Canadian University Press Releases/Newswire

Source: Brandon University
http://www.brandonu.ca/news/article.asp?A_ID=1133

Choral Ensemble from France to visit BU for music student exchange

October 19, 2006

BRANDON, MB –
>From October 31st to November 4th, 2006, l’Ensemble vocal de l’Université de
Poitiers will be in residence on the Brandon University campus as part of a
music student exchange with the Brandon University Chorale . In the context
of the exchange, both choirs will rehearse, share repertoire and present a
concert on Friday November 3rd at St Matthew`s Cathedral (located at 403
13th Street) at 8:00pm. The concert programme will feature French and
Canadian choral music from the Renaissance Baroque period, as well as from
the 19th and 20th centuries.

Previously, and also as part of this exchange program, l’Université de
Poitiers` conductor Chantal Pelhate visited Brandon University in January
2006 to become accustomed with the North American tradition of teaching
music at the university level, a system quite different from the European
model. Dr. Andrée Dagenais, director of BU choral programs, participated
last spring in a panel in which university music educators from Southern
France discussed how music and music education is taught at the university
level both in Canada and in France.

L’Ensemble vocal de l’Université de Poitiers will spend some time in
Montréal and Winnipeg prior to coming to Brandon University. The exchange
experience between these choral groups will be further developed when the BU
Chorale travels to France in February 2007. The BU Chorale will perform in
Paris and Tours, the latter an important Renaissance music center. They will
be in residence at the Université de Poitiers and branch out from there to
La Rochelle. During their stay in Poitiers, the BU Chorale will perform an
18th-century mass by Nicolas Pacotat in the Church of St-Hilaire (the very
church where the composer and church musician was active during the early
part of the 18th century). The BU Chorale will also be part of a conference
hosted by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles that will focus on
18th century French church music.

For further information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Kelly Stifora
Communications Officer
Brandon University
Phone: (204) 727-9762
Email: communications@brandonu.ca

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