Commissioned Works

At the 2009 Carols With Brass concert, the Singers began a tradition---premiering a new Canadian composition specially commissioned for this concert. That year, the Singers presented the beautiful Night of the Angel Song – a composition by Len Ballantine for choir and brass band.

The next season, the choir premiered Norman Reintnamm's In Bethlehem. Reintamm, who is currently the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, has numerous choral compositions to his credit. Most recently (in July 2011), the Peterborough Singers presented his setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis at York Minster in England, where it was invited to sing evensong and other choral services for a week.

The tradition continues. At the November 2011 Carols With Brass concert, the choir will premiere another newly commissioned Len Ballantine piece. Be there to hear it!

The Peterborough Singers regularly commissions other sorts of choral compositions from well-known Canadian composers as well. In recent years, the choir has been privileged to commission and premiere works by Stephen Chatman, Paul Halley, and Mark Sirett. Through the creation of these new choral works, we are enriching the choral repertoire in Canada. The commissions are usually introduced to the choir in workshops with the composer, who rehearses the piece with us, communicating how the music can best be presented. Then the piece premieres at one of our concerts, creating musical history and putting Peterborough on the choral map.

Stephen Chatman “How Still It Is”

Commissioned in 2008 for the Singers 15th anniversary, this composition is based on the Archibald Lampman poem “Solitude.”

Solitude
How still it is here in the woods. The trees
Stand motionless, as if they do not dare
To stir, lest it should break the spell. The air
Hangs quiet as spaces in a marble frieze.
Even this little brook, that runs at ease,
Whispering and gurgling in its knotted bed,
Seems but to deepen with its curling thread
Of sound the shadowy sun-pierced silences.
Sometimes a hawk screams or a woodpecker
Startles the stillness from its fixèd mood
With his loud careless tap. Sometimes I hear
The dreamy white-throat from some far-off tree
Pipe slowly on the listening solitude
His five pure notes succeeding pensively.

Lampman has a connection to the Peterborough region: his family moved to Gore's Landing in the Rice Lake district in 1867, when Lampman was six, and he came to know the Strickland sisters: Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill.

Stephen Chatman was the perfect composer to set Lampman’s evocative words to music. His choral compositions (e.g., Due North and Voices of the Earth) “reflect the geographical character and musical traditions” of Canada and show a particular affinity for the sounds of nature. According to the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, his music is always “warmly received by critics and the public alike, eliciting adjectives such as 'shimmering,' 'evocative,' 'eclectic,' and 'compelling.'” Contact the office for more information.


Paul Halley “A House in Heaven”

The Peterborough Singers commissioned five-time Grammy award winner Paul Halley to compose this tribute to a very special boy. James Birrell, the son of the choir’s founding director Syd Birrell, lived an amazing life that was tragically shortened by neuroblastoma, a cancer of the central nervous system. James and his mother Pamela Birrell, a frequent soloist with the choir and a breast cancer survivor, inspired all who witnessed their courage, vivacity, and verve. As James once remarked, “Ya can’t let cancer ruin your day!”

“A House in Heaven” (SATB with treble choir and piano, flute, and organ) is a beautiful and poignant composition that centres, lyrically, on other words spoken by James. In 1999, lying in great pain and unable to move, he whispered to his mother,
"I know Jesus is building me a house in heaven."


 

VESTIGIA

I took a day to search for God,
And found Him not. But as I trod
By rocky ledge, through woods untamed,
Just where one scarlet lily flamed,
I saw His footprint in the sod.

Then suddenly, all unaware,
Far off in the deep shadows, where
A solitary hermit thrush
Sang through the holy twilight hush –
I heard His voice upon the air.

And even as I marvelled how
God gives us Heaven here and now,
In a stir of wind that hardly shook
The poplar leaves beside the brook –
His hand was light upon my brow.

At last with evening as I turned
Homeward, and thought what I had learned
And all that there was still to probe –
I caught the glory of His robe
Where the last fires of sunset burned.

Back to the world with quickening start
I looked and longed for any part
In making saving Beauty be …
And from that kindling ecstasy
I knew God dwelt within my heart.

Bliss Carman (1861-1929)

PRAYERS

GOD who created me
Nimble and light of limb,
In three elements free,
To run, to ride, to swim:
Not when the sense is dim,
But now from the heart of joy,
I would remember Him:
Take the thanks of a boy.

Jesu, King and Lord,
Whose are my foes to fight,
Gird me with Thy sword
Swift and sharp and bright.
Thee would I serve if I might;
And conquer if I can,
From day-dawn till night,
Take the strength of a man.

Spirit of Love and Truth,
Breathing in grosser clay,
The light and flame of youth,
Delight of men in the fray,
Wisdom in strength's decay;
From pain, strife, wrong to be free
This best gift I pray,
Take my spirit to Thee.

-- Henry Charles Beeching (1859–1919)

 

Halley has woven together, in a seamless masterpiece, James’s words of faith and the poetry of Psalm 8, M. Babcock’s “This Is My Father’s World,” Canadian Bliss Carman’s “Vestigia,” and Englishman Henry Charles Beeching’s “Prayers.” The premiere performance included Paul Halley on piano, Rhonda Larson on flute, Syd Birrell on organ, and Maureen Harris-Lowe conducting the Peterborough Children’s Chorus and the Peterborough Singers.

Listen to a sample of "House in Heaven"
Sheet music for this composition is available from Pelagos Music.
You may also purchase a copy of the single-track CD recording of “A House in Heaven.”
Click here for more information.

Mark Sirett “Where Love and Charity Live”

To mark its 10th anniversary and to honour Syd Birrell, the founding director of The Peterborough Singers, the choir commissioned Canadian composer Mark Sirett to produce an extensive motet on the English translation of the ancient Latin antiphon “Ubi caritas.” This a cappella work of medium difficulty (SATB) is full of rich sonorities and contrast.

Sheet music is available (Boosey & Hawkes #M051478255), and you can listen to a sample or purchase copies.

Mark Sirett is an award-winning composer whose works are frequently performed by Canada’s leading choral ensembles. Other commissions have included works for the National Youth Choir of Canada, the Amabile Youth Singers, Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, La Jeunesse, Elora Festival Singers, and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. He is also the founding director of the Cantabile Choirs.