News and Events
The 2006/07 season is the Philharmonic Choir's 20th year… stay tuned for more news on our plans for celebrating it!
Festival 500 concert at St. Mary's Anglican Church, St. John's, July 2, 2007.
Ticket Prices: $25 adults, $21 students & seniors. Please call 709-722-4441 for information.
Press Release
In 2006, the Philharmonic Choir of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (PCNSO) commissioned the internationally acclaimed composer Stephen Chatman to create a new choral work, to "celebrate life in Eastern Canada" as a part of its 20th Anniversary celebrations. “DUE EAST”, the third suite of what is now Chatman's trilogy celebrating the sights, sounds and remembrances of specific Canadian regions, will have its premier performance July 2, 2007 at St. Mary the Virgin Church in St. John’s. The music and texts have been created and collaborated upon by Chatman and his wife Tara Wohlberg, drawing their inspiration from the land and peoples of Atlantic Canada.
“Due North” was commissioned by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors for the National Youth Choir and was premiered by the Youth Choir of Canada under the baton of Jon Washburn at Chorfest Canada in Vancouver, at the Canada Pavilion during Expo 86.
“Due West”, funded by the Canada Council, was commissioned for Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn, conductor, and was premiered November 1997, in Vancouver.
The PCNSO is a community choir based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, founded in 1987 as an oratorio choir specifically to perform Handel's Messiah with the NSO. During the 1990's the PCNSO began the exploration of repertoire outside the genre of oratorio, and since that time regularly travels to various parts of Newfoundland to present concerts, often combining forces with other singer at events such as regional presentations of FESTIVAL500.
In addition to the commissioning of a new Canadian choral work for its anniversary (“DUE EAST”), the choir has been selling commemorative “Comfort Ye” cushions (with a tip of the hat to Handel) and will be hosting a gala concert in January 2008 in which many "Favourite Hits" both in and outside of the oratorio genre will be featured. The choir has also invited Mario Duschenes, Marc David, and Peter Gardner to join Douglas Dunsmore on the podium as we celebrate two decades of fine music making with the NSO. To learn more about the PCNSO visit its website at www.pcnso.org.
Stephen Chatman, Professor and Head, Composition Division at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver since 1976, is the first Canadian ever short-listed in the BBC Masterprize international competition (2001 - “Tara’s Dream” for orchestra). A consecutive winner of the 2005 and 2006 Western Canadian Music Awards "Outstanding Classical Composition" (2005 - Proud Music of the Storm, 2006 - Lauren S. Harris Suite for Piano Quintet), Chatman is recognized internationally as a composer of choral, orchestral, and piano music. His approximately sixty choral works, widely performed and published by Highgate Press (ECS Publishing, Boston), Boosey & Hawkes (New York), Oxford University Press (New York), earthsongs (Corvallis, Oregon), Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario), E.B. Marks (Hal Leonard) and Alfred, have sold more than 350,000 printed copies. If you are interested in learning more about Stephen Chatman visit his website, www.drstephenchatman.com.
Vancouver-based Tara Wohlberg is an eclectic freelance writer who has been published in the Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun and Georgia Straight newspapers, as well as Nuvo, Maclean's, Clavier and Opus magazines. In addition to her classical music expertise (BMus, MA in Arts Criticism), she was a finalist in the City of Westminster (UK) Poetry Competition. Voracious curiosity keeps her writing in all genres - from programme notes to obituaries. For more on Tara Wohlberg visit www.tarawohlberg.com.