The Elora Singers, led by Artistic Director and Conductor Mark Vuorinen, will kick off their 2024-25 concert season with Songs of Sanctuary. The theme revolves around a look at the intersections of music and place.
The season of vocal music will be spread out over Elora, Guelph, and Kitchener in Southwestern Ontario, featuring a blend of sacred and secular music, creative collaborations, and of course seasonal music.
Songs of Sanctuary (October 20, 2024)
This concert celebrates the Elora Singers’ latest album, In Beauty May I Walk. Music composed for sacred spaces, including the Sistine Chapel, St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and Notre Dame in Paris, make up the first half of the program.
The Canadian premiere of Alex Berko’s Sacred Place will take up the second half of the concert. Alex describes his work in an artist’s statement as, “an ecological service that connects the old with the new, the sacred with the secular, and the individual with their community.” Berko uses texts by Wendell Berry, John Muir, Rabindranath Tagore and others in the piece.
Full Program
- Giovanni Croce: Buccinate in neomenia tuba
- Pérotin: Viderunt Omnes (excerpt)
- Guillaume DuFay: Nuper rosarum flores
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli: Kyrie
- William Byrd: Mass for Four Voices: Agnus Dei
- Gregorio Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus
- Giovanni Gabrieli: Jubilate Deo
- Alex Berko: Sacred Place (Canadian premiere)
- Jonathan Dove: In Beauty May I Walk
- Andrew Balfour: Gaze Upon the Trees
- Dan Forrest: The Sun Never Says
- Stephanie Martin: Nothing Gold Can Stay
The Rest of the Season at a Glance
Blessed are the Peacemakers: The Elora Singers with the Elmer Iseler Singers (November 10, 2024)
The Elora Singers and the Elmer Iseler Singers get together for a concert at the Basilica of Our Lady in Guelph. The program features the world premiere of Peter-Anthony Togni’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, music with themes of peace and reconciliation.
Messiah: The Elora Singers with musicians of the London Symphonia (December 8, 2024)
The Elora Singers will be joined by the musicians of the London Symphonia for Handel’s Messiah, the holiday favourite, performed at Fergus’ St. Joseph’s Church. It’s a staple of the season.
Festival of Carols (December 17 & 18, 2024)
The sheer joy of Christmas is the focus at the annual Festival of Carols at St. John’s in Elora.
The program includes familiar carols, storytelling, and audience participation for the willing. Designed as a family-friendly event that connects audience and performers.
Choral Tapestry: The Elora Singers with the Vancouver Chamber Choir (February 23,
2025)
The Vancouver Chamber Choir comes to visit for Choral Tapestry, a concert with The Elora Singers in Guelph’s Basilica of Our Lady. Diverse traditions are represented in a program of choral music through the ages.
Burning Measures (April 6, 2025)
The season closes at St. Matthew’s Centre in Kitchener with a program of works by J.S. Bach, Arvo Pärt, and O’Regan. Spiritual themes, from the Baroque to today, are the underlying theme of the concert.
- Find out more about their upcoming concert, or the rest of the 2024/25 season, [HERE].
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