The Victoria Philharmonic Choir (VPC) in Victoria, BC, is an 100-voice auditioned choir that excels in vibrant, engaging performances of great choral works, from the Renaissance to the 21st century.
Photo March 12, 2023 - St Mary-the-Virgin, Oak Bay - Handel’s Messiah
Claudio Monteverdi (1567? - 1643) is celebrated as the musical bridge between the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, and as a crucial figure in the development of opera.
Advance tickets are available from EVENTBRITE, and are $35 regular and $20 for students (plus service charges). Accompanied children under 13 are admitted free but must have a ticket.
Doors will open by 7:30 and seating is first-come, first-served.
We would like to invite you to a unique production of Metamorphosis - A Healing Journey to be presented at the Dave Dunnet Theatre on Saturday April 27 at 7:30 pm and Sunday April 28 at 2:00 pm, located in Oak Bay High School, 2121 Cadboro Bay Rd.
Members of the VPC will be performing in this production sponsored by the Gail O’Riordan Climate and the Arts Legacy Fund. The choir will provide soundscapes for the performers as well as an a capella version of Song of the Earth. The production weaves together a number of stories on planetary health, water, regeneration and reconciliation from people who have faced trauma in their lives but have used this experience to transform their consciousness and find solutions.
This collaborative, multi-media project features flamenco and improv dancers from Lynda Raino Studios; two lyricists; a special ensemble of voices from the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, under the direction of Peter Butterfield; a leading Indigenous poet and performer; a 10-year-old “wild spirit”; a land defender; a Namgisan medicine woman from Alert Bay; the senior government liaison for Global Climate Emergency Response at the United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health; two professional photographers; plus a retired policy maker, now a musician, filmmaker and producer. All share cathartic life-changing experiences that brought them to a metamorphosis in their healing journey and connection.
Ticket sales and information can be found at www.creativelyunited.org.
“It is a pleasure to sing with our Music Director Peter Butterfield because of his choice of repertoire, his sense of humour, his musicality, his expectation that we can always do better and his ability to bring the choir up to a high standard of performance.”
“Thank you for an excellent performance of St. Matthew’s Passion last night. Thanks be to Peter Butterfield for a superlative job in approximating the heavenly host in a way that all listerners could truly understand. The principals were lovely and affecting, and the orchestra played with elan. An inspiring and enchanting evening!”
“When you achieve oneness with a composer, even for a few bars, everything disappears. Everything: the individual, the conductor, the music itself. It can all disappear in a flash of perfection.”
Church photo by Mike Zastre. Other photos on this page courtesy Frank Lee, Aldridge Street Print & Media, and the Times Colonist.
