Christ Church Cathedral and the Emily Carr String Quartet are thrilled to announce Earth Songs: Music for Climate Justice, their third concert partnership since 2020. This six-concert series will feature one of Canada’s top quartets and the cathedral’s Wolff organ played by a lineup of international artists. The February through June 2022 concerts will draw attention to the need for personal action to reverse the climate crisis and will include talks from local advocates, experts, and workers in matters of climate justice. Each concert will focus on a different facet of our relationship with the natural world, aiming to educate, entertain, and inspire change.
The second half of the series will feature Christ Church Cathedral’s magnificent pipe organ in three concerts featuring the cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, Mark McDonald, playing Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” Simon Johnson (Westminster Cathedral, UK) playing Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolff,” and a collaboration between organist Jenny Vincent and CBC science journalist Bob McDonald entitled “Earth, Wind, Fire, and Life.” Built in 2005 by Helmuth Wolff, and consisting of 4 keyboards, a pedalboard and 4,000 individual pipes, the Cathedra’s Wolff organ is the west coast’s finest.
Performer: Mark McDonald, The Cathedral Choirs
Drawing attention to the vastness of the solar system has a way of highlighting humanity’s need to steward its small home carefully. In a virtuosic organ transcription by Peter Sykes, the cathedral’s resident organist takes the audience on a tour from Mars (the bringer of war) to Neptune (the mystic), all in Gustav Holst’s inimitable musical language. Opening the concert and bringing the planets (and space) into focus is renowned astronomer, Dr. Alan Batten.
Tickets available HERE
NB: Student Tickets $10 at the door and Children under 13 are free!
This series is made possible in part thanks to the support of the Gail O’Riordan Climate and Arts Legacy Fund at the Victoria Foundation www.climateandthearts.org