Concerto Della Donna

by SolarDog

Last week I had the privilege to attend a stunning choral concert at the Christ Church Cathedral in good ol’ downtown Mount Real. Lead by artistic director Iwan Edwards, the Concerto Della Donna presented their Give Thanks to Music program to a packed house and created such a lovely hush over the church pews you could hear a pin dropping… down in the the old port! This was definitely a great way to kick off the holiday season. There’s just something about cathedrals and choral music that makes you humble, thankful and all warm and mushy inside.

The Della Donnas’ are an eighteen member female vocal ensemble comprised mostly of young singers from the Montreal area. They’ve garnered awards and top ranking from such festivals as the CBC’s Competition for Amateur Choirs and the International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales. They’ve toured Internationally and have recorded two full length albums that were met with critical acclaim. The ensemble has performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the St. Lawrence Choir, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and have appeared on CBC’s “30 Years, One Voice” a televised concert in honour of International Women’s Day.

The program began unexpectedly with the sound of voices resonating from the back of the cathedral. The singers slowly made their way to the front while performing the fourteenth century piece O Virgo Splendens. The concert continued in a traditional fashion, with the singers setting the atmosphere for what was about to be a beautiful concert. Devotional hymns such as Panis Angelicus and Ubi Caritas allowed the audience to enter into a state of reflection as often is the result with spiritual music. In fact, at times the room was so still it was difficult to break out of my trance and acknowledge that a piece of music had ended. There was definitely something tangible about the spirit of this performance.

I chose to not follow the list of songs in the program, but rather close my eyes and let the music speak for itself. The end of the first section led me towards deep contemplation with Aaron Copeland’s At the River and Bengt Johansson’s Examine Me, whose multi-extended chord scales had me wide-eyed, emotionally purged and quite impressed by skill of these singers.

The ‘Give Thanks’ program entered its second half on a lighter note and pretty much stayed there, with the exception of a piece by Australian composer Paul Stanhope. The song was titled Ground Zero, and appeared to be a new song that the ensemble was experimenting with. It played with rhythmic motifs and rounds, using a text by Michael Dransfield that struck up sharp imagery of the apocalypse and had the audience listening intently.

The program ended with some music that ensemble member and Indyish blogger Sarah Pearson had played for me previously to seeing the show. Two songs by Finnish composer Arr Matti Hyokki that were sung completely in his native language had me wishing I was in a chalet in the mountains soaking up the steam from a sauna. What a great way to end the program!