Lunenburg

After a beautiful day off in Wolfville we woke up early and made our way to Acadia University where we hosted our Interplay workshop for composers.  The sessions involve the choir singing compositions “in progress” so that the composer(s) can hear which elements of a piece work and which don’t. It is an extremely valuable tool for a composer to have their pieces sung through, and Jon and the rest of the choir have so much experience and knowledge to impart.  Over the years we have found pieces during these sessions that have become part of our standard repertoire. We’ve also found pieces that 99% of the choirs in the world could not perform (even us).

You can tell by the all-black attire that the choir is either singing a workshop, acting as extras in the TV show Six Feet Under,or are Hutterite refugees.

 

As we drove into Lunenburg the whole choir gave a collective sigh. This is the town that dreams are inspired by, and was the second-last stop on our tour of the East Coast.  The historic town was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1995. This designation ensures protection for much of Lunenburg's unique architecture and civic design, being the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America.

One of my favorite signs on the trip.

One major difference between when you visit a place on a vacation as opposed to visiting with the choir is that with the choir you usually get only a couple hours to see as much as you can of any particular place. Here we were in one of the most historic and beautiful places in the country, so a few of us went to a distillery (we have priorities). Oh, and along the way we made a quick stop to see the restoration of the Bluenose II, a provincial icon for Nova Scotia as well as an important Canadian symbol….look at a dime.

Bill is working the still… mmmmmm

The Bluenose II restoration.

The concert in Lunenburg was held in St. John’s Anglican Church, one of the most beautiful churches I have been in.

 

The star constellation pattern on the ceiling is supposed to be the same one as was in the sky the night Jesus was born. Thank goodness one of the oldest citizens of Lunenburg remembered that night very well.

In the morning Jon led a singing workshop for members of the community. People asked me if he was always so charming and funny. He’s always been quite a charmer, but funny??? I’ve heard some his jokes… not funny!!!

We got back on the bus and headed off to Halifax for our final concert.