April 12, 2023

Good Friday with Pro Coro Canada

Our annual Good Friday concert was a reflective and powerful performance, featuring works by Pärt, Gesualdo, Prauliņš, Sandström, and Bach. The choir was conducted by Kari Turunen, Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and accompanied by organist Tammy-Jo Mortensen.

If you missed this performance, you can still watch it on ProCoroTV. Don’t forget to leave your reviews on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram.

Currently, Katrina is a junior high band and choir teacher with the Edmonton Catholic School District and is the rehearsal assistant for the ECSD All City High School Choir under the direction of Lyndsey Olsen.

What is your major musical influence?

As both a band and a choir teacher, I find a lot of my musical influences come from the music I present to my students! Band composers such as Randall Standridge, Brian Balmages, Julie Giroux, and Edmonton’s own Brian Appleby have great, well written pieces that come to the front of my mind! I also have a great love of choral pieces by Ola Gjeilo, Sarah Quartel, Laura Hawley and Ugis Praulins. In addition to composers, my colleagues both in my school district and Pro Coro Canada contribute greatly to my musical knowledge and help shape my own musical appreciation.

What are your favourite Pro Coro Canada performances?

Our recent collaboration with the Growlers Choir was definitely a highlight of my year! It was such a cool experience! I received so many rave reviews from people who saw it live and those who watched the recording. Along with that concert, another highlight was our annual New Year’s Eve concert. It was a blast to sing and celebrate with Michael Zaugg and our Pro Coro Canada family!

Which performance should people come see?

I would highly recommend coming to our next concert with our guest conductor. It will be a unique opportunity to hear varied interpretations of some remarkable choral works. It was amazing to work with Kari Turunen on our Good Friday concert and seeing how he molded our sound. As well, I can’t wait to see Jonathan Velasco’s vision for the upcoming Missae IX concert.

Experience this multi-year series with musical settings of the Latin Mass text.

• Misa by Ryan Cayabyab

  The MISA (Mass) was premiered by the U.P. Concert Chorus under the direction of Prof. Rey Paguio during Cayabyab’s graduation recital in 1983. He was named National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 2018.

• Missa Brevis in E Flat by Oliver Munar, world premiere

  This Missa Brevis is inspired by various composers whose works Munar has been fortunate to have performed over the years. You’ll find echoes of the counterpoint of J.S. Bach, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Missae by both Josef Rheinberger and Frank Martin, and operatic motifs by W.A. Mozart, Georges Bizet and Giacomo Puccini.

We welcome conductor Jonathan Velasco from the Philippines to lead the choir in this unique program.

Pro Coro Canada is looking for Filipino businesses and organizations to partner with for our upcoming Philippine-themed concert Missae IX. If you want to get involved and sponsor the program, message us at marketing@procoro.ca.

We will give special discounts to the Filipino communities who will be attending and have an access to the practice before the concert.

Follow us on our social media pages - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube, to receive updates on Pro Coro Canada’s news and events.