This Mother’s Day, indulge in an unforgettable afternoon with String Theory at Dolce Baroque: A Salon of Serenades & Sweets. Inspired by the European coffeehouses of centuries past, we present a delightful concert featuring an eclectic program performed on historical instruments.

Special guests include Lucie Jones on baroque flute, and mother-daughter sopranos Julie Harris and Elizabeth Fast.

Enjoy complimentary refreshments, stroll past the art display, and capture a special memory keepsake at our photo booth.

We can't wait to welcome you!

String Theory Musicians

Andrea Neumann, baroque violin
Louise Stuppard, baroque violin
Diane Lane, baroque violin
Dean O'Brien, baroque viola
Liz Tremblay, baroque cello
Justin Luchinski, harpsichord

Presented by Early Music Voices, join String Theory on February 10th with special guest violinist Julia Wedman! Enjoy music intended for private, royal concerts, and fancy yourself at Versailles for a grand public spectacle. The French style, with its irresistible courtly dance rhythms, rippled across national boundaries to infuse the musical offerings in the cathedrals of Germany and the theatres of London. Vous êtes invités!

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” ― Albert Einstein

Kronos & Kairos features String Theory live in concert with actor Chris Sandvoss. We’ll unravel and explore the mysteries of time through the lens of baroque music. Composers during the baroque period persuaded their audiences using kronos and kairos, the rhetorical devices referring to quantitative and qualitative aspects of time. Our performance includes composers that used these devices masterfully to disarm perceptions and elicit emotions. Vignettes from the book Einstein’s Dreams by MIT physicist Alan Lightman will accompany the music.

String Theory Musicians
Andrea Neumann, baroque violin
Louise Stuppard, baroque violin
Diane Lane, baroque violin
Andrea Case, baroque cello & gamba
Ralph Maier, theorbo
Justin Luchinski, harpsichord & organ

String Theory Music Collective presents CHANT, a concert inspired by the human impulse to create music for healing and connection. Featuring Cree-Dene Songmaker Sherryl Sewepagaham, Spiritus Chamber Choir, and the Calgary Children's Choir, our foray explores music from around the globe. Ancient composers such as Hildegard of Bingen and Palestrina resonate alongside modern composers such as Arvo Pärt and Ola Gjeilo. Canadian composers are featured throughout the program, and a highlight will be the premier of a new work by Sherryl Sewepagaham and Andrea Neumann.

* Two shorter concerts will be presented at the Calgary Central Library on Sun, November 20th @ 1:30pm & 2:30pm. These performances are free to the public and are great for families with young children.

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About Sherryl Sewepagaham

Sherryl Sewepagaham is of Cree-Dene ancestry from the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta. She holds a Bachelor of Music Therapy (Capilano University) and a Bachelor of Education (University of Alberta). Having taught elementary music for 14 years, Sherryl is an experienced elementary Music Educator focusing on Indigenous Music Education and First Nations songs for the classroom.

Sherryl is a 22-year member of the 2005 Juno-nominated, Edmonton-based trio Asani and composes drum songs in the Cree language. Asani received a 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award, a 2010 Indian Summer Music Award, a 2005 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award, and many other music awards nominations. Asani toured extensively around the world performing at Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., and the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver BC.

Sherryl is also a composer of traditional and contemporary First Nations drum songs. Her 2014 debut solo album, Splashing the Water Loudly, received a 2015 Indigenous Music Award nomination and is featured in APTN’s Chaos and Courage series. Sherryl wrote the music and lyrics for the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program (MAP) song, “Music Alive”, which has been shared with elementary schools across Canada. Sherryl also created and co-created three teacher resources for the MAP program and continues to develop cultural programs for music teachers.

About Spiritus Chamber Choir

Spiritus Chamber Choir is an internationally award-winning amateur choir founded in 1995, based in Calgary, Canada. Spiritus has been recognized both nationally and internationally for its high-quality performances, musicianship and unique collaborations. Spiritus is committed to excellence in choral music, performing for music lovers in Calgary and surrounding areas.

Artistic Director: Andrea Ciona

To learn more, visit: http://www.spirituschamberchoir.ca

About Calgary Children's Choir

Established in 1987, The Calgary Children's Choir has built an international reputation of excellence and fostered a life long love of music in hundreds of young people. Members receive outstanding training in choral technique and musical theory, perform several times a year, and build lasting relationships. The Calgary Children’s Choir promotes an environment of family and community through our mentoring programs, allowing each child to shine and grow vocally in a safe, supportive environment.

Artistic Director: Kathryn Berko

To learn more, visit: https://calgarychildrenschoir.com

“When plague arrived in Venice in the summer of 1575, one of the most mobile and dynamic cities in Europe ground to a halt. Carnevale was cancelled; preaching and church services were stopped; shops, inns and taverns were closed; charlatans and mountebanks could no longer gather an audience in the streets. In an effort to quarantine the worst affected area, the city was blocked off at the Rialto bridge and half of the population isolated in their homes.” - Rosa Salzberg

In These Distracted Tymes, String Theory Music Collective performs 17th and 18th Century baroque music from Italy, Germany and England. Our current pandemic experience has its historical parallels. The voices of composers whose lives were impacted during these times find their way to us through their music. "Venetian School" composers such as Biagio Marini emerged after the plague of 1575, and composers such as Legrenzi and Uccellini would have endured the Great Plague of Milan in 1629 during their lifetime. As we collectively shift our thoughts to the things that endure and sustain us, we remember that music can be a place of healing and rest in challenging times. We invite you to set aside the distractions of our time for an afternoon of live music performed on baroque instruments. Music is an essential service...for the soul! We hope you will join us on October 31st.

Inspired by the meditative quality of the traditional Anglican Evensong, CRSP's "A Renaissance Evensong" embraces music and poetry outside the bounds of traditional liturgy as we make space for contemplation in the dark of winter.

Choral selections include Medieval and Renaissance repertoire along with a setting of the "Ubi caritas" text by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978).

Our instrumentalists from String Theory Music Collective include baroque violinists Andrea Neumann and Louise Stuppard (who are also STMC's Co-Artistic Directors), baroque cellist and gamba player Joan Kent, and CRSP conductor Jane Perry at the harpsichord. They have chosen three works of the Baroque era: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Trio Sonata, BWV 527: Adagio e Dolce; Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778)Trio Sonata in G, op. 3 no. 2
Largo, Largo---Allegro; and Christopher Simpson (1602/1606 - 1669)
"Pavan" from Suite in D Major from "Ayres for 3 viols"

Our Evensong will also include readings from three Calgary poets, Weyman Chan, Cassy Welburn and Roberta Rees. Two of the three felt inspired to write brand-new poems specifically for this concert presentation.

All in all, "A Renaissance Evensong" will provide a space where the listener's imagination can flow with the currents and eddies of a breadth of artistic expression --- where all of us can enjoy the warmth of human creativity on one of the longest nights of the year.

Florilegia Re-Animated features a bouquet of music, literary, and art work. Florilegium can mean many things. In music, it refers to a bouquet of musical pieces, in the literary world it means a compendium or anthology, and in visual art it refers to botanical illustration and art. Florilegia Re-Animated explores nature's beauty as it is represented in music, poetry, and art. The program brings together 13 local musicians along with visual artist Jennifer Wanner's work, which literally springs to life in animation along with our live music. Baroque flutist Lucie Jones will perform Vivaldi's "Goldfinch Concerto" and our own arrangement of Purcell's "Strike the Viol" featuring soprano, Sarah Staples will be another highlight. The seeds of the program spring from German baroque composer Georg Muffat's "Florilegium Primum" in which his suites of dance music are assembled in the French ballet style. Muffat's belief that the combination of German, Italian and French musical traditions could bring about peaceful accord is a metaphor that still resonates in today's world. Each dance suite from "Florilegium Primum" is named after a flower and we will perform the suite entitled "Impatientia". 

Jennifer Wanner
Florilegia Re-Animated, 2019
Hand-cut inkjet paper collage on Stonehenge paper, 25.5” x 16.5”

Mythical and fantastical themes inspired the grand ballet spectacles of the royal courts of France during the Renaissance and Baroque. Terpsichore, the Greek goddess of lyric poetry and dance, is our muse this evening as we celebrate French music and dance, tracing their evolution over centuries. 

This concert of Italian baroque music takes its title from a sonata by Michele Mascitti (1664-1760). It features Calgary's new String Theory Music Collective with Andrea Neumann & Louise Stuppard, violins and Joan Kent, gamba/cello. Joining them are the singers of VoiceScapes & Toronto soprano, Katherine Hill.