Ensemble Musica Orbium plans to do its part in “keeping the repertoire alive” with its upcoming season, which promises to be both musically satisfying and challenging on many fronts. In keeping with its mission, Orbium will challenge the listener with unfamiliar but beautiful choral repertoire.

DOWNLOAD OUR 2009-2010 SEASON BROCHURE

Ave Maria: Works dedicated to the Blessed Virgin St George’s Anglican Church 1101 Stanley Street, Montréal (corner Peel and la Gauchetière) Metro Bonaventure

Kerry-Anne Kutz, soprano
Philip Crozier, organ

It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the Blessed Virgin Mary has inspired more works of art than any other single figure in western history. Music, poetry, statuary, paintings, prose, theatre—the list is endless. And the reason is not hard to find: Mary perfectly spans the human and the divine, the personal and the iconic, the worldly and the heavenly. Musica Orbium samples some elegant musical offerings from the renaissance to the 20th century. Works by Rachmaninov, Pärt, Chilcott and others (including several “Ave Marias” and “Magnificats”) will precede the beautiful and engaging “Stabat Mater” by French genius Francis Poulenc.

Sunday April 25, 2010 at 7:30 pm

In praise of the Earth Christ Church Cathedral 1444 Union Avenue, Montréal Metro McGill

Musica Orbium is pleased to celebrate Earth Day with a concert of music devoted to the praise of nature in all its complex glory. We will sing of birds and animals, of flowers and woods, of storms and seasons. Beginning with madrigals by some favourite composers (Gibbons, Morley, Passereau, Lejeune, et al), we will include the “Six Chansons” of Paul Hindemith, the “Five Flower Songs” of Benjamin Britten, the “Chansons des bois d’Amaranthe” of Jules Massenet, and the extraordinarily evocative “Epitaph for Moonlight” of Canada’s R. Murray Schafer. Come and join us in this musical tribute to the wonders of nature.