CRSP is pleased that the plague has waned and we can continue performing live concerts. This “divers(e)” program brings together works from Renaissance and modern periods, and from both European and Indigenous cultures.

In the Indigenous tradition, special guest Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes will perform a Welcome Song. Our concert will feature several pieces by Canadian Cree composer, Andrew Balfour, including two pieces he wrote for Vancouver's Musica Intima, with music by Renaissance/Baroque composers (Gibbons and Purcell) and new Cree texts.

Selections from the early music repertoire will include beloved works such as Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus and Tallis’ If Ye Love Me. We will also introduce you to the obscure and innovative English early Baroque composer, George Jeffreys (c.1610-1685). Organist Jim Picken will join the choir to perform Jeffreys’ He Beheld the City.  And because 2023 is the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, we have chosen a madrigal by each of them for this concert.

We are also delighted to perform original compositions by CRSP Artistic Directors, past and present:  Anthony Petti, Peter Togni, Jane Perry and Paul Grindlay.

Colin Redekop has served as CRSP's Accompanist for the 2022-23 season. An organist, Colin obtained his Master of Music degree from the University of Calgary. He is active in Calgary's music scene as Assistant Organist at Christ Church Elbow Park, and also accompanies and sings with Spiritus Chamber Choir.

Colin takes great pride in performing music that speaks to people and sees his music as a gift to those he cares about. He does not shy away from conducting the occasional rehearsal when the occasion arises, in addition to accompanying our group weekly.

We asked Colin what he likes to do in his free time. He told us he has been running (competitively) for 15 years, reporting that this keeps him healthy in spite of the nine times he has dislocated his shoulder! He is finally booked for surgery and so will be unable to perform with us on May 7th.

We at CRSP have enjoyed working with Colin, a talented and witty musician, and are happy that he is getting some help with that cantankerous shoulder!

Jane Perry, Artistic Director CRSP, currently on leave

The whole score of "All Shall Be Well" arrived in my imagination one day as a complete thought. All I had to do was write it down. Where it came from exactly....

Julian of Norwich's text is simple and powerful: "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well... for there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go."  In my experience, that love is woven fine through the richly hued fabric that is my community of CRSP choristers. 

I've been a reticent composer for most of my life. Improvising at the keyboard comes quite naturally to me, as does improvising vocal harmonies. However, the task of sitting down to commit music to the physical page has always felt daunting to me. It's not as quick a process as improvisation, and not as instantly gratifying! That said, on those occasions where I have made the decision to write out the music that constantly floats through my imagination, it has always been rewarding in the end, because I generally write for choirs or individuals whom I know and love. To hear them perform my music is a true delight.

Paul Grindlay, Current Acting Artistic Director

I have been enamored by the sound of male voices since I was a small boy soprano. This love of that sound is certainly one of the inspirations that encouraged me to develop my own voice, to work with men's choirs and with the Calgary Boys' Choir.

"God be in my Head" is my setting of a devotional text that I have always appreciated. It was written for my SuperSonic Men's Choir, probably in 2009. The piece’s premiere performance was significantly marketed as a selling point, which was a bit cheeky, given that it is such a short piece of music.

Alive" was written for the Calgary Boys’ Choir. We needed a third piece for our application to the City of Lincoln male voice ensemble class, and I made the risky decision to come up with the title for a piece that I would have to compose and rehearse in a two-month period. It could have been disastrous, but we ended up winning locally, being advanced to provincials and eventually taking second or third place nationally (or something like that.

Writing is a slow process for me. I hope these two pieces can be enjoyed as colourful miniatures at this concert, shining a spotlight on both our treble voices and our tenors-and-basses. 

Peter Anthony Togni, CRSP Artistic Director from 1985 to 1987

Peter tells us that his first introduction to music was when his father, a Swiss-Canadian organist, composer, improviser, and teacher, placed the infant Peter in his basket on the organ. Peter took piano lessons as a child, but always preferred improvising to what was written on the page. At age 15, he announced to his family that he was going to be a composer! He went on to study music at university and has indeed become a composer of both choral and instrumental works as well as a broadcaster, educator, pianist, and organist. He currently lives in Nova Scotia.

Peter’s music is spiritually rooted and contemplative. “Totus Tuus” was written in 1999 as a commission from Our Lady of Sorrows Church Choir in Etobicoke, Ontario. The choir was invited to sing at the Vatican for St. John Paul II who was the Pope at the time. The piece was based on the Pope’s favourite prayer to the Virgin Mary. Intended to run for 1 minute 3 seconds, the piece clocked in at almost 3 minutes. Regardless, the Pope loved it so much he asked the choir to sing it again! A picture of the choir with the Pope after performing Totus Tuus now hangs on Peter’s living room wall.