Check out this article on GuelphToday.com with news about our April 12 concert, “Can You Hear Me.”
Artistic Director Charlene Pauls was interviewed about the music you’ll hear and the composers of some of our key pieces.
You’ll also see a few pictures from our concerts this year, too!
Can You Hear Me?
That question can mean many things. The Guelph Chamber Choir will explore some of these meanings at its final concert of the season, Can You Hear Me? on April 12 at Harcourt United Church.
“With this concert, we wanted to choose music that was seeking to amplify some of society’s underrepresented voices,” explained the choir’s Artistic Director and Conductor, Charlene Pauls.
She continued, “The genesis was a couple of pieces that I had come across that I felt were very powerful, very uplifting, and I wanted to get them into the choir’s repertoire.”
The first half of the concert on April 12 will feature one of these pieces, “A Silence Haunts Me”, by American composer Jake Runestad. The lyrics in this piece are taken from the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter Beethoven wrote to his brothers but which was never sent, penning his despair over his increasing deafness, his thoughts of suicide, and fear that he would not be able to compose any more.
“This is such a powerful piece,” said Pauls. “It’s so moving, so emotional, so very well done. At the end, the choir just fades away and is just mouthing the words, while the conductor keeps conducting. That’s a real gut punch. Very visceral.”
The piece will be bookended by two of Beethoven’s works, one nearer the beginning and one nearer the ending of his career. Beethoven went on to write some of his most influential and incredible works after he became totally deaf.
You can read the full article on the GuelphToday.com website.