{"id":104391,"date":"2024-05-22T12:18:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T16:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=104391"},"modified":"2024-05-22T14:25:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T18:25:18","slug":"preview-jubilate-singers-toronto-york-chamber-ensemble-team-premiere-aharon-harlaps-requiem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/05\/22\/preview-jubilate-singers-toronto-york-chamber-ensemble-team-premiere-aharon-harlaps-requiem\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | The Jubilate Singers Of Toronto & York Chamber Ensemble Team Up To Premiere Aharon Harlap\u2019s Requiem"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R:
L-R: Jubilate Singers of Toronto conductor Isabel Bernaus\u00a0(Photo: Marilyn Voysey); York Chamber Ensemble Artistic Director Michael Berec (Photo courtesy of the artist); composer Aharon Harlap (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Jubilate Singers of Toronto and the York Chamber Ensemble are getting together to present two concerts in collaboration. The title of the program is Requiem, and along with Gabriel Faur\u00e9’s revered piece, it will feature the North American premiere of another Requiem by Canadian born Israeli composer Aharon Harlap.<\/p>\n

The concert comes as the close to the 55th anniversary season for the Toronto choir. Led by Isabel Bernaus, Jubilate specializes in exploring choral repertoire that reflects Toronto\u2019s diversity. The program will be presented in Toronto on June 1, and in Newmarket on June 2.<\/p>\n

We asked Isabel, Aharon, and Michael Berec, Artistic and Music Director of the York Chamber Ensemble, about the work and the upcoming concert.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Jubilate Singers of Toronto (Photo courtesy of the Jubilate Singers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Isabel Bernaus, Aharon Harlap, Michael Berec: The Interview<\/h2>\n

Aharon was born in Chatham, Ontario, and his father was a Hebrew teacher. \u201cMy father had to go from place to place to get work,\u201d he recalls, relating moves from Chatham to Brunswick, Ontario, to Toronto, then Winnipeg. After an undergraduate degree in music and math from the University of Manitoba, he relocated to Israel.<\/p>\n

Now 82, Aharon sees no reason to slow down. \u201cMusic has given me youth,\u201d he says. Still conducting and composing, he\u2019s looking forward to attending the Toronto premiere in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special occasion for us,\u201d he says. \u201cI originally wrote the Requiem, which I dedicated to my friend Stanley Sperber, who was a conductor. [It was] dedicated to the memory of all the wonderful people that I\u2019ve met in my life.\u201d The piece was originally written and premiered in 2017. \u201cToday it has much more significance,\u201d he adds, noting the current state of conflict in the region. \u201cIt\u2019s become a Requiem for those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Toronto concert comes about as a result of old connections. It was back in Winnipeg that he went to school with a cousin (Yael) who would eventually become one of the Jubilate Singers of Toronto. It was through her connection that Isabel became aware of Harlap and his music, and the Requiem in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cYael brought Harlap\u2019s music to my attention,\u201d Isabel says. \u201cI liked very much what I was listening to. Scrolling down I arrived at the Requiem, but of course it requires an orchestra,\u201d she adds. That\u2019s when she got in touch with Michael and York Chamber Ensemble.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another world when it\u2019s performed with orchestra,\u201d Isabel notes.<\/p>\n

Harlap\u2019s Requiem transitions through a range of emotions. It is scored for full orchestra, but has never been performed with that configuration. The budget was tight for its 2017 premiere, as Harlap reports. \u201cThey could only afford two oboes, one horn and two trumpets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic work,\u201d Michael say, noting that a full orchestral recording is in the works. \u201cI was so delighted and honoured to be involved with his project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music comes from the inspiration of the text,\u201d Aharon says of the composition, which uses seven of the usual Latin requiem movements. He chose to stick with the Latin to make the message universal. \u201cBeing of Jewish origin, I chose only the texts that were common to both the Jewish and Christian religions. That\u2019s how I related to the text.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, as he notes, is a message that speaks to both worlds.<\/p>\n

\"York
York Chamber Ensemble (Photo courtesy of YCE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Concert<\/h3>\n

The York Chamber Ensemble has been bringing live orchestral music to York Region for more than two decades. \u201cWe\u2019re a great group of musicians that have been performing together for such a long time,\u201d Michael says. The organization began as a baroque ensemble, evolving into a community-minded institution that is dedicated to showcasing diversity, young talent and new works, along with the traditional repertoire. An award-winning conductor, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Berec has been leading YCE since 2019. \u201cWe love absolutely doing collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the concert, the ensemble will be about 25-players strong, including winds, percussion, and a smaller than usual string section.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear only positive comments from the singers. It\u2019s not the easiest piece in the world,\u201d Isabel notes. \u201cIt\u2019s written beautifully for choir. Both Requiems really work well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soprano Leslie Higgins and bass Dylan Wright will be the soloists for both Requiems. \u201cI heard them on the internet, [and] I was happy with both their voices,\u201d the composer says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honoured to be on the same program as Schoenberg and Faur\u00e9,\u201d Harlap adds.<\/p>\n

Along with both Requiems, the concert also features Schoenberg\u2019s seldom performed Notturno for Strings and Harp in honour of the 150th anniversary of the composer\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

Schoenberg\u2019s short (four minute) Notturno was written when he was a young man, and a struggling artist \u2014 not long, in fact, after resigning from his banking gig to play cello (reportedly<\/a> \u2018full as much of fire as of mistakes\u2019) in his future brother-in-law\u2019s amateur band Polyhymnia. As such, the ensemble presented the very first performance of Schoenberg\u2019s work, ‘a very atmospheric Nocturne (manuscript) for string orchestra and solo fiddle’ (according to the Neue musikalische Presse of March 15, 1896).<\/p>\n

The manuscript was believed to have been lost for decades, but it was later identified in a work that had been catalogued with a different title.<\/p>\n

Written three years before his seminal Verkl\u00e4rte Nacht, the Notturno, while composed in a tonal vein, employs harmonies that presage the evolution of atonal music.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very beautiful romantic work,\u201d Michael says.<\/p>\n