Fri Jan 26, 2018 - Sun Jan 28, 2018
All Day
(From left to right: Trio Sayso, Laura Duhan Kaplan and Charles Kaplan, Seemi Ghazi, Peter Orme, Pandit Tejomaya)
Take a break from the hectic pace of modern life. The Bethlehem Centre is offering a peaceful full weekend of chanting to nurture and pamper your soul! The workshop takes place starting at 3:00 PM Friday January 26th until 1:00 PM on Sunday January 28th at 2371 Arbot Rd. Hosted by Gabriola Island’s sensational musical group Trio Sayso featuring the vocal harmonies of multi-instrumentalist Tina Jones, cellist Alannah Dow and keyboardist/pianist Leah Hokanson, the weekend will offer unique chanting workshop experiences from diverse cultures. The weekend includes chanting based upon the Jewish tradition with Vancouver School of Theology’s Director of inter-religious studies Laura Duhan Kaplan along with her husband Charles, a professional musician. In addition, Christian, Muslim and other chanting practices will be announced, so stay tuned there is more to come!
Tuition for the weekend is $495 and includes meals and accommodation. Tuition for day commuters (no accommodation) is $375 and includes meals.Space is limited to 30 people!
Art of Chant Weekend Schedule
Friday Evening: Welcome and Opening Chant Session: Hosted by Trio Sayso
Saturday:
Session 1: Hindu Chant with Pandit Tejomaya
Session 2: Gregorian Chant with Peter Orme
Session 3: Jewish Chant with Charles Kaplan and Laura Duhan Kaplan
Session 4: Islamic Chant with Seemi Ghazi
Session 5: Contemporary Ecstatic Chant with Trio Sayso
Sunday: Collaborative Chant Offering to the Community – Open to the Public (by donation)
The weekend commences with the inspirational vocals of fabulous Trio Sayso on Friday from 7-9 pm. Saturday’s morning schedule presents calming Hindu chanting with Pandit Tejomaya. Pandit is a priest of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition and was raised as a Roman Catholic. Pandit will introduce a union with infinite divinity.
Don’t miss mystical Gregorian chanting with organist Peter Orme. Orme enjoyed 30 years of parish ministry in the Anglican Church and leads the VOX ensemble performing music from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to contemporary repertoire.
Saturday afternoon experience chanting based upon the Jewish tradition with Vancouver School of Theology’s Director of inter-religious studies Laura Duhan Kaplan with her husband musician Charles Kaplan. Laura is a Rabbi, writer, researcher and an award-winning educator and religious leader.
Delve into the fine art of traditional Islamic chanting with Seemi Ghazi at 4 pm Saturday. Ghazi is a University of BC instructor in Islamic literature and the arts. She will introduce you to profound Islamic lyricism and its spellbinding rhythms. After dinner join us for a contemporary ecstatic chant with Trio Sayso. Sunday will wrap up the weekend with a collaborative chant offering from 10 am-12 noon and the entire community is invited!
Meditation practices such as chanting have been shown to reduce the body’s stress response and lower stress hormones. As a bonus, chanting offers psychological healing benefits by aiding with goal-setting by enabling the manifesting of intention, while connecting the practitioner with the divine.
Dr. James E. Stahl and his team of Harvard researchers have discovered in a new research study that daily meditation may be better than “an apple a day” at keeping the doctor away, “Stress-related health problems are responsible for up to 80% of visits to the doctor and account for the third highest health care expenditures, behind only heart disease and cancer. But as few as 3% of doctors actually talk to patients about how to reduce stress.” (Harvard Now and Zen.)
Explore chanting from multi-cultures while experiencing the tranquil, serene mountain and lakeside setting in the woodlands of Nanaimo’s Bethlehem Centre. Book and reserve your place now. This once-in-a-lifetime experience will be sure to sell out quickly! For more information email Johanne Nicholson at info@bethlehemcentre.com, telephone us at 250.754.3254 or book online below.
Book Now:
Bookings are closed for this event.