Da Camera Singers Presents: INSIDE
March 1, 2020
Concert: March 1st, 2020
Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Edmonton
Laura Hawley, Artistic Director
Kim Cousineau, pianist
Laura’s concert concept (notes from the program):
The idea to explore the concept of ‘inside’ came to me about a year ago during an in-depth study of Frank Martin’s Mass for double choir. In my research, I was intrigued to learn that between 1922 and 1926 Martin wrote this work seemingly without any external motivation or commission, and then the work sat in his study untouched for about forty years until the premiere in 1962. According to Martin, who believed spirituality and religious experience to be deeply private, this was a matter between himself and God.
The mysterious context around this masterwork gave me pause to reflect on the various private aspects of our lives – the worlds we keep inside – and how these worlds are expressed in art and in music. It occurred to me that indeed I know many composers who have engaged deeply with very personal, meaningful events, passions, creeds, and paradigms from their own lives; giving voice to these things either overtly or quite privately through the music they have composed. I also contemplated the role of the listener in a concert concept like this, as each listener brings their own unique map of life experiences and inner-worlds, and will relate to each piece of music very differently. Each person in the room will have their own unique inner connection points to each musical moment, with a spectrum of emotions and engagement levels.
This is what we will explore in our music today as well as in our INSIDE concept gallery which can be viewed before and after the concert or during intermission. The gallery comprises items contributed by members of the choir, who have paired these items with meaningful excerpts of text from our concert.
With this idea, Martin’s mass provides a frame for the entire program. We begin with the Kyrie – “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy” as a prelude Matthew Larkin’s Songs of Love and Loss; a work full of longing, love, regret, searching, grief in its contemplation of faith, love, friendship, the loss of a child, and the search for meaning in these things. Mellnäs’ sublime Såsom spegelbilden provides an epilogue to Larkin’s suite and in it’s reflection, makes the transition to the Credo from the Mass. We move from this testament to another spiritual journey in Cree composer Andrew Balfour’s Vision Chant, composed with the idea of a vision quest in mind. Vision Chant mirror’s Martin’s Credo not just in it’s spirituality, but also in the strength of conviction I read in a recent letter to us from Balfour, which states, “I have Cree blood and am what’s known as a status Indigenous person, and a 60’s scooper. […] It’s important in this time of Reconciliation that non-Indigenous peoples and institutions can sing and celebrate Indigenous artists and their music.”
Intermission features our INSIDE Gallery in the upper hall; an exhibit prepared by the musicians of Da Camera Singers reflecting on how our concert concept relates to their own ‘inner worlds.’
The second half of our program opens with a statement about the power of intention, expressed in Swedish composer Ann-Sofi Söderqvist’s What is life? with contributions from audience members incorporated through solo improvisation. Taking hold of this vitally important idea, we move then to gratitude through Whitacre’s exquisite setting of e.e. cummings’ i thank you God for most this amazing day, responding then to this with the same sentiment mirrored in the Gloria from the Martin Mass. We continue with a very universal concept of, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” both in the Sanctus (which contains this text) as well as in Marie-Claire Saindon’s Imaginary Garden. Perhaps, however, in this case we would say “blessed is she who comes in the name of the Lord” as this piece takes as its text a poem generated from a collection of short texts by Mahvash Sabet – one of seven Bahá’í leaders in Iran who was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment as prisoners of faith in 2008. Mrs. Sabet was a school principal and was stripped of her role during the Isalmic Revolution because of her adherence to the Bahá’í Faith, but this did not stop her from covertly teaching all the children and youth around her from persecuted communities, Bahá’í or not. The short texts that became this poem were scribbled on small pieces of paper and napkins, which Mrs. Sabet’s family snuck out of the prison after visiting hours, then sharing the poems with friends outside of Iran, who then translated them into English.
Saindon’s piece is a testament to the power of hope, steadfastness, and determination, and the power inherent in how we tend to our “garden that grows inside.”
With this in mind, we offer you a gift of seeds to bring home and plant. We hope that the growth of these seeds into flowers will inspire your own inner world. As the poet Mahvash Sabet suggests, “You don’t need much, one poppy is all it takes to be open to love…”