45 years of song
New season begins for the Cape Breton Chorale
September is a time to mark a return to routine and new beginnings — I’m not just talking about back to school. For adults, the same sentiment can be stirred up with a return to community groups and activities.
The Cape Breton Chorale is no exception.
Every year I look forward to a new season of choral singing with a combination of excitement and a little bit of nervousness. Will people be happy to see me? Will I be able to sit with my friends or will I be moved to a new position? Will I like the music?
These fears are always quickly quashed as I enter our rehearsal space to find it filled with new and familiar smiling and welcoming faces.
After registering for the year and paying my dues, I move over to the table where I find the carefully laid out colourful folders of music clearly displaying the number 29 in the top right corner.
Music in hand, I move over toward the neatly arranged double horseshoe of bright orange plastic chairs and find my seat in the midst of the other first altos. Once again I find myself among friends talking excitedly about summer adventures and the season to come.
After a few minutes we are called to attention by our director and somehow manage to focus on our purpose — making beautiful music together.
The Cape Breton Chorale was founded in 1973 by Sr. Rita Clare and has been an institution in our community ever since. The chorale has seen many changes over the years (especially costumes and hairstyles) but at its core it remains the same. Even some of the singers remain the same.
It is a mixed adult voice choir of 40 to 50 singers of various background and ages. We come together to sing and to spread our love of music around the island and abroad. Our objective is to nurture an appreciation of choral music through performance and choral training.
Over the last 45 years, the choir has sung hundreds of concerts in Sydney and around Cape Breton, gone on multiple tours to the U.K., the Republic of Ireland, and within Canada, released several recordings, performed with Canadian icons like Rita McNeil and Celine Dion, performed. . .
. . . for dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth II, and appeared on CBC television and radio.
The Cape Breton Chorale was steered and directed by Sr. Rita Clare from 1973 until her retirement in 2014. One of our own, Rosemary McGhee, ably stepped up to the podium as interim director to guide us through a transitional period from 2014-17. During this time, we performed a memorable Christmas concert in the chapel at the Fortress of Louisbourg and marked Canada’s 150th anniversary with a musical journey across the country at the Highland Arts Theatre in Sydney.
We welcomed our current director Ryan Billington last season and presented a moving concert for Remembrance Day, our very first ‘Pop-up’ Insta Choir singalong at the Mayflower Mall, and a fresh varied program in recognition of Earth Day.
We are very excited to offer a new season of exciting concerts and singalong events.
We perform a wide variety of musical genres from classical to Broadway, from folk songs to pop songs.
Our 2018 fall season features two major events, the Celtic Colours Festival and a Christmas concert to be performed both in Sydney and in the chapel at the Fortress of Louisbourg.
During Celtic Colours we will present United in Music, along with fiddlers Calvin Vollrath, Brenda Stubbert and Kolten MacDonell at United Protestant Church in Sydney River on Thursday. Tickets can be purchased through the Celtic Colours Festival website at: https://celtic-colours.com/shows/united-in-music/.
They say that singing in a choir has similar effects on the brain as practising yoga and I believe it. There is definitely something that happens when a group of people breathe a collective breath and exhale together to sing in harmony.
If you think singing in the shower or the car is therapeutic, singing in a choir will take you to a new level. There’s no need to be intimidated by the prospect. The chorale welcomes members of varying musical experience and skill. It does help to be able to read music a little bit and of course we do expect singers to be able to blend.
If you have ever wondered what it is like to sing in a choir I recommend you come to one of our concerts and talk to our members. You should also keep your eye out for community singalong events.
Check out our website at https://capebretonchorale.com/ or like us on Facebook for full details of upcoming concerts and events.