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<\/a>The works have scarcely been played in Victoria; working toward opening the audience to unfamiliar sounds, Wismath says there is a joy in introducing new music to the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cInterestingly, I believe the Choral Society has performed [Magnificat<\/i>] once in its history,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is rarely performed here, although internationally it\u2019s a very well-performed piece, so I am excited that we\u2019re getting a chance to do a work that is in that symphonic choral repertoire but a work that isn\u2019t heard in Victoria very often. The Vox Humana Chamber group is performing [Adam\u2019s Lament<\/i>]; this will be the second Canadian performance of this work and the first performance of it in British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n The ever-growing range of choral performance has opened doors to a new perspective on the age-old art form. However, there is a waning number of young people attending choral and classical performance. Wismath says there is a need to expose youth to music.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that we live in a world where, yes, some of the younger generations haven\u2019t been exposed to live music, or classical music, or live classical music. And it\u2019s difficult to have a feeling of something if you haven\u2019t experienced it before. We encourage people of all ages, experiences, and backgrounds to come to our live performances, because we know through our years and years of performance it really can be a life-changing experience; the key is getting people in the doorway.\u201d<\/p>\n Wismath hopes that, above all else, those who attend feel the emotions expressed through the songs as strongly as those who have been tirelessly perfecting its elements, and that the audience members surrender to the escapism and healing powers of the music.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives them a chance to either escape the realities of the current world\u2014their own lives, their stresses, and challenges\u2014or maybe even help them reconcile or come to peace with challenges that they have,\u201d he says. \u201cIf people just walk away feeling anything, that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Wismath shares world-renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein\u2019s quote on the power of live music: \u201cThis will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.\u201d With that wisdom by his side, Wismath expresses once more how important performance is, and how right the words of Bernstein are.<\/p>\n \u201cI think those are wonderful words, that music can be a form of escape,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it can also be a tool that we use to help understand and reconcile things that maybe are out of our control.\u201d<\/p>\n