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The last word > Some enchanted evening
Posted Dec. 10/07
Led by Music Director Jean-Sebastien Allaire, the Charleton University Choir presented Fauré et Ses Amis on Saturday, November 24, 2007. The program included Jubilate Deo by Guillaume Bouzignac, Ave verum corpus by Panis, Adore te devote by Jean-Sébastien Allaire and Requiem in D minor (Op. 48) by Gabriel Fauré. Carleton Now asked three pairs of “educated ears” to review the choir’s performance.
Professor James Wright
School for Studies in Art and Culture: Music
Supervisor of Performance Studies
An audience of about 300 was treated to a sumptuous smorgasbord of fi n-de-siècle French choral cuisine at the Carleton University Choir’s recent concert. With the exception of a triumphant early seventeenth-century Jubilate Deo by Guillaume Bouzignac, and a meditative and finely-crafted meditative plainchant motet, Adoro Te Devote, by choir conductor Jean-Sébastien Allaire, all of the music on this program was from the French sacred choral repertoire of the latter quarter of the nineteenth century. Supported by the brilliantly nuanced organ accompaniment of Jennifer Loveless, Allaire, the choir, baritone Phillip Holmes, and soprano Nadia Petrella adapted themselves well to the reverberant acoustic of Southminster United Church, which was almost perfectly suited to this repertoire. The choir’s performance of Gabriel Fauré’s immortal masterwork, the Requiem in D Minor (Op. 48), which comprised the second half of the program, held additional significance this evening. It was dedicated to the memory of Joanne Thomas, an alto who devoted many years of stalwart service to the choir. Under Allaire’s always steady hand and consummate musicianship, the Carleton University Choir has grown in maturity and depth in recent years. Their April 5, 2008 performance of the Mozart Coronation Mass is not to be missed.
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Jacqueline Hawley
Director
Ottawa Children’s Choir and the
Cantiamo Girls Choir of Ottawa
Those of us sitting in Southminster United Church were warmed from the cold evening by the rich, beautifully blended tone of the Carleton University Choir. The first half of their concert was filled with a wonderful variety of French music, some well-known, others not often heard, but all performed with conviction and sincerity. Jean-Sebastien Allaire’s Adoro te devote was exceptionally lovely. The second half of the concert featured the Fauré Requiem. The singing was lyrical and ethereal but intense and full at the same time. Wonderful phrasing. The soloists were a perfect balance to the choral sound and the organist was musicality personified. It was a deeply emotional performance; a loving tribute from the choir to Joanne Thomas. Congratulations Mr. Allaire and Carleton choristers; thank you for a memorable evening.
Antonio Giamberardino
Third-year student
Bachelor of Music
The Carleton University Choir has long been one of the school’s best kept secrets; it is an institution in which both community members and student members past and present can take much pride. With works by Fauré, Franck, and even the choir’s own Jean-Sebastien Allaire, the choir handled a beautiful program with much care and delicacy.
Special kudos should go to the absolutely gorgeous rendition of the Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem by soprano soloist Nadia Petrella. Nadia will graduate with a bachelor of music this year. She exemplifies the immense musical talent which abounds on the ninth floor of the Loeb building!
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About Carleton NOW: About Carleton NOW -- December 2007
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