In May 2015, the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and Laudate Singers celebrated more than a decade of artistic partnership with a concert of choral intercultural music titled MYSTICS & LOVERS. The next day, those same 50+ musicians gathered again to record two of the featured works on the programme, Ani Ma-amin (I Believe) by Moshe Denburg and Asheghaneh by Farshid Samandari. We are so excited to share the result with you at last!

“This orchestra (…) delivers the goods with such ferocity, even a metal head would stop and give pause to digest the extravaganza on parade here. This is the sitting down listening experience of the year and you don’t even have to be an egghead to get it. (…) A shining example of the passion it takes to keep classical music fresh”.MidWest Record

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“Moshe Denburg’s “Ani Ma-Amin” and Farshid Samandari’s “Asheghaneh” might seem odd bedfellows. Brought together in this profound performance, however, they prove mutually illuminating.  (…) Even though there is no direct link between the two pieces, it is the ecstatic nature of both pieces – messianic and Sufist – that forms a common thread and an inspirational legacy for other composers should they be so inclined and so bold to put such inspirational music down on paper.” – Raul De Gama, Toronto Music Report

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ABOUT THE ALBUM

cover-mystics-lovers-albumMystics & Lovers features two major works by Canadian composers, both of which were first commissioned and premiered by the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) and Laudate Singers several years ago: Ani Ma-amin (2002) by Moshe Denburg and Asheghaneh (2006) by Farshid Samandari.

Ani Ma-amin and Asheghaneh share central themes: both draw on the poetic best of many cultures to build bridges between them. Both strive for unity in diversity, expressing a longing for peace and understanding, and seeking connection between personal love and spiritual devotion. Both are major works that use the human voice and instruments from many countries (including traditional instruments from China, Vietnam, Iran and India as well as Western European/North American strings and winds) to highlight both the commonality and contrasting expressions of these deeply
human sentiments, communicated through centuries-old texts (by a 12th century Rabbi/philosopher in Ani Ma-amin and an 11th-c. Persian poet/philosopher in Asheghaneh) that still resonate with us today.

back-cover-mystics-loversThrough this recording, we are excited to bring these two important and innovative works to our loyal audiences as well as new listeners across Canada and throughout the world. We feel that it is an important part of our mandate to give the new Canadian works we commission a life beyond their performance in concert; to increase the profile of this music in Canada and beyond. We extend heartfelt thanks to everyone involved – orchestra members, singers, production team, administrators, funders, partners, and volunteers – for their support of Mystics & Lovers.

 

THE PERFORMERS

VANCOUVER INTER-CULTURAL ORCHESTRA

Mark Armanini – Artistic Director

Jamal Kurdistani – Tenor soloist

Domagoj Ivanovic – Violin 1
Angela Malmberg – Violin 1
Susan Cosco – Violin 1
Mark Ferris – Violin 2
Zuzana Uskovitsova – Violin 2
Manti Poon – Viola
Marcus Takizawa – Viola
Sue Round – Cello
Finn Manniche – Cello
Tim Stacey – Double Bass
Joy Yeh – Orchestral Harp

Mark McGregor – Flute
Geronimo Mendoza – Oboe
Milan Milosevic – Clarinet
Johanna Hauser – Bass Clarinet
Alexander Cannon – Trumpet

Adrian Verdejo – Guitar
Jun Rong – Gaohu/Erhu 1
Lan Tung – Erhu 2
Charlie Lui – Dizi
Bic Hoang – Danbau
Saina Khaledi – Santur
Alborz Rahmani – Tar 1
Ali Razmi – Tar 2
Navid Goldrick – Oud

Jonathan Bernard – Vibraphone/Percussion
Phil Belanger – Percussion 2/Hand Percussion
Niel Golden – Tabla/Percussion

LAUDATE SINGERS

Lars Kaario – Artistic Director

 

Soprano
Heidi Ackermann
Marina Bennett
Yasmine Bia
Catherine Crouch
Elyse Kantonen
Jennifer Katchur
Tiffany Oakes
Jenny Vermeulen
Alto
Tami Copland
Hilary Crowther
Miriam Davidson
Elspeth Finlay
Mavis Friesen
Katie Horst
Peggy Hua
Tenor
Marquis Byrd
Marco Del Rio
Lyle Isbister
Justin Pham
Chris Robinson
Nicholas Sommer
Bass
Douglas Lau
George Roberts
Chris Sivak
Adam Turpin
Joseph Young

 

LAUDATE SINGERS, founded in 1995 by current Artistic Director Lars Kaario, is a chamber choir that strives to foster the development of professional musicians and enrich the cultural fabric of our community. A committed champion of Canadian choral music, Laudate Singers commissions and performs new Canadian works in addition to mentoring and nurturing young composers through a composer-in-residence programme. The choir has recorded six critically-acclaimed CDs: Christmas Journey, Songs of Heaven and Earth, A Baroque Christmas, Celtic Journey, Voices, Sax & Syn and Voice of the Tangowww.laudatesingers.com

 

JAMAL KURDISTANI (tenor soloist) was born in 1961 in Sanandaj, an Iranian of Kurdish descent. He has studied radif (Persian vocal music) with Ostad Ahmad Helli, Ostad Sediq Taarif and Ostad Mohsen Keramati. Jamal has performed with Dastan, Kereshmeh and Hamnavazan Ensembles, as well as in the Vancouver area with Saeed Farajpoori and Hossein Behroozinia. He has also appeared at the Safar Festival, and at the Indian Summer Festival with Coleman Barks; this was the first major Canadian exhibition by contemporary artists from the Middle Eastern region. Also an educator, Jamal has taught singing and voice pedagogy in Iran and Canada for more than 20 years.

 

THE COMPOSERS

 

MOSHE DENBURG grew up in Montreal, in a religious Jewish family. His musical career has spanned four decades and several continents: he has lived and studied music in Canada, the USA, Israel, India, and Japan. Since 1987 his compositions have reflected an ongoing commitment to the principle of intercultural music-making: bringing together the instruments and ideas of many cultures. He founded the VICO, a vehicle for the realization of his and other Canadian composers’ intercultural work, in 2001.

Known for music that deftly explores the cultural interconnections between Western Classical post-modernism and his Persian heritage, FARSHID SAMANDARI emigrated from Iran to Canada in 2001. Samandari’s mantra is “Unity through Diversity” — to this end his music synthesizes a broad spectrum of non-western sources to create a vocabulary that is entirely his own. His music has been performed extensively throughout Canada, Europe, and Asia. www.farshidsamandari.com

 

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Mystics & Lovers was recorded on May 8-9, 2015
at BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts
Capilano University, North Vancouver, BC
Released September 25, 2016 on Chroma Disc

 

Producer: Mark Armanini
Recording Engineer: Don Harder
Album Artwork: John Endo Greenaway
Photography: Robin Wong, Allison White
Mastering & Manufacture: Precision Disc

 

For Laudate Singers:
Lars Kaario – Artistic Director
C.D. Saint – Manager

 

For the VICO:
Mark Armanini – Artistic Director
Farshid Samandari – Composer-in-Residence
Moshe Denburg – Composer & Artistic Advisor
Melanie Thompson – Administrator & Communications Manager
Allison White – Operations Coordinator
Don Xaliman – Audio-Visual Recordist
© 2015 Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra & Laudate Singers

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS