May is Canadian Music Month!

Lawrence Park Celebrates Canada’s 150th!

During the month of May Lawrence Park Community Church will celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary with a Canadian Music Series taking place on Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

Beginning on Sunday, May 7 we will honour our First Nations with the Lawrence Park Youth Band – ‘Pancake Lunch’ - singing Buffy Sainte Marie’s “Universal Soldier” and with Kenny Kirkwood in Robbie Robertson’s “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker.“  The Choir will present Lydia Adam’s “Mi’kmaq Honour Song” and the congregation will participate in the Dakota Hymn and the Huron Carol.

On Friday, May 12 Fridays @8 presents the Choir of Lawrence Park Community Church in an evening choral concert “Sing for Canada!”  Classic Canadian fare will include arrangements of “The Maple Leaf Forever,” “O Canada” and “Song for the Mira.” The Choir will present the premiere performance of Hubert Razack’s “Spring Saraband” with text by poet Bliss Carman. Special guests will include tenor soloist Glyn Evans and Kenny Kirkwood on saxophone and percussion. Also participating will be the Lawrence Park Youth Choir. A silent auction of Canadian-themed items and a reception will be part of the evening. Tickets at $30 and $15 (students) are available through the church office.

On Sunday, May 14 we welcome the Brian Barlow Quartet and vocalist Lily Frost in a morning of Canadian Jazz. Music by Joe Sealy and Oscar Peterson’s great anthem “Hymn to Freedom” will be featured.

Music of Canadian Pop and Folk Icons will take place on Sunday, May 21 when the Choir and Soloists sing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Bruce Cockburn’s “All the Diamonds” and Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”

Finally, on Sunday, May 28 music by Canadian women composers will be heard. I will play Eleanor Daley’s “trinitas” (commissioned by Lawrence Park Church for the dedication of the Florence Grand Organ in 1998). Choral music of Ruth Watson Henderson and Winnagene Hatch and hymn texts by poet Sylvia Dunstan will be sung.

Plan to join us in celebrating Canada’s rich musical heritage!