An amarcord Christmas

Jessie Rivest reviews a Chamber Music Kelowna Society performance in Kelowna Friday, December 12, 2025.

Earlier that day, while rehearsing for a local project, I received advice that landed like a revelation: focus on the music. Don’t overthink the show; the singing itself is enough. An hour later, I got a call offering me an extra ticket to a men’s a cappella concert at the RCA, it felt like the right thing to do.

Amarcord opened the concert in the round — instantly unlocking choir-kid memories of that familiar stress: getting every note right so the person directly in front of you doesn’t regret their seat. Doing this as a quartet, in a theatre rather than a church, is no small feat. The dry acoustics demand perfection in timing, tuning, and collective breath.

After the first piece, Gustav Holst's In the Bleak Mid-Winter (my favourite), they moved seamlessly onward without waiting for applause — a choice that preserved their internal alignment. Later, speaking with Wolfram Lattke (Tenor), I learned that many of the works were internally rearranged from five parts to four due to an illness of a member back home in Germany. No outsourcing, no shortcuts — just deep ensemble knowledge and trust. These singers have been together for over 30 years, forming in 1992... and it showed. I have yet to see a vocal ensemble move so effortlessly between centuries, languages, and genres while maintaining impeccable cohesion.

The ensemble truly came alive in the Spanish and international repertoire — animated, playful, and embodied. There were moments of vocal instrumentalization of slide guitars, fiddles, drones, flutes, and more. I particularly enjoyed the contemporary a cappella elements (a cappelements?!) in the Finnish and Swedish arrangements. Singing in other languages, when done well, doesn’t feel appropriative — it feels like flexing linguistic musicianship while celebrating culture. It’s a fine line, but I tend to land on the "Resonate - Educate - Celebrate" method so that more music can be heard.

One of the evening’s highlights was an unexpected call-and-response moment with the audience during a Nigerian Christmas carol. The Kelowna crowd took a minute to embody a syncopated rhythm, but we got there.

Vocally, their intonation was remarkable. Robert Pohlers (Tenor) was consistent and buttery. Frank Ozimek (Baritone), aka 'Flexible Frank,' knew exactly when to lean in and when to blend. Wolfram Lattke (Tenor) soared to the heavens with gorgeous falsetto, while Daniel Knauft (Bass) grounded the ensemble with his rich tone, though a bit more forwardly placed than usual low end, due to the absence of their second bass. Even so, the balance remained exquisite, and the ensemble sang with world-class precision.

A particularly cool arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen by Philip Lawson carried subtle barbershop DNA (yay), and I couldn't help but notice that both sets, before intermission and the finale, closed with a tag-like ending — the warmest, most epic way to land a song, and always a crowd favourite.

When the program returned to German repertoire — Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, Maria durch ein’ Dornwald ging by Johannes Weyrauch — the simple yet luxurious chords were almost overwhelmingly beautiful. Four humans standing together, singing music on a stage, were enough. 

That sentiment had come full-circle, book-ending the entire evening: when you give yourself fully to the thing you love, that's enough. This concert was the perfect way to feel into a season of giving. To quote In the Bleak Mid-Winter:

“What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb,

If I were a wise man

I would do my part,

Yet what I can I give Him,

Give my heart.”

Jessie Rivest is a sound artist, creative coach, and local arts supporter living in Kelowna.