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Contents
1. St. Cecilia/Handel Celebration Concert
2. A Gallery of Participating Choirs
3. The Twilight Recital at Holy Spirit

St. Cecilia/Handel Celebration Concert

Saturday evening, 21st November 2009, is a date that will never be forgotten by the congregation of Holy Spirit Church! We were the host for the Celebration Concert for St. Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music and Musicians, and the 350th commemoration year since the death of the great composer George Frideric Handel. The choirs of Holy Spirit, St. Luke’s, and St. Peter’s, with additional singers from St. Thomas a Becket, joined forces in an inspiring performance of Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day (1739). Members of the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra, with Trumpeters from UofT, accompanied the forty-five-voice choir. The Soprano solos were commandingly sung by Maria Knight and James Tuttle who very capably provided both the military might and subtle gentleness required for the Tenor solos. The near capacity audience of 225 were so awed by the majesty of the Finale; “The trumpet shall be heard on high, the dead shall live, the living die, and music shall untune the sky” they gave a Standing Ovation while the last four bars were still being performed. That does not happen at many performances and the two soloists were very touched and moved by the enthusiasm of the audience.

    Clement Carelse of St. Peter’s and Eric Hanbury of Holy Spirit shared the organ playing and conducting. Handel’s Organ Concerto in F beautifully showed of the charming capability of the restored Woodstock-Casavant organ and in the performance of Sir Charles Stanford’s Te Deum in Bb the organ again showed its dramatic colour and capacity to accompany a large and competent choir. Canadian music history was made that night with the performance of Stanford’s St. Patrick’s Breastplate with the addition of the rarely heard parts for two trumpets, three trombones, side drum and cymbals.  The audience participated in this historic occasion and enthusiastically sang this great hymn—all nine verses!  The Harp Tones provided the “Novelty Act” of lighter music: four talented Harmonica players who were accompanied on the organ by Frank Iacino from St. Thomas a Becket.

    It was a wonderful and inspiring evening, full of good music which was enjoyed by all who attended. However the weekend’s Commemorative festivities had just begun. The Sunday morning service was dedicated to the Feast of a Virgin Martyr and the choir sang the ancient plainsong, from the 5th century, to commemorate Saint Cecilia. Mary Druce, our guest author and actor, performed a moving and inspiring Soliloquy as she portrayed herself in the role of Cecilia, the young Roman woman martyred so long ago in the 3rd Century.
    After the service the congregation enjoyed a wonderful lunch, organised by the Rector and her army of kitchen helpers. This lunch, to again commemorate Handel and the restoration and examination of our organ, was a reproduction of the Menu that the famous organist and composer J.S. Bach ate in 1716 after he had examined and passed the organ in the Church of Our Lady, Halle, Germany. This was the same church were Handel had received his first organ lessons many years before Bach arrived to test the organ. The fitting closure for such an exciting and diversified weekend was the arrival of Her Worship Mayor Hazel MacCallion who joined us for some lunch. It was a great weekend for which all members of the congregation can be justly proud of their efforts and fine support.

 

Continued at top of column 2.

A Gallery of Participating Choirs

Thanks to all the choirs of Holy Spirit, St. Luke’s, and St. Peter’s, with additional singers from St. Thomas a Becket who worked hard to prepare for this Celebration Concert. Here is a gallery of the participating choirs.

Members of The Church of the Holy Spirit choir.

Members of St. Peter’s choir.

Members of St. Luke’s choir.

The Twilight Recital
at Holy Spirit

On Saturday, April 4, 2009, the musicians shined at the Twilight Recital. Amanda Macleod (piano) teamed up with Eric Hanbury (organ) to play, Duet Suite for Organ and Piano, Intoduction, Fughetta, Minuetto, Romance, and Final — by Denis Bedard.

 

Jake Stief played Sonata for Trumpet, Allegro, and Aria — by Flor Peeters, accompanied on piano by Eric Hanbury.

After that, Jake Stief took up his position as one of the Boys 2 Brass ensemble, consisting of Jake Shoihet on the other trumpet, Dan Lock on French Horn, Elburz Sorkhabi on trombone, and Charlie Henderson on tuba. Together they played Rondeau by Jean Mouret, Salvation is Created by Tchesnokov, and Die Bankelsangerlieder – Anonymous.

Next Eric pulled out all the stops to play The Victoria Gavotte by G. Jennings Burnett. Everyone had a chance to watch him play, by means of a large video camera projection on the front wall of the church.

 

The Boys 2 Brass were up next, and played Solo Feature Suite 4, arranged by Scott Harrison. In this piece, each member of the Quintet got their time in the spotlight.

 

To end the first half, Eric had the audience sing the hymn, O Praise Ye the Lord.

 

After a ten minute intermission, Amanda Macleod masterfully played Franz Liszt’s extremely difficult, Etude Transcendante No. 10, for piano. A real workout for any pianist.

 

Jake Stief was up next to play the Andante (Trumpet Concerto) by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a student of Mozart.

 

The Boys 2 Brass ensemble, took the stage again to play Monteregain Hills Suite by Morley Calvert. The suite is based on French Canadian Folk Songs.

 

Eric Hanbury’s final solo organ piece was Evening Song by Sir Edward Bairstow, one of his most popular organ works.

 

Grand Choeur Dialogue by Eugene Gigout, was played for the grand finale, consisting of Amanda Macleod (piano), the Boys 2 Brass ensemble, and Eric Hanbury (organ). A real rousing back and forth number to end the program.

 

Holy Spirit would like to thank all the musicians who worked so hard to put on this fabulous recital.

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