Prima’s Repertoire

As yet a full index of Prima’s repertoire has not been achieved, however the list of compositions from the UVic Chamber Singer’s repertoire reflect the goals and tastes of their joint conductor and whereas there are some of a higher difficulty than Prima, many were shared by both ensembles.

Our repertoire was designed to be of the highest quality and of a challenge level appropriate to a university level singer. At the outset, I was quite insistent that Prima be a “real” choir, which in my definition was a choral ensemble capable of singing an entire concert of unaccompanied music, therefore I didn’t seek choral/orchestral opportunities at first. In our 3rd year however, we agreed to join the Victoria Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Mozart’s Requiem. I began to realize that the inclusion of one chorus-orchestra concert per year had a noticeably positive effect on membership, so this became the norm of every Fall season and we were blessed thereafter with the partnership of Yariv Aloni and the Victoria Chamber Orchestra. On occasion, for larger works, we expanded the chorus by the addition of the UVic. Chamber Singers. With orchestra, we performed Mozart and Fauré Requiems; Bach Magnificat and St. John Passion; Haydn Salve Regina and Lord Nelson Mass; Vivaldi Gloria and on several occasions each: Handel Messiah and Orff Carmina Burana.

A Cappella music remained our primary “fodder” and we roamed extensively through its manifold offerings. The lighter side of our repertoire included folk music from around the world, with a particular focus on African music. Humour wasn’t absent from our offerings either, and we dedicated an entire concert of “Humour in Choral Music” in the Fall of 2006.

One of the most delightful annual “social” events was our “Many Talents of Prima” concerts in early December of each year. Essentially an invitational Christmas Party, we opened the “stage” to members of the choir to show their individual talents. The offerings ranged from solos, to small ensembles, including some outrageously funny musical nuggets.

The choir would perform several selections taken from the repertoire we were working on at the time, and of course there were refreshments for the choir and invited guests at the end.