Canadian singer-songwriter Shari Ulrich is coming to town to perform with Powell River Chorus at its spring concert.
The slated performance is the product of a conversation with chorus conductor Walter Martella, that took place while Ulrich was doing a house concert in the area.
“One of my favourite things is to sing with a choir,” Ulrich said, “so while doing the home concert I asked if there was one around. At the intermission Walter told me about the Powell River Chorus and the wheels were set in motion.”
Martella said it was about a year ago that Ulrich was doing a concert at Higgins Inn when the conversation first started. “She does a lot of that,” Martella said. He explained that she coordinates with community choirs in destination towns and has a list of her songs specially arranged for collaborative performance. “The way it’s being arranged, she is the soloist and the choir is the backup group. The songs have a pop flavour, with mainstream gospel in the background as well. It’s moving. Keeps people pedalling.”
Ulrich was 18 when she bolted to Canada from San Rafael, California. It was just after the Kent State University tragedy rocked the world of those protesting the war in Vietnam. She backpacked and cycled around Canada and the United States, seeking a sense of place and path in the world. After performing with her siblings in the San Francisco Free Theatre, she finally surrendered to music as her calling.
After 21 albums and having played with a string of trios, her solo career was launched when support for a tour she was to undertake with the Hometown Band was cut off by A&M Records in 1977. In a twist of irony, the night before the bad news was delivered, the band picked up a Juno for best new group.
Ulrich said some of her richest musical experiences have been unscripted and unplanned, while some have come from dedication to craft and careful planning. “I’ve had some very magical experiences with music spontaneously while accompanying folks on songs I’ve never heard before,” Ulrich said. “It requires tremendous presence of mind. And I’ve also had some profoundly musical experiences performing complex vocal and instrumental arrangements on well-rehearsed songs—that can be very rich and rewarding.”
Ulrich’s move toward choral arrangements is part of a trend that is seeing singer-songwriters, and bands as a whole, looking for new ways to create sonic resonance—pulling instruments such as cello, violin, brass accompaniment, even piano—to create a bigger, fuller sound. From the beginning, Ulrich has had a soft spot for this type of arrangement. “Being a violin player I have a real soft spot for violin,” Ulrich noted. “Though I now write mainly on guitar, I wrote all my early albums on piano. When recording, the songs themselves pretty much dictate what sort of instrumentation they want. Having lived through the sequenced synth and samples era, I love the trend toward more organic instruments.”
Ulrich explained how, for the new album, her daughter Julia Graff envisioned a string quartet on two songs, a violin duet on another. Ulrich herself heard French horns. “The players in the arrangements were all McGill [University] students and phenomenal in their skills.”
Ulrich shared that on Everywhere I Go, released last month, her daughter engineered and produced the entire album. “I’m touring it much of the summer, but I’m already starting the material for the next one which I expect Julia will produce as well.”
Powell River Chorus Spring Concert takes place at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 16, at Evergreen Theatre, Powell River Recreation Complex. Tickets are available through members of the chorus or at Rockit Music on Alberni Street. Tickets are $20 each.
