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Music of the Spheres
March 2, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
$20 – $30
We’ve added a second show at Knox United – hope you can join us for this special program with our musical friend, Ben Caplan!
Halifax Camerata Singers Present Music of the Spheres with Guest Ben Caplan
(Halifax, NS) Halifax Camerata Singers presents two performances of its final self-presented concert in the 2018-19 Look Up Into the Heavens season with Music of the Spheres, a multi-media event of music from across the centuries, taking place in both Halifax and Lower Sackville. Music of the Spheres features acclaimed singer/songwriter Ben Caplan, as special guest narrator, with projected images of space and the planets. Concerts are Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library, and Sunday, March 3 at 7:00 p.m. at Knox United Church in Lower Sackville.
Some of the featured composers are Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Eleanor Daley, Eriks Esenvalds, Ola Gjeilo, Frank Ticheli, Kathleen Allen and Laura Hawley. Ben Caplan will provide narrations of poems and other writings that complement the ethereal nature of the music, with readings ranging from American poets Wendell Barry, Elizabeth Bishop, and Canadians Lucy Haché, Lorna Crozier and Marjorie Pickthall, to an astronaut’s thoughts on home while watching the cosmos from space. Artistic Director Jeff Joudreycommented on the program: “I want the audience to be able to relate to the harmonic structures of the pieces so what they experience the beauty of the texts combined with lush harmonies and gorgeous images on the screen.”
Who better to deliver these moving texts than award-winning singer/songwriter Ben Caplan, with his unmistakable and powerfully resonant voice? Described as “a songwriter, performer and entertainer in the most time-honoured sense of the word, from the moment he walks onto the stage, you are filled with his infectious spirit, and captivating presence.” In his latest project, Caplan explores themes of immigration, loss, darkness, love, sex, and God. Caplan is touring with a fresh batch of songs which were originally composed for a new musical play called Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story. The award winning play had its international debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won top festival honours, and has been a smash hit. The play has toured internationally including a seven-week run Off Broadway where it picked up a New York Times Critic’s Pick, and six Drama Desk Award nominations, among other accolades.
Between performances of the play, Caplan has been hitting the road to play concerts across Europe, Australia, and North America with a new line-up of musicians. The music from his theatre production has been turned into his third studio album, Old Stock. The sound is rooted in Caplan’s resonant baritone voice, supported with the sounds of piano, accordion, organ, clarinet, saxophone, violin, drums, and the occasional banjo and acoustic guitar. More information at www.bencaplan.ca.
Founded by Artistic Director Jeff Joudrey in 1986, Halifax Camerata Singers includes performers from many parts of Nova Scotia, and is Atlantic Canada’s leading chamber choir. Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundation, the Province of Nova Scotia/Arts Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality and individual donors and corporate supporters, the choir has distinguished itself by performing exciting choral repertoire from many periods and styles, with special attention to Canadian music. Winners of Music Nova Scotia’s Best Classical Recording in 2016, and nominated for an ECMA in the same category in 2017, the choir also won the Healey Willan Grand Prize in the 2010 National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choir. Camerata often collaborates with chamber ensembles, Symphony Nova Scotia and other musicians. Their five recordings are for sale at the Symphony Nova Scotia Boutique, Taz Records, online and through iTunes, and are distributed through Naxos of America, Inc. through Halifax’s Leaf Music catalogue. Halifax collaborative pianist Lynette Wahlstrom accompanies the choir.
Tickets
Tickets for Music of the Spheres are on sale now through Ticket Halifax and are $35 regular, $30 senior, and $20, student/under-waged. Please go to www.tickethalifax.comto purchase. Or visit The Coast offices at 2309 Maynard Street, Halifax.
Information: contact1986@halifaxcamerata.org, find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or www.halifaxcamerata.org.