Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Quiet of Summer

 




















Greetings readers,

Summer is a quiet time for me as a chorister. While my more musically devoted friends are spending the time touring with their choirs and attending summer music programs, I am back at home finishing my thesis. All is fine and well since I know I have a busy choral season ahead of me as Pro Coro is auditioning three new artistic directors with consecutive concerts in the Fall months and Belle Canto will be back in rehearsals.

Until that time, however, I have very little musical choral inspiration these days. The Chamber Choir I was previously in has returned from the Wales Eisteddfod with some shiny new trophies and we also heard news that Belle Canto won the Equal Voices Women's Choir category at the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs. I feel a bit of disconnected with the latter trophy since this competition has manifested itself into different forms over the past few years. It used to be hosted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Choral Concert program and making it into the final round would require a live-radio sing-off with the competing choir. We would be singing in Edmonton and our rival choir would be singing in Toronto. That was awesome. No second takes and live-to-air broadcast. However, that is no longer the case. Now you just need to submit one recording and it you make it through the semi-finals your recording gets forwarded to the finals round committee. It does save the choir some work though since we no longer need to assemble for a final round in the middle of May. I just think the win doesn't seem as satisfying when we're not competing live.

That is all the choir updates I have for now. I am thoroughly looking forward to the Symphony Under the Sky Music Festival that will be happening at the start of September and will definitely be attending some shows. I'll write more preview posts once that arrives!

Until next time, enjoy the summer!

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