Conductor Brian Wismath inspires not only choral performance regulars but also skeptics of live music to put their uncertainty aside and feel the magic of the music on November 2. Wismath will be working to ensure a faultless collaborative performance of Bach’s Magnificat by The Victoria Choral Society and Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament by Vox Humana Chamber Choir, both joined by the Victoria Symphony.
Wismath says there is a vast number of individuals required for this one night of musical harmony.
“149 members of the Victoria Choral Society, 28 members from the Vox Humana Chamber Choir, so very different size choirs performing very different works,” he says. “And then bringing all of these singers together, with members of the Victoria Symphony, for which, I believe, we have 29 or 30 players; we would describe it as an orchestra.”
The works have scarcely been played in Victoria; working toward opening the audience to unfamiliar sounds, Wismath says there is a joy in introducing new music to the community.
“Interestingly, I believe the Choral Society has performed [Magnificat] once in its history,” he says. “It is rarely performed here, although internationally it’s a very well-performed piece, so I am excited that we’re getting a chance to do a work that is in that symphonic choral repertoire but a work that isn’t heard in Victoria very often. The Vox Humana Chamber group is performing [Adam’s Lament]; this will be the second Canadian performance of this work and the first performance of it in British Columbia.”
The ever-growing range of choral performance has opened doors to a new perspective on the age-old art form. However, there is a waning number of young people attending choral and classical performance. Wismath says there is a need to expose youth to music.
“I think that we live in a world where, yes, some of the younger generations haven’t been exposed to live music, or classical music, or live classical music. And it’s difficult to have a feeling of something if you haven’t experienced it before. We encourage people of all ages, experiences, and backgrounds to come to our live performances, because we know through our years and years of performance it really can be a life-changing experience; the key is getting people in the doorway.”
Wismath hopes that, above all else, those who attend feel the emotions expressed through the songs as strongly as those who have been tirelessly perfecting its elements, and that the audience members surrender to the escapism and healing powers of the music.
“It gives them a chance to either escape the realities of the current world—their own lives, their stresses, and challenges—or maybe even help them reconcile or come to peace with challenges that they have,” he says. “If people just walk away feeling anything, that’s a good thing.”
Wismath shares world-renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein’s quote on the power of live music: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” With that wisdom by his side, Wismath expresses once more how important performance is, and how right the words of Bernstein are.
“I think those are wonderful words, that music can be a form of escape,” he says, “but it can also be a tool that we use to help understand and reconcile things that maybe are out of our control.”
Bach’s Magnificat and Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament
8 pm Friday, November 2
$10 student tickets, Phoenix Theatre, UVic
finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/mainstage