AURA is a registered not-for-profit society dedicated to the performance of fine choral music. Based in Vernon, BC, its 40 members come from throughout the Okanagan Valley and Shuswap area.
Well, it has been too long since we have posted to our public web site. Of course there have been no rehearsals and no concerts to inform you about and It doesn’t help that I’m not much of a talker.
But now it is different…. we do have something to talk about.
Over the last few months, about half the choir agreed to attempt the recording of a piece we had rehearsed before the Covid-19 virus began roaring through the country. This is not an easy process. It requires great attention to detail as each singer performs their part, individually recording it in a digital format. These individual recordings are then mixed together to form a complete piece. It is a very complex process to say the least.
So, attached is a link that will allow you to download our performance of The Rose – Ola Geilo.
We hope that with vaccinations ramping up and cases slowly declining that we will be able to talk with you again this fall about AURA’s plan for re-starting rehearsals so that we can enjoy fine choral music with you again in person.
AURA Chamber Choir Spring Concerts, April 3 and 4 – CANCELLED and POSTPONED
It is with deep regret that the AURA Spring Concerts scheduled for April 3 and 4 have had to be cancelled for now because of the COVID-19 health advisories. We do hope and plan to perform the music at a later date, probably not in June but in the fall. Check AURA’S Facebook and website for updates.
If you have already purchased a ticket, you may exchange it for a refund from the person who sold it to you.
This is going to be a wonderful experience for the choir and the audience!
Featuring our Youth Orchestra Chamber Ensemble in Vivaldi’s Gloria along with Marjorie on the All Saints organ and special guests the Seaton Honour Choir under the direction of Lana O’Brien joining us in Baba Yetu (a Swahili adaption of The Lord’s Prayer), we will present an amazing range of repertoire.
You might be surprised to hear AURA’s “cowboy side” flourish in Imant Raminsh’s lament Sunset or marvel at the rhythmic complexity of Jon Washburn’s Chinese Melodies written for the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s first tour to Asia.
The Seaton choir will perform two pieces on their own- Plasir d’Amour and The Piano.
And there is more……
See the poster below for details of location and time but please note the change of days.
AURA has traditionally performed on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons but we have now changed to Friday April 3 at 7:30pm and Saturday April 4 at 2:00pm.
We didn’t want to let the year slip away without wishing all of our friends of fine classical choral music a warm wish for peace, contentment and wonderful celebrations throughout this Christmas season.
While it doesn’t look like it through my window, spring will come! And in preparation for our Spring 2020 concerts, we have already had two rehearsals.
The program will feature Vivaldi’s Gloria with organ and chamber orchestra. We’ll round out the program with a piece by our founding director Imant Raminsh along with works by Jon Washburn, Jake Runestad, Don Mcdonald and Beethoven’s Hallelujah from the Mount of Olives.
The concerts will take place at Vernon’s All Saints Anglican Church on Friday April 3rd and Saturday April 4th, 2020.
Further details regarding ticket availability will be published in March.
This is a gentle reminder of AURA’s Remembrance Day program happening this weekend- Saturday evening at 7:30pm or Sunday afternoon 2:00pm.
Both concerts, under the direction of our new conductor Tami Harker, are performed at All Saints Anglican Church, 3205 27th Street, Vernon, BC.
The program reflects the themes of remembrance as well as hope and will include accompaniments with trumpet, harp and flute as well as piano and organ.
This fall AURA Chamber
Choir will be presenting the concert “In Remembrance” to honour those who
sacrificed their lives in the hope that we could live in a free country.
The first half of the
program consists of war poems set to music by modern composers as well as
famous hymns sung in the trenches. These include works such as Holst’s 8 part a
cappella I vow to thee my Country and Eleanor Daley’s For
the Fallen with solo trumpet.
The second half of the
program celebrates the “Joy of Remembering”. These musical arrangements
include Imant Raminsh’s setting of the war poem A Shining Peace,
Robert Shaw’s All Creatures of Our God and King, and
Lauridson’s On this Shining Night.
Highlights of the
program include two Ukrainian songs: Plyve Cacha is a
haunting Ukrainian folk song sung by the men. This piece has now become
an anthem song in Ukraine honouring those who died in Maidan in 2014. The
women then answer this piece with an uplifting song of Hope: Nadija,
music written by Larysa Kuzmenko and words by famous Ukrainian poet Lesia
Ukrainka. Hope is described both on a personal level and as the hope for
an independent and free nation. AURA will also be performing His Voice as the Sound an incredible
American folk song, with recorder, organ and Harp, as well as Biebl’s 8
part Ave Maria.
It’s a program sure to
please all with its intense beauty and classics such as Vivaldi’s Gloria, Healey Willan’s Gloria
Deo Per Immensa Saecula, and Mozart’s Italian Placido E Il Mar. Along
with these classics will come new settings such as In Remembrance by
Eleanor Daley and Abide with Me, a stunning new arrangement by
Greg Jasperse.
If you go to one
Remembrance Day Program this year, AURA invites you to come to this one.
Those attending will leave with a feeling of hope for a bright future, and a thankful heart to those who fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy today. Under direction from AURA’s new musical director Tami Harker, In Remembrance will be presented Saturday November 9th at 7:30pm, and Sunday November 10th at 2:00pm, at All Saints Anglican Church (3205 27th Street, Vernon). Tickets are $18.00, students free; available from choir members, at the Bean Scene, or at the door.
AURA’s 40th anniversary concert, our third performance of the Bach Mass in B-Minor, was an outstanding success!
Performed in both Vernon and Kamloops, the concerts were very well attended by appreciative audiences and much enjoyed by all the performers.
Thanks to Vivace Choral, our professional orchestra and especially our soloists for making this a performance long to be remembered.
For me, one of the “highlight” moments was Lynne McMurtry’s wonderful aria Qui sedes ad dextram Patris accompanied by the beautiful oboe of Jean Landa. There is no sound more exquisite than Lynne’s rich and powerful contralto voice combined with the haunting sound of the oboe.
We give great thanks especially to Imant Raminsh, our retired Music Director, not only for choosing this wonderful work to celebrate his 4o years with AURA but also for all the programming selections he has made. The choir and our community have been richly enhanced by these choices, not least of all, the many pieces of his own composition that we have performed.
Finally we warmly welcome our new Music Director, Tami Harker. Please see her biography on this web site. We look forward to announcing her program for our Fall concerts which will take place on November 9th & 10th at All Saints Anglican Church in Vernon.
This Saturday April 27 at 2:30 pm, AURA will celebrate it’s 40th anniversary with the performance of Bach’s Mass in B-minor including Vivace Chorale from Kamloops, professional orchestra and soloists. Our conductor (performing in his last program as AURA’s music director) will be the internationally recognized Imant Raminsh, C.M.
This music is powerful, inspiring and among the world’s most awe inspiring creations. Composed by J. S. Bach, what more needs to be said except not to miss this concert if at all possible. This will be only the third time that the Mass in B-minor has been performed in the Okanagan Valley (all performed by AURA).
Please see the post below for information about our soloists for this performance.
Tickets are still available from choir members and the Bean Scene coffee house or at the door.
Trinity United Church (3300Alexis Park Drive) is the venue for the Saturday afternoon 2:30pm Vernon concert with our Kamloops performance at Kamloops Full Gospel Tabernacle, 1550 Tranquille Road at 7:00 pm, Sunday April 28, 2019 conducted by Cvetozar Vutev.
For more information, please send us a message from the “contact us” button at the top of this page or call 250-542-8118.
Exactly one month (Saturday April 27, 2:30 pm) from today, AURA will celebrate it’s 40th anniversary with the performance of Bach’s Mass in B-minor including Vivace Chorale from Kamloops, professional orchestra and soloists. Our conductor will be the internationally recognized Imant Raminsh, C.M.
Tickets are now available from choir members and the Bean Scene coffee house or at the door.
Trinity United Church (3300Alexis Park Drive) is the venue for the afternoon Vernon concert with our Kamloops performance at Kamloops Full Gospel Tabernacle, 1550 Tranquille Road at 7:00 pm, Sunday April 28, 2019 conducted by Cvetozar Vutev.
For more information, please send us a message from the “contact us” button at the top of this page or call 250-542-8118.
AURA offers heart felt congratulations on the appointment of our founding conductor Imant Raminsh as a member of the Order of Canada.
Imant is recognized Internationally for his compositions and has recently retired as principal second violin with the Okanagan Symphony and continues as a violin and theory teacher with the Vernon Community Music School. He is a founder of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, Nova Children’s Chorus, founder of the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan and AURA Chamber Choir.
And it is in that role as AURA’s music Director that so many North Okanagan people have come to have amazing musical experiences with him. Imant’s programming choices over these 40 years have given AURA singers the opportunity to perform a wide range of programs including many of the masterpieces: The Mozart Requiem and Grand Mass in C-minor, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Brahm’s German Requiem, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the St. John and St. Mathew Passions are among my personal favourites.
In recalling Imant’s forty years with AURA, we cannot forget the challenge and the beauty of the many Raminsh works we have been privileged to perform especially Ave Verum Corpus,Gloria, and a highlite of my musical life, singing his Magnificat and Missa Brevis under his direction in Carnegie Hall.
But surely the best of the best will be our upcoming third performance of Bach’s Mass in B-minor. It is monumental, inspiring and awesome in its capacity to bring light to the world.
Thank you Imant for these forty years of outstanding music.
Please see the link below for news coverage of the announcement.
AURA Chamber Choir 