Anybody who will enjoy bathing in the sound of the human voice is invited to be an audience member of the Chorealis Vocal Ensemble.
The nine-member acappella group is taking this year’s presentation, A Moving Stillness, on a tour through some of the older churches in the Okanagan, and they have a show booked at St. Stephen Anglican Church in Summerland.
“The particular churches that we’re singing in we’ve chosen because of the acoustics in each of them,” said group member Gloria Brooks. “The building’s are a little smaller, usually have quite a bit of wood and stone, and it’s good for the sounds resonating in that space.”
The ensemble formed in 2008 and performs music from throughout the ages, but A Moving Stillness will centre largely around music that was produced during the renaissance era.
“We sing both sacred and secular, but this concert will be a sacred concert,” Brooks said.
Music made during the renaissance offered a new, harmonious blend of new ideas with what was then traditional.
“Some of these composers were really linked into something very profound,” she said. “Actually having harmony was fairly new because for centuries, the voice was just a single voice – often what you hear in cathedrals or monasteries, just a single line with everybody in unison. When music started to expand to have more parts, the composers were still able to capture the purity of that one voice but also bring in wonderful harmonies.”
A Moving Stillness won’t exclusively offer renaissance music however, as a composition by Kelowna musician Sandra Wilmont will be performed. Brooks said Chorealis creates music without any instruments because “there’s something just so pure about having only the human voice.”
The performance in Summerland is expected to put the audience in a still and meditative mood.
“We’re asking people not to applaud and we won’t have any speaking in between pieces, so we’re just going to have continuous singing with little moments in between. It’s lovely to have uninterrupted sounds like that without any kind of breaking or destructing of the atmosphere.”
A Moving Stillness takes place in Summerland at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 1. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased at the door or by calling the Beanery at 250-494-1884, and through St. Stephen’s, 250-494-1884.