Calgary Renaissance Singers & Players
The Quill - Volume 7 - December 2022
In this issue, we are pleased to announce our first in person live concert since 2019 and yes, we are holding our annual Wall of Wine Raffle at our concert on December 4th! Also included is a profile of CRSP's Interim Artistic Director, Paul Grindlay, and important news regarding including more diversity into our activities.
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Rediscover The Renaissance
Live Performance December 4, 2022
CRSP performed our first in-person concert since December 2019! Under the direction of our Acting Director, Paul Grindlay, we very much enjoyed performing before a live again after so long.
This concert featured a very diverse program, as well as our ever popular pre-concert talk by our bass Nick Zekulin. We performed Medieval plainchant, seasonal Renaissance favourites, a tribute to the late Queen Elizebeth II and loved ones lost during the pandemic, plus new music by Ola Gjeilo, Morten Laurisden and Kerensa Briggs. Instrumentalist Ralph Maier performed on the theorbo and organist Colin Redekop and Paul Grindlay himself performed a bass solo.
We will continue to perform live concerts as government regulations allow - just as we have done since 1970!
We also held our popular Wall of Wine raffle and 4 lucky attendees won 4 beautiful high quality boxes of wine and accessories.
The People Behind the Music
Meet CRSP’s Acting Artistic Director, Paul Grindlay! Singer, Choral Director, Clinician, Adjudicator
Life and love share two letters,
In an enduring union that begins and ends together
From the poem, How Then Shall I Measure Life?
Paul Grindlay, January 2019
Paul, a holistic and philosophical thinker and student of life's wonders, observes relationships in many aspects of the world we inhabit - not the least, between music and nature. "They share essence - an infinite dazzling array of diversity and possibilities - limitless birth, reproduction, transmission - simple, but the manifestation is diverse and dazzling."
An accomplished angler who guides hopeful fly fishermen over 35 times a year, he feels humbled and in awe of these God given connections between his two passions. Indeed, he would "give an arm to see North America before people arrived."
In his newly minted role as CRSP's Interim Artistic Director, grateful for the trust we have all placed in him while Jane Perry is on leave, he would love to time travel to that period, where no TV. electricity, or phone existed - earthy and immediate, where people built community by growing vegetables and singing together about their pursuits. While history is evolving constantly, Paul believes that we need to move forward in an inclusive way that addresses our diversity. This is reflected in the musical choices that are featured in our upcoming concert which encompass several centuries and countries. These ideas will "hopefully move our civilization forward."
Eclectic tastes? A favourite? Elvis, of course, though he does not sing his music. "I could never be more Elvis than Elvis." Paul feels it more important for all to be the you that only you can be.
Paul, a truly 'Renaissance Man', begins his poem with:
How then shall I measure a life?
In years, kilometres, calories,
In love of bread and wine bottles
In achievements and accolades,
Income or possessions?
No indeed,
Measure it rather in love!
Diversity and Inclusion in Classical Music
Society is always changing, and thus the sectors and institutions within it. So the world of classical music is changing. Institutions such as orchestras, opera companies, choral groups, and individual performers are embracing diversity and inclusion, truth and reconciliation. They are reflecting on whether the music they perform and who performs it support these values and are adopting new repertoire and developing exciting collaborations with groups previously seen rarely on their stages. This is not just a matter of righting past wrongs, but also of celebrating the gifts that all of humanity has to offer.
With the support of a grant from Calgary Arts Development Association (CADA), CRSP is embarking on this journey. Guided by our Artistic Director, Jane Perry, we will first explore, with the help of leaders in Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC) communities, ways we can creatively and respectfully work together. Then we will take steps to create an environment that attracts and welcomes greater diversity in the choir itself and in our audience. We will continue to share with people of all cultures the music we love, while embracing new music and new collaborations. We want prospective choristers and audience members from previously underrepresented groups to be able to see themselves in our work and want to join us.
We have company in this work. For example, Winnipeg’s Renaissance music ensemble, Camerata Nova, founded by Cree composer Andrew Balfour, has renamed itself Dead of Winter, and is incorporating Indigenous stories and songs into its performances. Locally, String Theory Music Collective’s (STMC) upcoming concert, Chant, features a new work by STMC’s Andrea Neumann and Sherryl Sewepagaham, a Cree/Dene song-maker who has also collaborated with Luminous Voices. And a recent Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra concert, I Rise, was an innovative combination of contemporary choral music and the Black Lives Matter Mural Project. It included music by Florence Price, a female African American classical composer whose works have not received the attention they are now seen to have deserved.
Our journey is in its early stages. We hope to share the first fruits of this work with you, our audience, one year from now, in our winter, 2023 concert. Welcome to the journey!
Many arts organizations are realizing that as predominantly white organizations both in terms of performers and audience, they are limited in their ability to grow both in terms of audience, performers, and repertoire. With respect to our organization in particular, much Renaissance music came from the colonizing countries, and from the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, our project will aim to:
Develop a welcoming, safe space where choral singers of all backgrounds can see themselves belonging. This process will begin with education and conversations with Indigenous composers, conductors, performers and Elders about how we might work toward decolonizing Renaissance music and furthering Reconciliation, and then with IBPOC persons.
Invest in continuing artistic relationships with Indigenous and Indigenous, Black and People of Colour performers, first as guest artists and then moving towards collaborative performances