Calendar
Step back in time for a Mighty Wurlitzer Workshop – a hands on introduction to the Orpheum’s iconic Wurlitzer organ. In this 2.5 hour session, students will have the opportunity to adapt established keyboard/piano repertoire or come prepared with an improvisation to a short silent cartoon of their choice, exploring the wondrous musical palette and novel sound effects of the century-old instrument – all guided in a fun and encouraging masterclass style by Vancouver Civic Organist, Michael Dirk.
This workshop is a rare opportunity to get up close with a piece of music history. Spots are very limited – be sure to register early to secure your place!
Tickets and more info here.
YouTube videos by Michael about the Orpheum Wurlitzer:
A Tour of the Wurlitzer (VSO Day of Music 2025)
Orpheus’ bells and whistles
Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 – attributed to J. S. Bach
From the Piano Duetts, op. 66 (Bilder aus Osten) – Robert Schumann, arr. Dudley Buck
- Andantino
- Tempo di Marcia / Maestoso
Offertoire pour Ste-Cécile no. 1 – Edouard Batiste
First Sonata for Organ – Florence Beatrice Price
Abraham Ross enjoys an active career as a concert organist, harpsichordist, and director, presenting imaginative programmes informed by the most recent research on performance practice, technology, and musicological context. His accolades include appearances in international competitions, research grants from Quebec’s Fonds de Recherche en Societé et Culture and McGill University, and performances with Resonance Collective (Los Angeles), the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra. He values collaboration with other artists regardless of discipline and has appeared with various groups across North America, in Argentina, and in Europe.
Drawing on both findings in primary sources and the most recent performance science, Abraham’s repertory ranges from the earliest written sources to music by living composers. His recital programming reflects his commitment to diversifying the canon of western repertory and regularly features works of neglected and underrepresented composers. Collaborations with living composers enable Abraham to give several national or world-premieres each year. He has also given the modern-day premieres of numerous unfinished, reconstructed, and recently discovered works.
Abraham’s formative musical studies took place in his hometown of Bangor, Maine on an 1860 organ by American organbuilders E. & G. G. Hook, an experience that inspired him to take up the organ as a career. He now serves on the board of St. John’s Organ Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of that instrument.
Marnie Giesbrecht (organ) and Joachim Segger (piano) are Duo Majoya. They will perform the works from their latest CD, Canadian Suite Celebrations, including Vancouver composer Denis Bédard’s Grande Suite, Capriccio, and Duet Suite, Edmonton composer Jacobus Kloppers’ The Last Rose of Summer, and Toronto composer Ruth Watson Henderson’s Suite for Piano and Organ.
Duo Majoya is a versatile and innovative keyboard team that performs keyboard duets of all combinations in North America, Europe, South Africa and Asia. The duo performs a distinctive repertoire of commissioned, original, and arranged works. Commissions include more than twenty works for organ duet and organ/piano by Canadian and international composers. Duo Majoya records a broad range of repertoire on CDs and on their YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@duomajoya; for more information, please see www.duomajoya.com.
The release of their latest CD, “Canadian Suite Celebrations,” recorded in the Winspear Centre and published on the Centredisc label in April, 2024 is officially celebrated with concerts in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Langley, Vancouver and in the United States.
The duo is inducted in the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame; they are separately inaugurated Honorary Fellows of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. Giesbrecht and Segger co-direct the Royal Canadian College of Organists’ national competition committee. As active board members in the Edmonton RCCO Centre, they plan and organize local concerts and events.
Marnie and Joachim are Music Directors at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Edmonton. In addition to conducting weekly rehearsals and services, they curate organ and choral concerts, fundraise for refugees, and support community music making. They take great pride in their two sons, Mark and Chris, who rock the world with percussion, drum set and composition (Mark); heavy metal guitar playing in the Juno award winning band “Striker” and long-distance running (Chris).
Joachim Segger
Dr. Joachim Segger (BMus, MMus, Performer’s Certificate, Eastman School of Music; DMus UAlberta) is a versatile musician who performs internationally as a piano soloist and collaborative artist. A church organist since the age of nine, Joachim enjoys improvising at the piano and organ using classical and contemporary musical styles as well as hymn-based improvisations. Dr. Segger is Professor Emeritus of the Music Department at The King’s University, Edmonton.
Marnie Giesbrecht
Keyboard artist Marnie Giesbrecht performs and records as organ soloist, and collaborative musician (organ, piano, harpsichord) in mainstream repertoire, as well as new and early music. Dr. Giesbrecht is Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta (1988 to 2014), Adjunct Professor of Music at The King’s University, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Soloists: Melanie Adams (mezzo-soprano) | David Rosborough (bass)
Organ: David Poon | Piano: Danielle Lee
Tickets $32 regular/$15 youth (+ service charges) at www.voiceschoir.ca
United Voices Choir presents an inspiring and uplifting concert featuring Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, and three exquisite works by Morten Lauridsen. This beautiful music will take the audience on a radiant, transformative journey.
Maurice Duruflé’s famous Requiem (1947) is a masterpiece of breathtaking beauty and power. Full of yearning intensity, the rich modern harmonies are rooted in ancient Gregorian chants, and the sweeping choral arcs carry us from darkness into blazing transcendence.
The 55-strong choir will be accompanied by organist David Poon, with soloists mezzo-soprano Melanie Adams and baritone David Rosborough.
The concert culminates in three luminous short works by Morten Lauridsen, one of today’s most beloved choral composers: Introit from Lux Aeterna, Ave Maria, and Sure on this Shining Night. The music glows with clarity and quiet passion, creating moments that feel both timeless and deeply personal.
United Voices Choir (UVC) is an auditioned choir based in Vancouver, BC, which focuses on large choral works, often accompanied by professional orchestra and soloists. Under the direction of Dr Greg Caisley, performance repertoire ranges from Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor to Mozart’s Requiem, as well as works by Brahms, Vivaldi, Handel, Haydn, Fauré, Poulenc, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Finzi, Vaughan Williams, and Lauridsen.
Declared “glorious” by the New York Times upon its release, this 1926 action adventure film, shot entirely in two-colour Technicolor, marked a landmark achievement in the advancement of cinema as an art form. It features Douglas Fairbanks portraying a nobleman posing as the “Black Pirate” to seek justice for his father’s death and rescue a kidnapped princess. Accompanied live by eminent Vancouver organist Edward Norman on the historic Wurlitzer organ.
The Rorate Mass is a beautiful Advent tradition: a votive mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary held before dawn, the altar covered with candles. It opens with the same text as the Fourth Sunday of Advent: ‘Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness‘This year, on the last Saturday of Advent, experience the beauty and stillness of this special service without needing to set your alarm! MOTET Chamber Choir will sing from William Byrd’s Gradualia in an evening concert, amidst Gregorian chant and candlelight in the wonderful acoustic of St Francis of Assisi Church. Here you can escape from the frenzy and the noise of a commercial Christmas and meditate on the mysteries surrounding the virgin birth.This is a free concert with a light reception to follow. Any donations received will go toward the restoration of the tower at St Francis of Assisi Church.
