City’s choir scene is bustling
Choirs offer musical opportunities to one and all
“Choir creates an opportunity for people who, on their own, cannot create this beautiful music — it’s something you need to do together,” says Phoebe Voigts.
The artistic director and founder of the Saskatoon Children’s Choir has seen hundreds of kids come and go through her choir since it began in 1996. It’s a style of music that, for more than 20 years, has always been popular. And it’s one of the few genres that never seems to go out of style.
As Voigts puts it, choir gives an opportunity for community and artistic expression that everyone needs, but not everyone gets.
“Choral music provides this oasis of artistry,” she said. “Everyone needs beauty in the world, and this ticks all the boxes: you find a feeling of belonging, and you can make real, rich, music together.”
Everywhere you look in Saskatoon, there’s a poster or an advertisement for a choir. From the Children’s Choir for youth to the Greystone Singers at the University of Saskatchewan to other huge choirs in the city like Joy of Vox or the Fireside Singers, there is a choir — and a musical opportunity — for everyone.
And there’s no sign of the genre slowing down, as we’ve seen with some other genres of music. Even as the repertoire of choirs transforms, the size of the audience has stayed the same.
Take Marilyn Whitehead’s Fireside Singers, a choir that’s been running for more than 47 years. Whitehead started the choir as an extension of her vocal studio with her music students. She said it began with about 35 voices.
The Fireside Singers of today have around 100 singers and a bevy of high-calibre musicians playing with them.
“The fact that you can inspire emotion in people, whether it’s nostalgia or spiritual, there’s moments that all are emotions are changing,” Whitehead said.
“And it’s exciting for (performers) to get that kind of response from an audience.”
The Fireside Singers might be one of the best examples of a choral community in Saskatoon simply due to their longevity. Whitehead said the children and grandchildren of her original choir are part of the newest iteration, and her group has grown from performing in churches to taking the stage at TCU Place for musicals and Christmas concerts — like their Christmas Memories
show Saturday and Sunday.
It’s a testament to those communities that choirs, as musical groups, enjoy a tremendously long life. The Saskatoon Children’s Choir started in 1996; the Fireside Singers have been an ensemble for almost half a century. And the U of S Greystone Singers have been a staple of the Saskatoon music community since 1958.
After 47 years, it’s not getting old for Whitehead and the Fireside Singers.
“We’re having a lot of fun with it,” she said.
“I do it because it really is gratifying to watch those beautiful talents up there sharing and celebrating music together.”
Jennifer Lang, a music professor and the current director of the Greystone Singers, said one of the strengths of Saskatoon’s choirs, and choral music in general, is the camaraderie.
“The reason choral music never goes out of style is because of the community aspect of it,” she said. “It is a way to bring people together and feel that you contribute to something.”
The Greystone Singers fit the mould of a more “classical” choir. That doesn’t mean the music all comes from hundreds of years ago, but it does typically contain music of a more traditional vein. And while that’s the format for plenty of choirs in the city, the available repertoire for a choral group is practically limitless.
Whatever you want to hear — or have the opportunity to sing — you can probably find a choir for it in Saskatoon.
“There is a choir for everyone in this community,” Lang said. “If you’re looking for auditioned or non-auditioned, if you’re looking for a specific type of choir ... there really is something for everyone.”
Age, size, style, skill and more might separate the choirs in Saskatoon, but there are so many it would be hard to not find a group to your liking.
“I think when it comes down to it, the choirs in Saskatoon are all doing the same thing,” Voigts said. “Saskatchewan is a province that has a particular commitment to community ... to shared experiences, that become very meaningful when you add music.”