Alio Modo featuring Vancouver Viols

Date/Time
Date(s) - February 18, 2018
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Location
St. James Anglican Church

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Vancouver Viols is a consortium of musicians in and around Vancouver, BC who are dedicated to exploring music for viola da gamba: a Renaissance instrument with a rich, clear, and expressive sound.

While the viol originated hundreds of years ago, it remains part of a vibrant living tradition of professional & amateur players, composers, and enthusiasts. In this distinctive programme, five local musicians come together to explore the full potential of the instrument – from the rich relentlessness of J.S. Bach’s “Passacaglia in C minor” and the playfulness of Christopher Tye’s “In Nomine: Crye,” in which the instruments imitate the shouts of a street vendor, to the sheer joy of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “Agnus Dei,” heard here in a new arrangement by local organist David Poon.

One possible translation of “alio modo” is “in another style.” The music presented in this concert casts a broad net, but the fundamental effect is sonorous, moving, and timeless.

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