Vicki St. Pierre
with Victoria Baroque
SPIRIT AND SONG
November 2, 2024

Salt Spring Baroque is excited to present contra-alto Vicki St. Pierre with Victoria Baroque:

Saturday, November 2, 2:00 pm
All Saints by-the-Sea Anglican Church
110 Park Drive, Salt Spring Island

Vicki and Victoria Baroque will perform SPIRIT AND SONG – a programme featuring Bach's Cantata BWV 170 along with works by Buxtehude and members of the Bach family.

To hear Vicki's amazing voice, listen to this performance of Vivaldi's Qui Sedes with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra https://youtu.be/oQlC9am1enY?si=BNlAB2LD21pSv5tl.

If you don't wish to purchase tickets online, send us a note at info@saltspringbaroque.com and we will gladly reserve seats for you and you can pay by cash or card at the door.

PERFORMER BIOS

Vicki St. Pierre's warm, lush voice "invitingly combines clarity of expression and beauty of tone," and is described as "rich with both a darkness and brightness."

Past concert highlights include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with the Toronto Consort, Zelenka's St. Cecilia Mass with Tafelmusik, Stanford's Requiem with the Orpheus Choir, Bach's Magnificat with the Toronto Bach Consort, and Handel's Messiah with Symphony Nova Scotia, the Edmonton Symphony, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Victoria Symphony, Handel's Dixit Dominus with Tafelmusik, and the music of Jommelli with Les Idées Heureuses of Montreal.

On the operatic stage, Vicki has appeared in Monteverdi's Orfeo, Charpentier's Actéon, and Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria with Opera Atelier, Dido and Aeneas with Ensemble Masques de Montreal and Toronto Masque Theatre, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Toronto Philharmonia, and L'Incoronazione di Poppea with Opera Atelier, Cleveland Opera and Early Music Vancouver.

Recent and upcoming engagements include the role Nutrice in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea with the Academy of Ancient Music in London, UK, the role of the Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Les Violons du Roy at Carnegie Hall, Messiah with Orchestra London, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with 13 Strings and Splendors of the Emperor's Chapel with The Toronto Consort.

Vicki adjudicates music festivals and competitions, was Director of Music at the Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto, taught voice at Wilfrid Laurier University, conducts an auditioned community choir, was the music director for the New Hamburg Live! festival of the arts, was a lecturer at the Royal Conservatory of Music, has been an assistant conductor with Opera Atelier, and most recently, was on faculty at COSI, a summer opera training program in Sulmona, Italy. She recently completed her doctoral studies in performance at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Dr. Darryl Edwards. Dr. St. Pierre is Dean of Arts and Professor of Voice at Mount Allison University.

VICTORIA BAROQUE presents dynamic, personal, and engaging performances of music from the Baroque and Classical periods.

Bringing Baroque music to life, Victoria Baroque inspires Vancouver Island audiences through exciting live performances. Victoria Baroque's home venue is Church of St John the Divine in downtown Victoria. Invitations for guest performances have included Early Music Vancouver, Early Music Society of the Islands, Cowichan Symphony Society, Artspring, Denman Island Concerts, and Vancouver Island Chamber Music Festival. Victoria Baroque's début CD Virtuosi of the Baroque on Marquis Classics was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award in 2014.

Playing on the instruments of the 18th century Victoria Baroque brings audiences closer to the soundworld of the period, embracing the dance-driven rhythmic vitality, as well as the lyrical aspects and conversational aspects of baroque music. The mellower tones of the baroque instruments – gut strings on string instruments, shorter bows, mellifluous wooden flutes, oboes and bassoon with fewer keys, natural horns without valves, etc – respond in a more intimate, conversational manner than their modern equivalents.

Victoria Baroque brings together early music specialists from Vancouver Island and beyond for explorations of chamber, orchestral, vocal and choral works. Victoria Baroque enjoys ongoing collaborations with the St John's Chamber Singers and many visiting guest artists. Victoria Baroque's guest directors have included Pacific Opera Victoria's Timothy Vernon; Tafelmusik's Jeanne Lamon; the leader of the English Baroque Soloists, Kati Debretzeni; and British harpsichordist Steven Devine. Guest soloists have included internationally acclaimed singers soprano Nancy Argenta and tenor Benjamin Butterfield in vocal works by Bach, Purcell and Handel.

Nurturing emerging talent is close Victoria Baroque's heart. The choral collaborations with St John Chamber Singers give emerging young singers invaluable opportunities to perform with a professional period instrument orchestra, including works such as Bach's St John Passion and Cantatas, and choral and solo works by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann and Buxtehude. Victoria Baroque's educational workshops with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra and Baroque Instrument Summer Program at the Victoria Conservatory of Music have exposed and immersed local music students in Baroque performance in an hands-on manner.