Concerts
PEI Legion Choir
Peace On Earth Songs & Stories Of The Season Concert
The Prince Edward Island Legion Choir will hold their Peace on Earth: Songs and Stories of the Season Concert on December 1 at St. Paul’s Anglican Church at 2:30 pm.
The concert will be an enchanting community choral performance that celebrates peace, joy and kindness. The evening will transport the audience through a varied tapestry of sound, featuring sacred Christmas carols reimagined, classic stories and poems, and heartwarming secular songs that evoke the beauty of winter and the timeless tradition of door-to-door carolling.
This Christmas, the choir will be sharing the stage with students from Prince Street Elementary. A portion of ticket sales will go directly to the Prince Street music program. Adding to the program will be a vibrant brass ensemble, organist, and pianist Leo Marchildon, rousing southern fiddle, along with several special guest vocalists.
Tickets available online through Eventbrite, or at the door the night of the concert.
Tickets:
https://www.peilegionchoir.ca/
The PEI String Collective & special guest Noah Malcolm
String Quartet No. 8 Concert
On December 7 at 2:30 pm, the PEI String Collective will present its Autumn concert at St. Paul’s in Charlottetown, featuring the PEI premiere of Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 8” (string orchestra version). Written in 1960 and dedicated to the “victims of fascism and war,” this powerful piece feels especially relevant in today’s uncertain and tense times.
The orchestra will also welcome special guest Noah Malcolm, who will perform several of his songs, including new releases “January” and “Cereal,” with custom string arrangements written by Natalie Williams Calhoun.
The program will also include “Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi, “Ghost Milonga” by Jonathan Geer, and “The Merry Go Round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle by Joe Hisaishi.
Admission is by free-will donation, supporting the orchestra and their guest artist.
The PEI String Collective is a community-funded string orchestra comprising professional string players, music students, and community amateurs. Founded in 2021 as part of the UPEI Music Department, it transitioned to a community orchestra this year. With members coming from as far afield as Morell and Summerside, the orchestra rehearses once weekly with conductor Natalie Williams Calhoun.
Island Choral Society Concert
Messiah and More: Christmas Joy Concert
Join us on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00pm at St. Paul's Church (Charlottetown) for our annual holiday concert, including carols old and new, audience sing-along carols, and featuring Handel's beloved Messiah.
Link to Tickets
Have you been missing it? It’s been years since Handel’s Messiah was performed on PEI. Now the Island Choral Society brings its glorious Christmas sections to the resonant beauty of St. Paul’s church in downtown Charlottetown (Grafton at Church St. It’s on Sunday afternoon (3:00 pm), December 8th — a perfect highlight for the Advent calendar.
This is a full-sound performance by more than 50 voices of the Island Choral Society, with members of the Luminos Chamber Orchestra, and soloists Georgia Edwards, Lindsay Connolly, Ian Solomon, and Brodie MacRae.
Besides Messiah, the concert will inspire with emotional settings of The First Noel and Silent Night, and include some audience sing-along. A very special feature is the traditional ‘Huron Carol’ — authentically re-fashioned as Iesous ahatoniá by Wendat-speaker Andrée Levesque Sioui and arranged by Sarah Quartel. It’s an intriguing way of experiencing Canada’s first Christmas carol.
The Island Choral Society is the choir which has impressed audiences with other major classics — Vivaldi’s Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Magnificat … and last April’s stunning triumph, the Verdi Requiem. The group is led by Dr. Margot Rejskind, noted for her leadership of the professional Luminos Ensemble, Forte Men’s Choir, and the Luminos Chamber Orchestra, as well as her teaching.
Handel’s Messiah (Christmas part, with Hallelujah chorus) and more Christmas Joy! Sunday, 8 December, 3:00 pm, at St. Paul’s church in downtown Charlottetown.
Admission: $20 online at IslandChoralSociety.ca … or cash at the door.
Information: islandchoralsociety@gmail.com; 902-628-6778
Sarah Hagen - Night Music Concert
Night Music returns to St. Paul’s in Charlottetown on December 13.
Pianist Sarah Hagen invites people yearning for a quiet moment in the midst of the holiday excitement to join her for an hour of carefully curated music by Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, and others.
Inspired by Natkirke, a contemplative initiative in Denmark, Night Music is an opportunity for calm reflection through music. The audience is encouraged to enter quietly and the pieces will flow from one to the next without pause or applause.
Music will begin at 8 pm, and admission is pay-what-you-will at the door. All are welcome.
Luminos Ensemble - Mysterium Concert
Luminos Ensemble presents Mysterium, an intimate Christmas meditation, on December 14 at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s in Charlottetown.
Luminos Ensemble’s Mysterium is a candlelit meditation on Christmas, providing a moment of reflection and peace in a hectic season. This intimate and immersive musical experience features the 16 exquisite voices of PEI’s ECMA-winning professional choir. They sing an enchanting and diverse selection of seasonal music including plainchant, traditional favourites like “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” and audience favourite “Ave Maria” by Franz Biebl. Mysterium is a concert to soothe the hurried soul.
Tickets are available at luminosensemble.com or at the door
St. Paul's Church Choir - Memorial Carol Sing
A Memorial Carol Sing will take place at St Paul’s in Charlottetown on December 15 from 3–4:30 pm.
Beyond singing the music of the Christmas season, and hearing a few performed pieces and readings, audience members can actively honour a fondly remembered person — by having that person’s name inscribed on a star which they place on the Memorial Tree in the church’s sanctuary.
The hour-and-a-half of Advent and Christmastime music will be almost all participatory — that is, singing together. Refreshments will be available.
A donation at the door goes to maintaining the church’s 1936 Casavant organ. A tax receipt is issued on request. Donations are not required however. The aim is chiefly that people join in fellowship and appreciate the traditional music of this time of year – a wonderful way to take active part in the Advent season and prepare for a thoughtful Christmastime.
For information email stpauls@pei.aibn.com or call 902-892-1691.