Voice transports to heaven
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Updated: October 13, 2009 11:57 PM
Gratiela Pachmann’s voice drew a Salmon Arm man back to Romania with a marriage proposal 16 years ago.
The voice that “transported him to heaven” is now drawing a much wider but still appreciative audience.
The classically trained soprano-lyric with a four-octave range plans to introduce the community to an evening of opera with Gratiela in Concert Oct. 17.
But, those who find opera too heavy shouldn’t be put off, because the music Pachmann and her guests will perform is melodic and appealing to a wide range of music lovers.
“I will sing the Alleluia by Mozart with a string quartet, along with the Handel’s Hallelujah, the most famous piece from the Messiah,” she says with enthusiasm, noting she will also be singing the recently minted words to a perennial favourite, the Pachelbel Canon in D Major.
The Pachelbel is the most famous piece of music by Johann Pachelbel. It was written in or around 1680, during the Baroque period, but has since been arranged for a wide variety of ensembles.
“The words have just recently been added,” she says. “Everyone was surprised when I brought this piece to rehearsal because they didn’t know. It’s a duet and it’s absolutely beautiful.”
Pachmann has invited fellow members of the Monashee Chamber Choir to perform with her – Lydia Kass, Daniel Knudson, Dave Reed, Charles Maclennan, Dari Graham, Stephen Plant and Dianne Smith as well as John Coman, a member of the Pro Cantanti Opera Choir in Vancouver.
“All the music I have chosen, it’s the things that anyone can say, ‘I like that piece, that melody,’” she says. “We’re singing in several languages - English, Latin, French, German and Italian.”
Unlike last year’s concert that packed First United Church where musical accompaniment was provided by a sound system, Pachmann and guests will sing to the live music of the Stoney String Quartet, comprised of two violins, a viola and a cello.
Pachmann was born and raised in Romania under the tyranny of dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and graduated from the Scoala Populara de Arta.
She met her husband Tim when he was part of a Pentecostal Church mission in her country to distribute food and clothing.
She flew to Canada and her new life on July 28, 1993. Seven years later the couple moved to Toronto, where Gratiela pursued a successful career in opera – one that took the family to Europe.
Pachmann has recorded several albums and in 2004 was asked to open Toronto’s Maja Gospel Music Awards. Her powerful rendition of The Lord’s Prayer earned her a repeat invitation every year since.
Back in Salmon Arm for three and a half years, Pachmann still heads east for concerts and just recently a wedding as well.
“I sang at a wedding for a fan, she hired me,” she says. “That’s how much she loved my music. She contacted me through my website.”
That wouldn’t surprise Aileen Gentles, founder and director of the Monashee Chamber Choir.
“She’s a beautiful high soprano, she floats that high C beautifully and she knows her music too,” Gentles says. “She can really sing, it’s a pleasure to have her in the choir.”
The Monashee Chamber Choir has begun rehearsals for their March 6 and 7 performance of Handel’s Handel’s Dixit Dominus, written in 1707.
Pachmann is the soloist and Gentles is happy to have her for that too.
“Handel is extremely demanding of sopranos, they have to have a very high range and be able to sing all the little notes,” she says. “I have no fear about doing this because of the choir, particularly having Gratiela as soloist.”
Gratiela in Concert takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at First United Church at 30-4th St. SE, across from Fletcher Park. Tickets are $25 and are available at Wearabouts and Living Waters Church.
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