Wishing you happiness and prosperity in THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT
We were so lucky to have Cantilena and Cantiga’s winter retreat fall on the beginning of Lunar New Year celebrations! We have many choristers that celebrate Lunar New Year at home, and it was the perfect opportunity to have all of our choristers celebrate and learn together! Our chaperones organized so many fun activities for our choristers to celebrate: Dragon races, lantern making, and we can’t forget about Saturday’s LUNAR NEW YEAR OLYMPICS!!
Cantilena and Cantiga also learned about their Chinese Zodiac signs together. Our choristers and chaperones of the same sign had fun learning about their similarities (and what makes our ONE Dog unique!) Every chorister even got to go home with a lucky red envelope! We hope it brings you good fortune in the new year!
We want to say an ENORMOUS thank you to all of our parent chaperones and our families back home who taught us about their family traditions, donated decorations, shared stories, and planned so many exciting and informative activities for our choristers as they enjoyed their weekend away!
恭喜发财 (Hapiness and Prosperity) [gōng xǐ fā cái /gong-sshee faa-tseye]
Filmed and edited by Graeme Climie
#tbt one year ago, we gathered our Cantare choristers to mark the first National Day For Truth and Reconciliation. We shared songs, poems, stories, and most importantly, took time to expand our knowledge and understanding of this land’s past and present.
We had the opportunity to observe this year’s #NDTR with Cantare last night at rehearsal and will have a ceremony with Cantilena and Cantiga during their autumn retreat on September 30th. We are so proud of our choristers’ commitment to learning more and being active participants in reconciliation!
After a month of being back online, Cantare is working hard preparing music for our March concert A DREAM OF SPRING.
Our choristers light the candles and step back into Knox United Church for the first time in two years.
Excerpt: O Beautiful Yuletide
Our three ensembles are hard at work preparing to present Angels in the Snow on Saturday, December 18th at Knox United Church.
We can't wait to return to public performance for the first time since December 2019 to present many holiday favourites - including Sarah Quartel's glorious work "Snow Angel" for choir and strings.
As we prepare to share our voices at the Night of Lights at the Field of Crosses, we take our own candlelit moment of remembrance as we honour those who gave their lives for our country.
We will remember them.
"Night of Lights" at the Field of Crosses 2021. Following the inspiration of Holten Cemetary in The Netherlands, the Field of Crosses places candles at each of the over 3000 crosses representing the fallen.
Reading: “The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak” by Archibald MacLeish recited by chorister James Wreford on November 11th. James is pictured kneeling at the cross honouring Private Francis J. Mooney, James’ great great uncle - KIA October 11th, 1916; Battle of the Somme.
Autumn retreat can be VERY long days of singing and exploration! Our TONE CHIMES help us expand our learning about chord structure and harmony while giving our voices a break from hours of repertoire rehearsal.
Please enjoy JS Bach's Chorale "Wer Nur Den Lieven Gott Lässt Walten (BWV 84)" from our 2021 Autumn Retreat. This hymn forms the basis for Bach's Duet from Cantata 93 - you can look forward to hearing us sing the full work soon!
"Here we go!"
After a LONG wait, our choristers finally return to singing together for a Summer Small Ensemble meet-up. We have a really exciting year of singing ahead of us, take a look inside our first rehearsal in 262 days!
We are excited to be back singing with our youngest choristers in our Cantilena and Cantiga ensembles! Take a look inside the highlights of our first months together.
Distanced, masked, and tuning in on ZOOM, our young singers are discovering an encouraging atmosphere filled with high-energy activities and showing us all the meaning of resiliency and determination!
WELCOME BACK
The musical experience of a lifetime continues…
We are so happy to welcome our choristers back to singing for fall 2020 – Take a sneak peek inside our first rehearsal back with our senior choristers!
We’re working tirelessly to facilitate distanced singing outdoors, indoors, and ZOOMing in singers from home – Our singers have come together and shown incredible resiliency, enthusiasm, and flexibility. We are so proud of all they have done to raise their voices together again.
WELCOME BACK