Two marvelous concerts to end our season. Our director, Janet Gaskin, has a reputation for “raising the bar” for the performances of our unauditioned community choir, and this season it has gone way higher! Janet put together a great programme for our Canada 150 concerts and there were many highlights. A big thank you to Rusty Swinehammer for being our guest artist at the concerts.
It was our particular privilege to bring to performance our accompanist John Plant’s work “Voices Answering Back: The Vampires”. Ken Vaughan’s thoughtful reading of the poem set the scene for the concert performance. This is an amazing piece, extremely challenging, yet really interesting, very enjoyable to perform, and from audience feedback, to listen to. A big thank you to John and Janet for their creativity and perseverance working with us on this piece.
Further highlights were hearing Rusty Swinehammer’s elegant and charming rendition of some Canadian favourites, and the performance of “Wild Islands Archipelago” with words by our very own Gordon Hammond, and music by Rusty. Our president, Allan Banks, did a fine job guiding us through the moving French Canadian folksong “Un Canadien Errant”. Soloists shone in a hearty Choir delivery of “Barrett’s Privateers”, most fitting for a performance in Sherbrooke Village! John Plant supplemented the song-list with keyboard performances, including, at Sherbrooke Village, playing the 1917 Casavant organ. What a treat!
A big thank you to the audiences in East Chezzetcook and Sherbrooke Village for their support.
What a season! A huge thank you to Janet Gaskin, our director, to Allan Banks, our president, and to John Plant, our accompanist (and resident composer!), for leading us to greater heights than many of us thought possible for a bunch of amateurs.
Here are some photos from the East Chezzetcook concert at St. Genevieve’s Church:
Here are some photos of the preparation for the Sherbrooke Village concert:
Here are some photos from the Sherbrooke Village concert:
