Atlantic Sinfonia & NB Summer Music Festival Celebrate Fredericton’s 175th Anniversary

August 8th, 2023. 7:30pm
Christ Church Cathedral (150 Church Street Fredericton)

Join us at Christ Church Cathedral in the heart of downtown Fredericton for a special event. New Brunswick Summer Music Festival and Atlantic Sinfonia are coming together to celebrate the city of Fredericton’s 175th anniversary.


Listen to historical music by Fredericton based composers, as well as a brand new creation commissioned by Christian Bérubé. Join as as well the celebrate this city, and those who call it home.

Repertoire

  • Now-Baroque Suite – Richard Gibson
    • Intrada (Allegro)
    • Canon
    • Musette/Hornpipe
    • Sarabande (for Richard Boulanger)
    • Ricercar a 4 sopra ‘Ave Maris Stella’
  • Aperture Akimbo (2023) – Christian Bérubé
  • Subway Thoughts (1993) – Eldon Rathburn
  • Song without Words – Robert Charlton Bayley
  • Improvisations on Two Latvian Folk Songs – Janis Kalnins

Free will offering. Seating is first come first serve basis.

Fredericton-based composer Christian David Bérubé has been commissioned to create a new work to celebrate the city’s 175th anniversary. Partnering with the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival and Atlantic Sinfonia, Bérubé will bring a spark of celebration to the event and add to Fredericton’s rich history of classical orchestral performance.    

Bérubé began his composing career later than most, and he has more than made up for it with his wealth of credits which include film and video game scores. When asked about his entrance into composing and arranging, Bérubé states that “[he] began by writing piano arrangements for The Doors and Led Zeppelin, after finding [himself] unsatisfied with existing versions of [his] favorite songs.” Finding a love for the creative aspect of composition, he dove straight into the deep end by writing a piano sonata that won first place at the provincial music festival. Soon after, he switched from Biochemistry to Music at the University of Alberta.  

This summer, Bérubé is writing a new piece for the Atlantic Sinfonia Orchestra, bringing local influences and an element of celebration to the work. He states that “it is a privilege to write a concert piece, and for instrumentalists to learn [his] work. It takes so many hours to create and rehearse something like this.” In early August, 13 musicians will take to the Christ Church Cathedral stage to perform a collection of Fredericton’s historical pieces, fan favorites, and Bérubé’s new creation. This event will be one of seven projects that received support from the City of Fredericton to mark the anniversary.    

“I am looking forward to working with musicians, sitting in on the rehearsal progress, and hearing the final performance” (Bérubé).