Arts and Entertainment

Achill Choral Society to perform royal songs in concert for crowning of King Charles III

April 27, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

May 6 this year is auspicious for a number of reasons. Two of them are that it is Coronation Day for King Charles III, with his trimmed-back version of the guest list and other economies, while losing none of the important traditions yet, keeping in line with newer realizations. For example, the anointing oil is not animal-based but of good olive oil imbued with essential plant-based oils and consecrated where the olives in the Holy Land are grown. The better choice of anointing oil reflecting newer philosophies will still be presented in a 400-year-old golden vessel. It is used to anoint the King and the Queen Consort during the ceremony.

The Sing Your Song Spring Concert with the Achill Choral Society (ACS) at Westminster United Church on May 6 at 2:00 p.m. is the second important event, an afternoon celebrating wonderful music. It begins with Handel’s The King Shall Rejoice, the Coronation Anthem number 3, Mvt 1, and Nancy Dettbarn at the organ. This is the ACS nod to the grand occasion in London, UK, of the crowning of a king who is (still) the King of Canada.

The ACS Artistic Director and Conductor, Shawn Grenke, is happy to co-conduct this concert with Guest Director Conductor Jenny Crober.

He said, “This will be a great concert with two directors but not at the same time.”

And he went on to praise one of the several guest musicians, Saskia Tomkins, who is bringing her Swedish nyckelharpa, an unusual musical instrument, combining strings with keys, “off the beaten track,” as Mr. Genke noted. 

The sound of the nyckelharpa is its own, and it is happiest playing folk music. The program promises “at least one solo” from Ms. Tomkins on her nyckelharpa. She will accompany the choir as well on violin and viola. John Harper is bringing his bodhrán, and the drums will be played by Eric Bruck.

“This concert covers a huge variety of music,” Jenny Crober assured us. “From Handel to contemporary composers.”

The title piece, Sing Your Song by Toronto-based Matthew Emery, an extremely young and talented composer who wrote this music in honour of one of his mentors, Ken Fleet. Ms. Crober described Fleet as “a real force in the Canadian choral music world but he died.” Lyrics by Katharine Tynan.

Music and stories share their roles in composition, and there are lovely stories within this concert.

One from Shawn Grenke told with a degree of pride in being able to include “Waniska” in the program: “Sherryl Sewepagaham is a Cree-Dene from Northern Alberta whose compositions are performed across Canada. Waniska means ‘Wake up.'”

He told us, “It’s a fantastic piece and we are honoured to have it in the program. I’ve got to know her,” he explained, saying, “That’s important, you have to understand. To do justice to the music, I had to understand what’s behind it. In the concert, we’ll be using a video telling her story.” 

As a footnote about Sherryl,” he told us. “When she first heard ‘Summertime’ [Gershwin’s Porky and Bess], that inspired her to write Waniska.”

From Norwegian Ola Gjello come two pieces, one of which is part of his Sunrise Mass, The Ground, a fine upbeat piece accompanied by piano, violin/ viola and organ.

ACS sings music to Robbie Burn’s words of his Heart in the Highlands, composed by Donna Gartman Schultz. for which, in part, Siskia Tomkins plays a “lyrical violin obligato.”

Closer to home, Confederate poet Archibald Lampman, “generally considered the finest of Canada’s late 19th Century nature poets in English,” according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, lived and taught in Orangeville for a time.

His contribution to the Sing, Your Song Concert, is his moving text, Voices of Earth, with the beautiful music of David Dickau.

The choir and Mr. Grenke might be particularly pleased to include this piece in this concert, as it is one of the compositions they practiced over the dreary days of Covid. Those days were lightened and maybe even survived to a point, by the virtual rehearsals they shared over Zoom.

“We needed to sing; we still needed music in our lives whether we could be together in person or not,” Mr. Grenke had said in an interview at that time.

Jenny Crober is also delighted to present the first music for which she has done the arrangement – of Mairi’s Wedding. This takes us back to Scotland with a folksong of that realm and a favourite at Celtic festivals and dances.

“The Rankin family have done this song at their shows here,” she told us.

Ms. Crober has also included her arrangement of Mairi’s Wedding in programs her Toronto choir, VOCA, has performed.

There is much more to the concert than we have described. So, enjoy what is told here and what is still to discover.

The closing piece hails back to Tennyson’s poem, Ulysses, using an excerpt from

the great poem for which Paul Halley has composed the music to a feature title: Untraveled [sic] Worlds. Bringing in piano, organ, violin and drums, this is their epic piece, and the promise of its power is exciting. 

Putting this concert together was an organic process this time. This is the music they love, and that challenges each performer – the singers and the musicians. Yet, the music was there, ready to be sung, and the poetry presented itself as profound or joyous words that matched the mood of spring and – always – the music that inspires hope, a feeling of worthiness and a sense of adventure, regardless.

Said Mr. Grenke of assembling the program, “It was the music we had worked on and when Jenny came, we asked her to bring some of her beautiful pieces. It was just beautiful music we love and it just came together.”

Tickets are available at Westminster United Church, 247 Broadway, in Orangeville. Telephone 519-941-0381 for details but tickets are cash only.

Readers Comments (0)