Eternal & Divine - Sunday, October 26, 2025 - 3:00 pm
The Cellar Singers turn their voices to W.A. Mozart’s Vespers Solennes de Confessore and Requiem in D minor for the first concert of the 2025/26 season.
This concert is an exercise in contrasts. Mozart composed Vespers when he was 23 years old. He then went on to compose numerous other works. He was commissioned to compose the Requiem when he was 35, and only partially completed it before his untimely death. Vespers is graceful and triumphant, written for a church service in Salzburg. The Requiem is deeply personal, dramatic and solemn.
Led by Mitchell Pady, accompanied by Ernesto de Luca on piano and organ, the choir will be joined by selected soloists. Please join us at St. James Anglican Church at 58 Peter St. North in Orillia.
Christmas Fantasia - Saturday, December 20, 2025 - 4:00 pm
This concert will be presented at St. James Anglican Church in Orillia. Take a break from this busy time of year to reflect on the true meaning of the season.
The Cellar Singers will sing R. Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols and M. Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noel, led by Mitchell Pady and accompanied by Ernesto de Luca and joined by talented soloists.
R. Vaughan Williams’ work weaves together a beautiful selection of traditional carols such as The truth sent from above and Sussex Carol, which evokes the peaceful serenity of a snowy Christmas landscape.
Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, or “midnight mass” is a Baroque era work that uses traditional French folk Christmas tunes to present a solemn mass. Imagine going to church expecting a solemn mass and hearing the music of familiar carols.
Rejoice - Sunday, March 8, 2026 - 3:00 pm
The Cellar Singers will perform Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, at St. James Anglican Church in Orillia.
Chichester Psalms was commissioned in 1965 for a choral festival, and is known for its joyful exuberance interspersed with somber and reflective passages. This work is a powerful yet accessible piece. It moves from joy and celebration to conflict, and resolves in a deep sense of peace and unity. It is said to be an example of the connection between Jewish and Christian traditions through the shared use of the Book of Psalms.
Rejoice in the Lamb is a cantata based on a poem written by Christopher Smart, Jubilate Agno. This work was composed in 1943 and sets Smart's idiosyncratic poem to music, celebrating the worthiness and glory of all creation, from the simple playfulness of a cat and mouse, to the music of praise from complicated instrumentation.
