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Helios Vocal Ensemble presents “An Illuminated Christmas”
December 2, 2018 @ 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Helios Vocal Ensemble, the Halifax-based classical vocal quintet, offers an evening of beauty and calm within the busy holiday season, in the warm, unique acoustics of Saint George’s Round Church.
Before the modern era, the Christmas season was made up of several different events—Advent, Christmas, and then Epiphany, with other minor feast days as well—with different music for each occasion: religious pieces in Latin to be sung in church, and songs that people would sing at home in their own language. Helios’s programme will include a variety of pieces from all these traditions, including Renaissance polyphony by Josquin, Gabrieli and Morales and carols ancient and modern from England, France and Germany, from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Helios Vocal Ensemble is Atlantic Canada’s premier vocal ensemble, performing sacred and secular music from the Renaissance and beyond. Founded in 2015, they have already appeared in many of the region’s leading chamber music series, including the Indian River Festival, Cecilia Concerts, the Three Churches Festival and Musique Royale, and will perform in the Music Room Chamber Players series in the coming 2018–19 season. Members include Eszter Horvath (soprano), former music director at All Saints Cathedral, Halifax; Elisabeth Stones (soprano), National Youth Choir alumna; Andrew Pickett (alto), former lay clerk at Manchester Cathedral; Michael van der Gaag (tenor), National Youth Choir alumnus; and Spencer Gough (bass). Their début recording, An Illuminated Christmas, was nominated for Classical CD of the Year in 2018 by Music Nova Scotia, with a second CD of madrigals from England, Italy, France and Spain coming this spring.
Helios presents “An Illuminated Christmas” on Sunday, December 2, 7:30 pm at St George’s Round Church, 2222 Brunswick St, Halifax. Admission is by donation.