heard eight-part motets: “Christmas,” “New Year’s Day” and “In Advent.”
The second section features 20th century works, including the first performance of a new version of a 2009 carol by jazz great, Dave Brubeck. The concert concludes with two Gabrieli double-choir works for brass and Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata.
Tickets are $10, $3 for students. There are two performances: Saturday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m., both in Orcas Center. Call 376-2281.
