TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
Echo Women’s Choir celebrates its 25th anniversary with favourite songs from past seasons and newer ones as well, in its winter concert, Ain’t Life Sweet, Sunday, December 11, 7:30 p.m. at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square (behind the Eaton Centre; wheelchair accessible).
Becca Whitla and Alan Gasser conduct, with Whitla also at the piano. Special guest, Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Annabelle Chvostek, joins the vivacious 80-voice choir in her song Black Hole, which she arranged for Echo, and performs a solo set of her own.
Tickets are $15 in advance; $20 at the door; $10 for seniors, children and underwaged. Tickets and information can be obtained through www.echowomenschoir.ca, or by e-mailing info.echo@gmail.com or calling 416-779-5554.
Annabelle Chvostek
This is Annabelle Chvostek’s third Echo guest appearance. The Toronto-based, multi-instrumentalist artist recently joined Echo as artist in residence. She has performed in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K, and recorded six solo albums, the latest titled Be the Media. More info is available at http://annabellemusic.com.
Ain’t Life Sweet, Echo’s concert title, comes from a song the choir sings by Penny Lang. Described as “the much-beloved doyenne of Montreal’s folk music scene,” Lang died earlier this year in her B.C. home.
Echo also performs numbers written or adapted by Brendan Taafe, which the choir learned in a workshop with the Vermont singer-songwriter. They include I Cross Till I am Weary, based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Among old favourites are Ysaye Barnwell’s We Are, Fred Small’s Everything Possible, the traditional Welsh song Ar Lan Y Mor (by the sea), Malcolm Dalglish’s Song of Solstice, and The Warrior Song by The Wyrd Sisters. There will also be a set featuring the distinctive harmonies of the Republic of Georgia.
