Elektra honours outgoing artistic director Morna Edmundson’s ability to “lead with love”

All-Canadian program Legacy celebrates spring and rebirth as Cassie Luftspring prepares to take the baton

By Alexander Varty

Elektra. Photo by Collide Entertainment

Elektra presents Legacy on May 25 at 3 pm at the Good Shepherd Church in Surrey and May 31 at 4 pm at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver

SCANNING THE PROGRAM for Elektra’s two upcoming concerts, it’s apparent that the chosen works are perfect for these late-spring events. There are songs that celebrate the beauty and resilience of nature, such as in-house pianist Stephen Smith’s “Yellow Twig of Willow”, a setting of late poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Counting-Out Rhyme”. Ramona Luengen’s “How the Blossoms are Falling”, with an apple- and cherry-blossom text by Joy Kogawa, also fits that bill.

There are songs of renunciation and rebirth, exemplified by Kate MacColl’s arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Little Green”, inspired by the Canadian icon’s decision, at 21, to give her infant daughter up for adoption, knowing that she had not the resources to pursue both motherhood and artistic fulfillment. More purely miraculous, and less bittersweet, is a new commission from Tawnie Olson: “Wondrous Transformation of Aglais urticae, The”, based on pioneering entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian’s 17th-century study of the small tortoiseshell insect’s transformation from squishy caterpillar into beautiful butterfly.

New life, new growth, and eternal cycles: what could be more fitting as May spring slides into June summer?

But there’s more going on here than a seasonal theme. Thirteen red maple leaves on Elektra’s website indicate that all of these works contain Canadian content, a subtle declaration of national pride at a time when our sovereignty, as well as the arts in general, are under attack from an uncaring international kleptocracy. Note, too, that all 13 works, including three world premieres, have been generated by or for the choir, primarily as part of its robust commissioning program.

And there’s one more thing to consider: the concerts—at Surrey’s Good Shepherd Church on May 25 and Christ Church Cathedral on May 31—will be the last under the direction of Morna Edmundson, who is stepping down after four decades at the helm of the choir that she created in conjunction with the late choral legend Diane Loomer in 1987. There is sadness in this news, but also celebration.

How did she know that it was time to go?

In a Zoom conversation from her home, Edmundson takes a breath, and smiles. “I’m 66, and it seems like I keep on mailing out sympathy cards all the time,” she says with her customary frankness. “People’s siblings and friends and parents… You name it. So I feel like I’m at the point where if I don’t take some time just for myself, my gravestone will say ‘She knew how to work really hard.’ Which we all know I know how to do!

“I don’t mean that I’ve done everything, artistically, that I should do or could do,” she continues, “but I worked really hard for 40 years, and I’ve been very fortunate to have been recognized for that work. Many thousands of people work as hard as I do and haven’t been recognized. So it just seemed like I’ve accomplished a lot, and it’s somebody else’s turn.”

“Getting interesting music written was always part of the story.”

Morna Edmundson. Photo by Emily Cooper

Those who follow Vancouver’s burgeoning choral-music scene will be relieved to know that Edmundson won’t be leaving us entirely. She’ll remain as artistic director of her professional seniors’ choir, EnChor, and will continue to adjudicate choral competitions. Her influence on the international choral scene will also continue, as evinced by Elektra’s global prominence in a field that the group has helped raise from second-class status.

This, Edmundson says, can be traced back to the oldest piece in the upcoming concerts: Vancouver composer David MacIntyre’s “Ave Maria”. Inspired by a series of supernatural events rumoured to have taken place during the Bosnia-Herzegovina war, this challenging work was featured in Elektra’s appearance at the 1996 World Symposium on Choral Music, in Australia, and has been in the choir’s repertoire ever since.

“There just weren’t that many women’s choirs that were artistically bold, and we gave a program that included this ‘Ave Maria’, which people went crazy for,” Edmundson notes. “That really put us on the map.

“Usually if you’re in a university or an American college the women’s choir gets handed off to the junior colleague because it’s not very important, right?” she adds. “So we were trying to bust that open and have people be really proud of it and have the singers not feel like they were the leftovers from the mixed choir. So getting interesting music written was always part of the story.”

As for how Elektra’s future story will develop, Edmundson is delighted to report that after an extensive search, the choir has found her replacement within its own ranks. Soprano Cassie Luftspring will be handed the baton next fall, and the outgoing artistic director has full confidence in her successor.

“Cassie is a really good singer, pianist, composer, and conductor, so she’s got all kinds of angles into choral music,” Edmundson says, citing Luftspring’s current role as artistic director of the British Columbia Girls Choir, among many other accomplishments. “I’m not a pianist and I’m not a composer, so she brings those strengths. And Stephen Smith, who plays for us, is a big admirer of hers, which means a lot to me because Stephen and I have a really good relationship. So she’s the next generation, and that’s as it should be, for sure. I don’t expect she’ll do it for 38 years, but who knows?”

“I try to lead with kindness, with support, and by putting the music and the people in front of me first.”

Luftspring isn’t planning to make major alterations to the way Elektra works. “I feel like everyone adores Morna, first of all,” the younger musician says on a separate Zoom call. “Her leadership style is a kind of quiet, confident, steady leadership. It’s ‘lead with love’, but in such a strong way that you can’t help but want to follow her. It’s built on trust, and she’s a person who gives a sense of warmth and quiet confidence.

“I think I’m also more of the ‘quiet leadership’ type,” Luftspring continues. “I’m very introverted, but I also really love what I do, so I try to lead with kindness, with support, and by putting the music and the people in front of me first. I’d like to think that’s something Morna and I have in common, and I’ll continue to lead that way, but with whatever my own new repertoire ideas are.”

Luftspring’s compositional side will be showcased in the upcoming Elektra concerts: on the bill will be the premiere of “I Am Joyful and Blessed”, a setting of Elisabeth Finch’s poetic tribute to the late musician and arts patron Russell Smith. The work was commissioned before Edmundson’s decision to step down, and celebrates Smith’s positive attitude while facing death from cancer. But by some wonderful coincidence it also sums up the outgoing artistic director’s attitude towards retirement—and to the personal and social benefits of choral music.

“Science has proven all these things about singing, and singing together with people,” Edmundson says. “Choral singing specifically promotes physical health, mental health, and cognitive health. So, when you look at it, I have, without realizing it, been surrounded by that for 50 years. Thirty-eight of them with Elektra, but 50 years as a singer, a student, whatever. And so of course it’s had a really positive impact on my life. I’m healthy, I’m relatively sane, and I am optimistic! And that can’t be separated from the fact that, twice a week, I walk into a room with people who want to be there, who are doing something communal, something beautiful, something good for their brains and body and mental state.

“I approached this not thinking of any of those things at all,” she continues, “but in retrospect I’ve definitely benefited from the fact that all that work has involved beauty, community, history, culture, and language. So I’m just super grateful that the thing I’ve been interested in for my whole life, including right at this moment, is just such a great thing to be involved with. Gratitude is the thing!”

How much more lucky and blessed can one be?

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