Voices, Sax & Syn

Laudate Singers’ 16th season continues with a musical melange to exhilarate both the traditionalist and the adventurous music-lover. The versatile choir joins forces with renowned jazz saxophonists Campbell Ryga and Ross Taggart and talented synthesizer player Tim Tsang to present an exciting mix of old and new. In the spirit of the Hilliard Ensemble’s 1994 recording Officium with jazz saxophonist Jan Garborek, Laudate Singers will perform Renaissance gems by Palestrina and Dufay accompanied by the improvisations of Ryga and Taggart. Dazzling new pieces written especially for Laudate Singers and the instrumentalists by four Vancouver composers round out the program.

The choir presented its first Voices, Sax & Syn concert in 2002. The audience was fascinated by the eclectic music and unusual mixture of choir, saxophone and synthesizer with its limitless sonorities. The program for 2011 includes music by G. P. da Palestrina and Guillaume Dufay as well as Kristopher Fulton, Robert Cornejo, Ryan Noakes, Taymaz Saba, Andrei Diaconu and Zulfikar Nathoo.  

Lars Kaario, artistic director of Laudate Singers, says, “The rehearsals are infused with excitement  as we experience how the old and new music stimulates our minds, senses and spirits in fresh ways. Our last two programs, including Venetian Mosaic broadcast by CBC Radio 2, featured Baroque repertoire performed with a full appreciation of early music practices.  Voices, Sax & Syn gives us – and our audience – a rich and unusually varied palette of musical textures and colours.”