Gabriola Chamber Ensemble Lights up the Season with Dec. 1 Concert

As winter darkness creeps over Gabriola, there’s a glimmer of musical starlight on the horizon. Director Brad Shipley and the Gabriola Chamber Ensemble – a community group of seven orchestra members and 22 choristers – are putting the final touches on beautiful music in preparation for the annual Christmas concert December 1. The GCE will be joined by special guests, the Gabriola Brass and Flute Cocktail.

Our “Something Like a Star” concert brings you a brilliant blend of classical and contemporary music. The traditional repertoire includes Johann Pachelbel’s Magnificat  No. 13. A German composer, Pachelbel wrote many choral works that are celebrated for their festive splendor and easy-to-sing style.

Brahms’s, How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place, is known for its sweet character, a hymn of longing and spiritual elevation. Schubert’s Andante/Menuetto/Tri, William Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus, and Sicut Cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina round out the classical offerings.

More contemporary music includes an ensemble presentation of Samuel Barber’s Sure on this Shining Night, and Choose Something Like a Star, a Robert Frost poem put to music by Randall Thompson. Other seasonal choral offerings are Winter Daydreams (Calleja), The Bluebird (Stanford), and Love Came Down by local composer Nico Rhodes, which will be sung a capella.

The orchestra on its own will perform excerpts from Schubert’s string quartet #4 and a GCE arrangement of Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie #1. 

The Chamber Ensemble will perform at 2 pm on December 1 at Christ Church Gabriola (2600 South Road). Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.00, available in cash at Nature Spirit Earth Market or via e-transfer to gabriolace@gmail.com. Ticket numbers are limited and GCE concerts often sell out, so get yours early.

Masks are recommended and will be available at the door. Thanks for wearing them.