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"Gregorian Chant in Honour of the Virgin Mary"
GIC Fifth Annual Colloquium – August 12th to 15th 2010Chicoutimi (QC)
Honorary Chairs: Mrs Gabrielle Gaudreault and Mr Yvon Gaudreault
Presented in collaboration with the Una Voce Gregorian Choir of Saguenay, the Monastery of the Servantes du Très Saint Sacrement and the Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay
Servantes du Très Saint Sacrement Monastery, Chicoutimi (Photography: Sevantes du Très Saint Sacrement of Chicoutimi)
The Gregorian Institute of Canada settled on the magnificent Saguenay region of Quebec for its Fifth Annual Colloquium, to be held from August 12th to 15th 2010 at the Servantes du Très Saint Sacrement monastery in Chicoutimi. GIC has been working intensively over the past few months to prepare the event. Colloquium program, the theme of which will be "Gregorian Chant in Honour of the Virgin Mary", will include practical Gregorian chant workshops open to all levels of experience, liturgical offices, concerts, and to conclude, Solemn Mass for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Sacré-Coeur Church in Chicoutimi.
Sacré-Coeur Church, Chicoutimi (Photography: Diocese of Chicoutimi)
Our guest speaker will be Juan Carlos Asensio Palacios, Director of the Schola Antiqua of Spain and renowned musicologist. In addition, chant workshops will be led by Raymond Laforge and Guy Lemire, respectively director and assistant director of Una Voce Gregorian Choir, Michel Gammon, member of Sherbrooke Gregorian Choir, Jean-Pierre Noiseux, Director of Schola Saint Grégoire of Montréal, and William Oates, member of Hamilton Schola Cantorum.
Participants will be invited to sing the following monastic liturgial offices: Compline, Terce, Sext, None, and First Vespers for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The opening concert entitled "Louanges mariales" will be performed by the Una Voce Gregorian Choir under the direction of Raymond Laforge.
Gala Concert
"Splendeurs du moyen âge"
Toronto Schola Magdalena sings
HILDEGARD VON BINGENGuillaume Dufay and Gregorian chants Dir.: Stephanie Martin
Friday August 13, 2010 at 8:00PM
Tickets are included for Colloquium registrants. Extra tickets are available for $25 Regular and $20 for students and seniors.
Saint-François-Xavier Cathedral, Chicoutimi (Photography: Michel Baron)
Colloquium Schedule (pdf)Colloquium Music (pdf):Thursday ComplineFriday SextSaturday TerceSaturday NoneAssumption First VespersAssumption Mass
WELCOME TO BEGINNERS!
Spaces are still available for those who will not need accommodation Register now!
Registration Form (pdf)
For information: The Third Journées grégoriennes in Montréal
From May 21st to 23rd 2010, a group of approximately 25 people from Montreal, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, and Toronto gathered at Saint-Viateur-d'Outremont church to take part in the 3rd Journées grégoriennes in Montréal. For the first time, the Journées began on a Friday evening, with an opening concert. Under the direction of Pascale Duhamel, a female vocal ensemble from Montreal, Les Scholastiques Neumatiques, gave a masterful performance of excerpts from the Office of Pentecost, to the delight of registered participants who had taken place in the choir pews of Saint-Viateur church. The evening closed with the singing of Compline.
On Saturday, while chant instruction for beginners was in the care of Alain Vadeboncoeur, Director of the Ensemble Virga, more experienced singers had the opportunity to work on chants from the Proper for Pentecost under the direction of Rebecca Bain, a member of the Scholastiques Neumatiques, and Jean-Pierre Noiseux, exploring two different stylistic approaches. Toward the end of the afternoon, Pascale Duhamel gave an interesting talk on the heritage of Gregorian chant in Medieval polyphony. In the evening, the Schola Saint Grégoire, under the direction of Jean-Pierre Noiseux, performed a concert of Pentecost chant, including tropes and a sequence for that feast, taken from Aquitainian notation manuscripts. When the concert ended, the attentive audience demanded an encore, and the Schola complied with the Alleluia verse Laetatus sum, performed with fauxbourdon.
Sunday morning, the assembled participants, including cantors from the Schola Saint Grégoire and the Scholastiques Neumatiques, magnificently united their voices to celebrate Pentecost Mass with appropriate solemnity. GIC Returned to Kalamazoo
The Gregorian Institute of Canada sponsored two sessions at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 13-16, 2010, at The Medieval Institute of the Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The first session was a "The Liturgical Office of Saint Thomas Becket: Chant Selections (A Performance)", prepared by Pascale Duhamel and William Renwick, and performed by a Schola of twelve from Hamilton, London, Toronto and Waterloo. The music, presented in Kanley Chapel, University of Western Michigan, was from both Parisian and Sarum sources, and featured a procession with Prose, and a good number of Responsories and Antiphons. The audience seemed both enthusiastic and appreciative.
The second, "The Liturgical Office of Saint Thomas Becket: Current Research Projects", organized by William Oates and Chaired by William Renwick, offered two presentations on the Office of Thomas Becket, by Kate Helsen and Roseen Giles, both participants in the Becket Project under the supervision of Andrew Hughes at the University of Toronto.
Kate's paper illustrated the musical differences to be found between the earlier Office Responsories in general and the later Office of Thomas Becket in particular, noting especially the significant differences in cadence types to be found in the later Responsories of the Feast of S. Thomas. Roseen's paper illustrated lingering use of a-diestematic notation as preserved in several manuscripts of the Office of S. Thomas, and gave insightful perspectives on why copyists would choose to continue with the neumes at a period when the square notation had become almost universal. Both papers were especially appreciated in that most of the music had been sung only an hour previously in the performance.
Thanks to all who participated for making the sessions delightful and memorable. Many of the cast regaled at a local restaurant later in the evening.
The Congress is an annual gathering of over 3,000 scholars interested in Medieval Studies. It features over 600 sessions of papers, panel discussions, roundtables, workshops, and performances. There are also some 90 business meetings and receptions sponsored by learned societies, associations, and institutions. The exhibits hall boasts nearly 70 exhibitors, including publishers, used book dealers, and purveyors of medieval sundries.
Virtual Exhibition"Chant in Colonial Canada"
The Gregorian Instiute of Canada presents "Chant in Colonial Canada", an exhibition designed by Library and Archives Canada for GIC's 4th Annual Colloquium, which was held from August 13th to 16th 2009, at McMaster University, Hamilton (ON).
Click here to visit the exhibition |
