Sunday concert in Kitchener will raise funds for The Working Centre

A concert Sunday in Kitchener will raise funds for The Working Centre in Kitchener.

The concert is hosted by the allmale choir Guys Who Sing, and takes place at 3 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Weber and Queen streets in downtown Kitchener.

Admission is by donation at the door.

Among the musical offerings are Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody” and Schubert’s “Ständchen” with mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell as soloist.

Both the Brahms and Schubert works are classic compositions that include choral roles for tenor and bass voices. Also on the program are works by Beethoven, Copland, Stan Rogers, and Waterloo-based composer Leonard Enns.

Conductor Gord Burnett said the concert has a theme of nature and spring.

It had originally been planned for a performance in May 2020, but that had to be cancelled because of the pandemic.

“The two main focuses of the choir are to provide high-level performances of male choir repertoire, and to raise funds for local charities,” Burnett said.

Burnett, who will conduct the concert along with Peter Nikiforuk and Gerald Neufeld, said the conductors and all performers including Pudwell are donating their services, in order to provide The Working Centre with the maximum amount of donated funds possible.

The Working Centre operates shelters and a tiny-home encampment for homeless people, as well as St. John’s kitchen and a large array of other services for the most vulnerable.

Guys Who Sing performed its debut concert in 2019. It was the brainchild of Daniel Lichti, the internationally acclaimed bass-baritone soloist who has performed in opera, oratorio and recital.

Lichti has deep roots in Waterloo Region, and knew that with the strong choral tradition here, there were likely many singers whose schedules were too busy to allow them to be in a choir for a full season, but who would enjoy participating in a concert from time to time.

“The rich sonority of male voices in harmony or in crunching dissonances has always been appealing to me,” Lichti said at the time.

For Sunday’s concert, there are 24 tenors and basses, some of them professional musicians.

The Working Centre operates shelters and a tiny-home encampment for homeless people