Seventeen Voyces final concert “Motets and Madrigals”

By Kevin Reeves

Ottawa chamber choir Seventeen Voyces has its final concert of the season at St. Matthew’s Church in the Glebe on Sunday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. The theme is “Motets and Madrigals,” which will have an interesting twist in that each Renaissance motet is coupled with a modern counterpart.

Exultate deo by 16th-century Italian Palestrina will be twinned with Exultate deo by 20th-century French composer Francis Poulenc. Another compositional pairing is O nata lux by Tudor composer Thomas Tallis (whose forty-part motet, Spem in alium, is often heard in the National Gallery through Janet Cardiff’s speakers) with O nata lux by local composer Gilles Leclerc, director of music at St. Francis of Assisi church. Other works will include music by Stanford, Byrd, Durufle, Gibbons, Tomkins and Guerrero.

Seventeen Voyces is now celebrating its 26th anniversary and is very pleased to welcome guest organist Matthew Larkin. More details can be found at www.seventeenvoyces.ca where tickets can also be obtained.

Kevin Reeves is director of the Seventeen Voyces choir.

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Seventeen Voyces’ final concert of the season, “Motets and Madrigals,” will take place May 7 at St. Matthew’s Church.