Closing notes
Well-known conductor, educator Sister Rita Clare dies
Just two days after she was honoured on stage by the group she was most identified with for more than 40 years, Cape Breton music icon Sister Rita Clare died suddenly on Tuesday.
Sister Catherine Walker of the Congregation de Notre-Dame in Halifax, of which Clare was a member, confirmed the passing of the beloved choral music director on Wednesday morning.
“The sisters are very saddened and shocked,” said Walker. “She was alive and energetic right to the end.”
Clare was a co-founder of the Cape
Breton Chorale back in
1973 and was its conductor until two years ago when Rosemary McGhee took over as interim conductor. Clare was on the team that selected the new conductor, Ryan Billington, who will assume the director’s role in the fall. Both Clare and Billington were on stage Sunday night at the “Cape Breton Chorale’s Salute To Canada” concert when Clare was honoured for her contributions over the years and Billington was introduced. McGhee said she’s glad the chorale had the opportunity to honour Clare for her years of dedication to the group.
“When we heard the news yesterday, I phoned them all and they were so glad that they had done that,” said McGhee. “It’s almost providential. We gave her a big bouquet of flowers and the whole audience saw how much we appreciated her years with us. If there’s one consolation, that is it.”
McGhee said Clare was a pillar of the local music community.
“She played a leading role in choral music in Cape Breton,” she said.
“She was a person of personal and professional integrity. She was totally kind and unbeknownst to us, if a chorale member was suffering something or something had gone wrong, she would be sending them a card, calling them to say she was supporting them, praying for them. She was really kind as well as being an excellent director and program planner.”
The unexpected news hit members of the chorale hard.
“I’m devastated,” said Eileen Pottie Forrester, who took vocal lessons from Clare while at Holy Angels High School and went on to become a founding member of the chorale. “She’s been my friend and mentor for 50 years.”
Forrester, who’s best-known as the owner/director of the Forrester School of Dance, said Clare was supportive when she was having health problems.
“Sister was by my side during cancer diagnosis, treatment, spinal surgeries and other surgeries related to the cancer,” said Forrester. “She was so caring, compassionate and generous. Her support for me was unwavering.
“No matter who it was in chorale going through any kind of health or personal issues, one would always receive a card from Sister Rita. I’ve learned so much from her not just through music and song but her gentle way, dignity, strong faith and perseverance helped get me through a lot over the years, health-wise.”
Singer and vocal teacher Robyn Cathcart credits Clare for inspiring him to go into music as a career.
“She was a huge mentor in my life,” says Cathcart, adding that she gave him a lot of her choral sheet music and recordings when she retired from the chorale, which he treasures.
According to the Cape Breton Chorale website, Clare completed a masters of arts degree in music and music education at Columbia University in New York and also studied at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, the Saratoga Potsdam Choral Institute, New York, and the Voice Care Network, Collegeville, Minnesota. She has been associated with workshops with such conductors as Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Elmer Iseler and Jon Washburn. Until her retirement, she was the supervisor of fine arts for the Cape Breton District School Board. She is past director of the Holy Angels Chorale and the Cape Breton Youth Choir, and is the founding and current director of the Cape Breton Chorale. She organized and conducted a 200-voice choir for the Jeux Canada Games in 1987. She is an honorary life member of the Nova Scotia Music Educators Association (1998) and the Nova Scotia Choral Federation (1998) as well as a winner of the Jubilate Award of Merit presented by the Canadian Music Educators Association in recognition of significant contribution to Music Education in Canada (2005). She received Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa in 1991 from the University College of Cape Breton recognizing her as a “leader in the Arts in Cape Breton and a foremost promoter of music education in Nova Scotia.”
Visitation will take place at SW Chant Funeral Home on Alexandra St., Sydney, on Friday, June 2, 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., with a Bible vigil at
7:30 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will take place at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Sydney River on Saturday, June 3, at 11 a.m. with Father Barrett Clare Johnson officiating. A reception will follow.
Memorials may be made to the Sister Rita Clare Scholarship Fund or a charity of your choice.