Gabriola Chamber Ensemble returns with Dec. 3rd Concert

Chamber Ensemble

Press Release

In their first concert since the COVID hiatus, Director Brad Shipley and the Gabriola Chamber Ensemble – a community group made up of seven orchestra members and 18 choristers – are thrilled to be making beautiful music together again. “Returning” brings you a blend of classical music from Franz Schubert’s devotional Mass in G – to Dietrich Buxtehude’s In Dulchi Jubilo.

The Mass, written by Schubert in less than a week in early March 1815, was composed originally for strings and organ backing up a four-voice choir, and soprano, tenor, and bass soloists.

In Dulci Jubilo is thought to have been written in 1328 by the German mystic Heinrich Seuse.

The melody has been used by a number of arrangers, including the 1683 Buxtehude version that GCE will be performing. Weep O Mine Eyes – a madrigal written by John Bennet in 1599 – continues a traditional focus of this concert, as does Velsignelsen, a Norwegian blessing that was transcribed and arranged for GCE by Gabriolan Mitch Levine.

Two Rossetti Songs by Stephen Chatman bring a more contemporary note, and add an ethereal beauty to the program.

The Chamber Ensemble will perform at 2 pm on December 3 at Christ Church Gabriola (2600 South Road).

Tickets are $20 cash at the door, or by etransfer to GabriolaCE@gmail.com.