Aeolian Singers 2017-2018 Season Debuts New Artistic Director
(Halifax, NS) The Aeolian Singers (www.aeoliansingers.ca) have announced an exciting 2017-18 season under the new artistic leadership of rising Canadian choral conductor, Heather Fraser. With a focus on what it really means to “come from away,” and through folk, contemporary and classical music from the Maritimes, the rest of Canada and beyond, the season explores ideas surrounding home – the celebration of it, the journey we are all on to find it, and the part we can play in being a welcoming community.
Heather Fraser, who was appointed as the choir’s fourth Artistic Director commencing with the 2017-18 season is a native Nova Scotian, who is immersed in the contemporary choral music world. During the 2016-17 season she undertook a self-directed intensive study period with top choral conductors in the US and Canada, and she is also currently Artistic Director of the award-winning Annapolis Valley Honour Choirs. She described the Aeolians’ 2017-18 season as “inspired by the current state of world affairs, and how we as artists need to perpetuate a culture of conversation, openness, welcome and togetherness.”
The choir is excited about a new project spearheaded by Fraser with Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) involving new Canadian residents. This will include some singing workshops, times for sharing stories and songs, and the potential for these newcomers to sing with the choir in the spring of 2018.
In their November concerts, Love is Christmas, the Aeolians will be sharing stories and music celebrating the East Coast’s Celtic roots, while exploring what it may mean for those new to our communities who are searching for renewed stability and peace. The concert incorporates a dramatic reading of Shiny and New by Newfoundland playwright, Robert Chafe. The concerts take place on Saturday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Grace United Church, Dartmouth, and on Sunday, November 26 at 3:00 p.m. at Knox United Church in Lower Sackville. Stephen Dempster, Guitar and Shimon Walt, Cello, will join the concert as guest musicians.
The spring concert (Saturday, May 26 at First Baptist Church, Halifax) is The Road Home: Songs of Wandering and Welcome, and is “a musical tribute to the many who are journeying both here and around the globe, and who are faced with rebuilding and finding their place in a new community,” said Fraser. Guests and artists new to Nova Scotia will be sharing the stage with the choir.
Now in their 42nd season, the Aeolian Singers (www.aeoliansingers.ca) began in 1976 under founding director Claire Wall as a program of Dartmouth Continuing Education. Since then, Jacqueline Chambers, and most recently, Janet Gaskin also conducted them. The Aeolians are champions of music for women, and over the years have commissioned many new works by a range of Canadian composers, including music by singer/songwriters Susan Crowe, Connie Kaldor and the late Raylene Rankin. They’ve shared the stage with a who’s who of musicians in their innovative and moving programs, and made three recordings, including the Canadian premiere of breast cancer oratorio, Where I Live, which they subsequently recorded, and performed with Symphony Nova Scotia and throughout Atlantic Canada, the U.K. and Europe. The choir is now under the artistic leadership of conductor Heather Fraser. Halifax pianist Diana Torbert accompanies the Aeolians.
The Aeolians’ season runs from September-May, and they’re excited that over 20 new singers will be joining returning members this fall. Stay up to date on Facebook, or visit the choir’s website, www.aeoliansingers.ca to purchase tickets.