{"id":109514,"date":"2024-11-15T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=109514"},"modified":"2024-11-15T15:56:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T20:56:20","slug":"interview-artistic-director-alexander-cann-talks-about-the-bach-elgar-choir-and-alexanders-feast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/11\/15\/interview-artistic-director-alexander-cann-talks-about-the-bach-elgar-choir-and-alexanders-feast\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Artistic Director Alexander Cann Talks About The Bach Elgar Choir And Alexander\u2019s Feast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L:
L: The Bach Elgar Choir with conductor Alexander Cann; R: Bach Elgar Choir Artistic Director Alexander Cann (Photos courtesy of the Bach Elgar Choir)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alexander Cann will see his 15th season leading Hamilton\u2019s Bach Elgar Choir as their Artistic Director during 2024\/25 \u2014 the 119th season for the choir itself. They\u2019ll be opening with a presentation of Handel\u2019s Alexander\u2019s Feast, a rarely performed work, on November 23.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in line with Cann\u2019s imaginative approach to season programming, which has included Canadian folksongs, music from WWI, and other intriguing themes, along with the choir\u2019s traditional focus.<\/p>\n

LvT spoke to Cann about Alexander\u2019s Feast, and leading a Hamilton institution.<\/p>\n

Artistic Director Alexander Cann<\/h2>\n

Alexander Cann began studying music formally at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, followed by an undergraduate degree from McMaster University (B.A.).<\/p>\n

He was still 19, and in his second year at McMaster, when his piano playing started to attract attention. Alexander was asked to serve as musical director for a campus production of A Little Night Music by Sondheim, and it worked out so well, it led to two more shows while he was still at university. He gained conducting experience with the McMaster University Choir.<\/p>\n

After McMaster, he completed an M.Mus. degree at McGill University, where he continued to study conducting. After completing his studies in Montreal, he went on to hold positions at the Shaw Festival, and with Tapestry Opera, among others, before landing at Bach Elgar.<\/p>\n

Today, along with leading the Bach Elgar Choir, he also serves as Director of Music with Melrose United Church in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

The Bach Elgar Choir: A Brief History<\/h2>\n

The ensemble was founded under the name The Elgar Choir in 1905 by Bruce Carey, who led the organization until 1922. Carey, a baritone and teacher as well as a conductor, studied in London, Munich and Florence, and became a choirmaster at a series of Hamilton churches before founding the choir.<\/p>\n

The choir saw early success, and had a reputation for performing excellence. After the Second World War, in 1946, the choir merged wth the Bach Choir to become the organization as it is known today.<\/p>\n

Along with Bach and Elgar, under Cann, the organization has included a focus on the major works of Mozart to its regular programming. The venerable organization often teams up with the Hamilton Philharmonic in its concert presentations.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Bach Elgar Choir with conductor Alexander Cann (Photo courtesy of the Bach Elgar Choir)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alexander Cann: The Interview<\/h2>\n

What\u2019s it like leading an institution that\u2019s anchored the choral community in the city for so long? \u201cI would say, it certainly enters into our self image, because Hamiltonians remind us about it,\u201d says Cann. The choir is certainly well known in the city and region. \u201cWe\u2019re a concert choir and we have that history in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mentions the organization\u2019s continuity in the community, with a tech who is a grand niece of one of the choir\u2019s original members, and choir members whose grandparents also sang in Bach Elgar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got a unique through-line presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he points out, when it was formed, it was one of only two concert choirs in the entire region, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir having been formed in 1894.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, it\u2019s quite unlike other choirs at the time,\u201d he says. The choir found ready audiences throughout the area and beyond, and toured regularly in its early decades throughout the region, including the United States. \u201cTheir first concerts were in the winter \u2014 February only,\u201d Alexander says, \u201choop skirts and all. The pictures are fantastic. We care about our history and we read our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occasionally that respect for their history informs his programming, as in a recent concert where the choir performed the first piece they\u2019d ever sung in public, and an early commission by composer Nathaniel Dett from 1917 that they\u2019ve performed several times in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re connected to our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handel: Alexander\u2019s Feast<\/h3>\n

The November concert may be the first time Alexander\u2019s Feast has been presented in the area. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever been presented around here,\u201d Cann says.<\/p>\n

A musical ode set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton, Alexander\u2019s Feast (HWV 75), was written to celebrate Saint Cecilia\u2019s Day (traditionally November 22). Saint Cecilia was a virgin martyr of the early church, and she is the patron saint of music.<\/p>\n

Handel composed the work in 1736, and it premiered at London\u2019s Covent Garden in February of that year. Alexander\u2019s Feast sets a scene between Alexander the Great and his mistress Tha\u00efs, who have a feast in the city of Persepolis, a city he\u2019d captured. Timotheus, a musician, sings and plays the lyre, and evokes various emotions in Alexander until they rise to a boiling point, and he resolves to burn the city down in revenge for his Greek comrades fallen in the battle.<\/p>\n

The piece was so successful that it encouraged Handel to make the switch from Italian operas to English choral works \u2014 a decision that would cement his place in Western music history.<\/p>\n

As the first such work of Handel\u2019s, however, it is often overlooked by presenters and programmers in favour of the oratorios and other later works he would become famous for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about Alexander\u2019s Feast is that it\u2019s right in that first […] series of works \u2014 St. Matthew\u2019s Passion by Bach 1727, Handel\u2019s in 1736,\u201d Cann points out. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the first truly grand scale orchestral works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2019s Feast is the outlier as a secular work, one that was intended as a concert piece. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything before that that could really be called a concert piece for orchestra and choir,\u201d he comments.<\/p>\n

The original story of Alexander\u2019s feast contains a political subplot about issues of its time, some four decades before Handel set music to it. \u201cThere is implicit in Alexander\u2019s Feast a political subplot,\u201d Cann notes. \u201cHandel takes the story and gets rid of the political overtones. The political insinuations are to a certain extent washed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handel\u2019s work became more associated with a renewed sense of British nationalism. It was also, despite the notion of Saint Cecilia, a public and secular celebration. \u201cIt\u2019s the beginning of secular arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s audience members can appreciate a piece with a variety of mood that range form love to rage to pity.<\/p>\n

The Bach Elgar Choir 2024\/25 Season<\/h3>\n

The rest of their season includes Handel\u2019s Messiah in December with conductor James S. Kahane and the Hamilton Philharmonic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting doing the Messiah after Alexander\u2019s Feast,\u201d Cann notes. \u201cYou see where stuff is coming from,\u201d he notes. The composer\u2019s development in the way he uses the voices of the choir, and other elements, contrast from the earlier to the later work.<\/p>\n

Their first concert of 2025 is titled The Trial of Gilbert & Sullivan, including a staged version of the iconic duo\u2019s comic masterpiece, Trial By Jury, on its 150th anniversary. It builds on a Gilbert & Sullivan show the choir performed back in 2018. \u201cIt was such great fun, I thought, we can take this to the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also ideal repertoire for a non-professional choir, which may have difficulty achieving the composer\u2019s intentions when it comes to challenging opera choruses. \u201cThey wrote it for bel canto singers,\u201d he points out. Operetta offers a combination of more and less challenging parts.<\/p>\n

Martin and Brahms, over two nights, closes the season on May 31 and June 1, featuring Frank Martin\u2019s a cappella Mass for Double Choir, and Brahms\u2019 Ziegeunerlieder.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank Martin\u2019s piece is difficult and challenging,\u201d he says. \u201cThe choristers need to know their onions. It requires a confident musical chorus. I programmed it because I thought the choir was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

The piece is a continuation of French works the choir has been building into its repertoire over the last few years. It\u2019s an initiative that was first sparked by the burning of the cathedral of Notre Dame in 2019, but has taken on a life of its own. \u201cIt connects over the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points out that the HPO\u2019s new conductor, James S. Kahane, is also French by birth, and has an interest in French repertoire. Working on pieces in a multi-year mode helps develop the choir\u2019s skills and familiarity with individual styles. \u201cI like to do that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2019s Feast: Concert Details<\/h3>\n

The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will accompany the Bach Elgar Choir.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re crackerjack,\u201d Cann says. \u201cIt\u2019s another level of professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soloists include Bethany H\u00f6rst<\/strong> (soprano), Owen McCausland<\/strong> (tenor), and Chris Palmer<\/strong> (baritone).<\/p>\n

He notes that soprano Bethany H\u00f6rst is on the faculty at the University of Western Ontario. \u201cShe\u2019s grown into a confident artist,\u201d he says. He also points out that tenor Owen McCauslin is in demand all over the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool working with artists of that calibre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baritone Chris Palmer is also a jazz guitarist, and an alumnus of Bach Elgar. \u201cHe has become a truly excellent classical baritone,\u201d Alexander says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of that cast.\u201d<\/p>\n