University of British Columbia Chamber Singers

The University of British Columbia Chamber Singers. Student choir of twelve mixed voices assembled in 1962 by Cortland Hultberg to perform music of the 15th, 16th, and 20th centuries; 17th-century music was later also included on programs. Thechoir's modern repertoire includes works by Barber, Carter, Stephen Chatman, Barney Childs, Stravinsky, and Webern, and by many composers employing electronic tape and synthetic sound. The group tours annually (for two weeks) in British Columbia and Alberta, and performances in schools - to encourage students to participate in choral singing - constitute an important element in the choir's itinerary. It has appeared in eastern Canada (eg, in Montreal and Ottawa in 1988) and at universities on the west coast of the USA. It performed at the Canadian Music Council conference in 1972 and at the 1978 ISME conference in London, Ont. In 1985 it travelled with the University of British Columbia's University Singers to Austria, Germany, and Luxembourg. It gave the premieres of István Anhalt's Cento in 1967, Murray Schafer's From the Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1968, Luis de Pablo's Portrait imaginé in 1975, Eugene Wilson's Julia in 1981, and his Three Pieces for Women in 1991, and the Canadian premiere of John Tavener's The Whale in 1968. It has also regularly premiered works by students, many of whom have growing or established reputations as composers, including Glenn Buhr, Sherilyn Fritz, Brian Gibson, Peter Hatch, Ramona Luenzen, John Oliver, Richard Payne, Anita Perry, Robert Pritchard, and Barry Truax.

Author Thelma Reid Lower, Bryan N.S. Gooch

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