Rising stars, consummate professionals, and fan favourites are the cornerstone of this year’s Elora Festival, which opened last weekend and continues over the next two weekends.
And tickets are selling fast, said Genevieve Shave, the festival’s patron services manager.
“Tickets are still available but there are not many,” Shave said in an interview. “Especially for the bigger names.They are selling fast.”
Shave said at its core, the Elora Festival is a celebration of song.
“We specialize in choral music but songs are not just voice,” she said. “That’s why we’ve broadened the festival over the years, to include jazz and instrumental artists.”
Shave said while there may be a glut of music festivals in southern Ontario over the summer, “we have a particular clientele and they love it. The festival is still going strong and we love that our patrons still love us.”
The festival started as a venue for the Elora Festival Singers and they are still central to the festival. On July 17 they perform Hayden’s “Missa in Augustiis” also known as the “Nelson Mass” and Mozart’s final choral work, “Vesperae solennes de confessore.”
“The Nelson Mass will be huge,” Shave said. “That’s our weekend.”
The Festival Singers are also the main event for a concert on July 21st called “Choral Mystics”, where they will premiere two pieces by Engish composer Patrick Hawes.
“Hawes specifically asked the Elora Festival Singers to do the first performance of these pieces,” Shave said, adding the Singers will record the pieces after the show.
“It will be quite wonderful,” she said.
There’s more – much more. On Thursday trumpeter Guy Few, formerly of this area, takes the stage followed by a concert by soprano Marie-Josée Lord.
On Friday Chanticleer performs. Called an “orchestra of voices” this group hails from San Francisco.
Saturday has a full day of concerts: Duo Percussion, Suzie Leblanc, Fubuki Daiko and Tim Louis and the Ambassadors in the Starlight Jazz Series that evening.
Andre LaPlante, Thomas Chartre, Molly Johnson and the Stretch Orchestra are among the performers on the final festival weekend.
The final concert on July 24 features the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and it’s sure to be uplifting, Shave said.
“They are well-known in the area but this is their debut in Elora,” Shave said. “It will be a wonderful, uplifting show and a great way to close the festival.”
For more details and to order tickets, visit www.elorafestival.ca.
