Vancouver Chamber Choir On Tour

Wolfville and the Blomidon Inn

2012-03-08T13:19:00.001-08:00

This post was written by Lucy Smith from the soprano section. Here she is enjoying a big lobster.

After a relatively short drive from Antigonish, we arrived in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Us newbies were particularly excited to see our home for the next two days: The Blomidon Inn.

A Nova Scotia sea captain's mansion, built in the 19th century, this has been a favorite of VCC'ers since the choir started coming to Wolfville 18 years ago.

We had a great workshop with Acadia University's choirs, and sang a concert to a very appreciative audience.

After the concert, we retired to the drawing room and had a lovely evening curled up in wingback chairs in front of the fire.

After a refreshing sleep in a four poster bed, it was time for our day off. The sun rose bright and warm over Wolfville and we decided to take advantage of the unseasonable weather and go for a walk in the marshes.

After a week of concerts it was so rejuvenating to blow off some steam in the wind and sun.

Antigonish

2012-03-07T07:02:00.001-08:00

We had a very long trip from Maine to Antigonish. It actually took us two days. Every touring group needs a manager like Violet. She has the uncanny ability to anticipate our needs and to find us a hotel that has the exact amenity to fit the situation (i.e. our hotel was right beside a liquor store… hallelujah!!).

This was the view from my bus seat for those two days. Our bus driver, Terry, braved the elements and delivered us safely to Antigonish.

During these long trips, everyone at the back of the bus practices their music non-stop from the moment they sit down to the moment they get up.

We also practice: patience, flexibility, adaptability, resilience and tolerance. When we pointed out the acronym for this was PFART (hahaha), the powers that be were not amused.

This is a typical action shot on a VCC bus trip.

Antigonish is a very picturesque town filled with old Victorian houses, with St. Ninian Cathedral dominating the landscape from up on a hill.

We had a quick workshop with the choir from St. Francis Xavier University.

The choir has quite a history with St. Francis Xavier. We have toured here at least six times in the last 20 years. Here’s a concert poster from when we visited in the 80s. It was hanging up in a hallway in the school.

This was pre-Photoshop. The feathered hair and dry ice effect was very cutting edge in those days.

We sang a glorious concert that evening in the Cathedral. In one of our pieces there is an “echo quartet” which sings from offstage and echoes the main choir. Jon told us that it sounded like he could hear 5 echoes (a good thing). St. Ninian has the most incredible acoustics, and we love coming back here to sing!

Here’s Marla in the Cathedral.

The Vancouver Chamber Choir’s website includes a list of concerts described as “The VCC’s Defining Performances“. On the list is: ”Every concert in St. Ninian's Catholic Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia”. Click here to see for yourself.

It was a little frigid during the concert, so much so that the women were wishing they had tailcoats to wear, just like the men do.

After the concert there was a reception in the beautiful, newly renovated gallery located in the school next door.

A great night was had by all!

Maine

2012-03-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

We left quite early to head out to Bangor and Portland, Maine for the USA portion of the tour. We had a 3-hour delay at the border because a computer glitch had caused one of our singers’ visas to not be processed in time. All we could do was wait it out and hope everything turned out for the good (which it did). The concert in Bangor was at 3:00 pm and our extended wait at the border left us with no time for a meal, which meant GAS STATION LUNCH. My favorite purchase was my huge Hot Mama Sassy Pickle. One was big enough to feed the entire choir, and came individually packaged. (I kept mine as a souvenir and am hoping that it doesn’t get punctured and leak all over my concert tuxedo.)

We put the pedal to the metal and made it to the church in time to sing the concert.

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bangor was the perfect setting for us. The beauty of the place added to the beauty of music and some of the repertoire we were performing was waiting for this beautiful acoustic to make it shine. It felt as though the music flowed out effortlessly.

Fabi is limbering up for the upcoming choral acrobatics.

Small price to pay for such a rockstar body!

We were back on the bus for a quick trip to Portland, ME. Some of our members went to extreme measures to battle snow blindness.

Portland is so cute and full of great restaurants and gift shops.

For lunch I made a few of us go to a restaurant called the Porthole. I had seen it featured on a show on the Food Network called “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”.

Mmmmmm… my lobster sandwich.

We saw some crab fishermen…

…and, oddly enough, we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall.

It was this image that my mind kept going back to as we performed a piece on our program called “Dona nobis pacem” (Give Us Peace).

The Merrill Auditorium in Portland is beautiful!!!! This picture doesn’t begin to do it justice, but you can see the barrel-vaulted ceiling. Stunning!

After the concert, pretty much the whole group of us went for a lobster feed.

I have had more lobster in the last 2 days than I have had in the last 2 years, and I can honestly say that I am lobstered out…

(which is good, ‘cause we’re going back to Canada tomorrow and we all know that on a musicians’ salary we can’t afford it there ).

Saint John, NB

2012-03-03T04:54:00.001-08:00

We sang our first concert of our East Coast tour last night in Fredericton, NB at the Playhouse Theatre. Jenny (right) and Catherine are standing with Tim Yerxa and Mark (left). Tim is the Executive Director of the Playhouse. Jon Washburn, our conductor, humorously pointed out that the first time he conducted the choir in the Playhouse was in the early 1970s… probably before Tim had even been born.

Fabi (from our alto section) took this picture outside our hotel in Fredericton before we got on a bus to take the short trip to Saint John. She thought it was funny, and so do I. It may be mean, but being that I am from the Prairies I get a kind of perverse pleasure watching the choir of Vancouverites deal with winter weather. I actually think I had Fabi convinced that once this bike got its snow tires on, it could be up and running anytime.

Unfortunately she didn’t fall for the “lick the metal moose and get your tongue stuck” trick, either.

I know we’ve only been away for two days, but the ocean reminds me of home.

I saw this poster in a window as we were out discovering Saint John.

Saint John is the city of adventure, and where better to find that adventure than finding a gang out front of the Imperial Theatre?

I caught a picture of this group of hooligans hanging out on a Friday night.

Here we are during our sound check. We usually dress a little better for concerts…

Speaking of dress… on a tour not that long ago, these two were walking down the street wearing these hats when a truckload of teenagers yelled at them, “Go home, Commies!” (The irony was not lost on me when I saw that the truck was red.) Every time I see them wearing these hats together I think of that story.

The Imperial Theatre is beautiful on the inside, too!

Our hosts, Cambiata, were just so lovely. I really enjoy working with a local choir. Singing next to a person in a choir builds a strong relationship so quickly.

Those relationships last a lifetime. Janet Kidd (right) and Vi sat beside each other in the Chamber Choir for 7 years back in the 1970s/80s.

I never knew that both Donald Sutherland or Stompin’ Tom were from Saint John.

Saint John is so pretty. We will definitely be back!

Fredericton, New Brunswick

2012-03-01T14:43:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of the New Brunswick Legislative Building built in 1882.

Fredericton is the first stop on our East Coast tour.

We are performing as part of the “Fredericton Playhouse Spotlight” series.

We’ve had a little time to go out and do some exploring…

…which meant there was enough time to get up to “no good”!

We had a great lunch at the Snooty Fox Pub…

… where we heard some local musicians play. Only in the Maritimes!

The Lord Beaverbrook hotel has special meaning to me. I grew up on Beaverbrook Street in Winnipeg. It was named after the same Lord Beaverbrook who was a Canadian business tycoon in the early 1900s.

Even the managers of the choir get “down in the trenches” to lug a riser or a box of programs for tonight’s concert. It almost looks like Vi is shopping!

Sunshine Coast

2012-02-28T09:35:00.001-08:00

It was a very dark, cold, and early Sunday in February when we all made our way to the ferry that took us from West Vancouver over to the Sunshine Coast so that we could sing a concert at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt.

The women worked out some last minute glitches and made sure the German pronunciation was just perfect in total Vancouver fashion… Over a nonfat tall soy extra hot green tea latte with half sweetener.

The concert was sponsored by Windsor Plywood. When I renovated my house this is where I shopped!

Our new soprano this year is named Beth (centre). She is a Sunshine Coast native and her parents came to cheer her on.

The Sunshine Coast is famous for a little show called The Beachcombers. It is the longest-running dramatic series ever made for Canadian television. We felt like Nick or Relic, when some of us went for a quick bite at Molly’s Reach before heading home.

The beauty of the Sunshine Coast made me want give up everything and take up beachcombing… Unfortunately the Persephone is now out of commission.

We caught a late ferry back to town. Look, Cam (right) has his eyes closed…surprise, surprise.

2012-02-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

The Bach motets are sure going to make for a memorable and beautiful performance.

Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal 2011

2011-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

VANCOUVER-TORONTO

It was a very, very early morning and we were on our way. The choir was powering up on Starbucks in order to make it through the day.

Some of the members who did not make the Starbucks run and were quickly picked up for lagging behind

We checked into our hotel and I got some beautiful shots from the window of our room.

The weather was a little different than what we’ve been used to as of late.

I mean, this is what we left…. well… almost.

We had a quick rehearsal before going off to a well-deserved rest!

In the morning we had a great opportunity to give a workshop for the students of North Toronto Collegiate Institute. They were preparing for a competition the next day! I think they probably have a very good shot… with our tips and hints it put them over the top.

We sang our first concert with the Orpheus Choir directed by Bob Cooper (above). He directed the National Youth Choir of Canada one of the years I was in it back in the early 2000s… alright, it was the early 90s…

Lucy showing off her VCC attire

The two conductors are posing with royalty of the Canadian choral world. Mary Mason is the daughter of Healey Willan (a.k.a. the father of Canadian composers). Our tour program features a set of three of Willan’s pieces, which Jon dedicated to Mary this evening.

We were then off to bed for an early flight to Ottawa.

OTTAWA

We left Toronto early and rushed to the airport only to find that our flight to Ottawa had been cancelled and that we were booked on a later flight. I swear this choir has had the worst luck with flights. Well, I was dreaming of a bump up to first class, but no luck… It ended up taking as long to fly as it would have to drive, and we just made it to our rehearsal with the Ottawa Cantata Singers with little time to spare.

The next morning we gave a workshop for the singers of Ecole Secondaire De La Salle.

These kids are doing such amazing repertoire, it makes me so proud of them!

One of the pieces was in French, and all I will say is that they were very kind and did not make too much fun of our “West Coast” pronunciation.

Another of the pieces that they were working on was called Minnewanka, by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. It is about the cycle of water, and Jon is showing them the original score (which almost looks more like a piece of art rather than a piece of music) and how it flows from one section right into the next.

In the the evening we had a concert, but had a couple of free hours to go and see a few sights in Ottawa.

A pretty amazing city!!

FLORIDA ORANGES IN OTTAWA

Before I start with our trip to Montreal, I am going to post a story from Catherine Laub from the Soprano section.

Here is a picture of Catherine and Paul Nash (one of our Basses).

Florida Oranges in Ottawa

When I was a child, my aunt organized a trip with both our families to Florida one Christmas vacation. My mother still tells the story of driving south through the mountains in the middle of the night trying desperately to follow my uncle who was pushing 80 mph through blinding snow. Half way through the 24 hour car trip, even I, the oldest and best behaved of the five cousins, was starting to get car sick and cranky. I couldn’t imagine that any kind of paradise could make up for the fact that we were spending a whole day and a night cooped up in the car, not to mention that there would be no Christmas tree that year and very few presents as our families’ Christmas present budgets were being blown on this trip. When we finally arrived at the mildew-scented condo and the end of the 26 hour trip (too much soda, many tiny bladders), the day was uncharacteristically overcast, and I was inclined to think that my aunt, who does have a tendency to embellish, had grossly over-sold the whole concept of Florida.

Then, a neighbor arrived with a bag of fresh oranges.

Yes, this sentence deserves its own paragraph. Such a simple pleasure, but I never knew until then what it was like to enjoy the very essence of a thing. I peeled this fragrant fruit and could see the citrus oils burst from the skin in a fine mist. I popped a segment into my mouth and tasted a month of sweet sunshine. I was entirely present in that moment, and I turned and said to my aunt, “The whole trip was worth it for this one orange!” That was even before the remaining 6 days of glorious weather, the trip to Disney World, exploring the shell beach, swimming endlessly out to the sand bar, discovering that not only was I the best swimmer ever, but that I was also clever enough to pick up live sand dollars from said sand bar with my toes!

Although I was the oldest of my siblings and practiced at that point at existing in the no-man’s land between the adults in my family and all the considerably younger cousins, I was still enough of a child to give myself over without reserve to the taste of that orange, to the delight of something so perfect in itself.

Tonight, I had the same experience that my aunt must have when I uttered my much quoted comment about a piece of fruit. She was so grateful that I appreciated the experience she was trying to share with us. Much as she must have felt planning such a trip and hoping it would please everyone, we as musicians often feel when birthing a concert. As a child, I would have had no idea of the hours of planning, the money, the driving, the putting up with children and husband complaining. We spend so much time attempting to perfect our craft, and we don’t always know (particularly in the current arts funding climate) if anyone really understands what we’re trying to do. Tonight the long flights, short sleeps, and all the rest vanished because someone truly got it.

After our Chamber Choir Concert in Ottawa with the Cantata Singers, I partook of some of the lovely food and wine at the post concert reception and chatted with a few of the friendly singers from the other choir. Then I circled around some of the standing clumps of singers and prepared myself for some strategic socializing. Spotting a single, and thus more approachable, member of the choir, one of the audience members moved in. Curious about the First Nations emblems on the womens’ scarves, he first asked me a few questions about our concert attire. Sensing that I was happy to answer his questions, he moved on to his real reason for wanting to make contact.

This was Neil’s first choral concert.

A colleague of his sings with the Cantata Singers and had introduced him to Classical Music about four months back. Recordings of Handel’sMessiah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Rossini’s Barber of Seville had convinced him that there was something to this whole Classical Music thing, so he agreed to attend the concert. According to the agreement he made with his wife, he could attend on a week night if he put his kids to sleep first, so, unsurprisingly, he was running late and missed almost all of the first half. He told me that he came in just at the end of the Brahms, and that it was like angels singing.

That in itself is always a lovely compliment, but over the course of the ensuing hour long conversation, I reconnected with my real purpose in being a musician. With the purest enthusiasm, Neil described to me how he not only heard but felt the music. Greg Smith’s setting of the 23rd Psalm had forever changed his understanding of that passage of the bible. During the dream sequence in Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams, he had closed his eyes and felt himself to be in the middle of the very same dream. He wondered if everyone else there could be feeling what he had felt. He asked me how it was that there could be so much beyond the words.

I told him that this is the very essence of music. What he was describing is why we as musicians compose, conduct, sing, and play. Music goes beyond words. It’s the universal language that brings us back to our timeless selves. Music connects us through sound vibration, through pure energy and intention.

The more he asked, the more I was excited to tell him. I gave him a two minute crash course in (Western) music history, an overview of the higher education system for musicians, my desert island top 5 recordings, and overall enough information to choke a moose, all in less time than it took to type the last two paragraphs, and all in response to his very specific and wide ranging questions. I allowed myself to be a channel for the information he was so eagerly soaking in, just as all our preparation allows us to get out of our own way in performance and let the music through.

This is my job.

I can hardly believe it. This is my job! My job is to work with world class musicians on beautiful, challenging, music and to perform it for receptive audiences. My job is to perform, to educate, to inspire, to communicate, to connect. I know that my intentions and actions have wider consequences than what I immediately perceive. This one person will bring his wife and children to concerts and open up this whole world to them the way it was opened up for him. Who know how far this one (half) concert will eventually spread? I am so grateful for this glimpse of some of the positive ripples my chosen art form generates.

In the clearest and most unaffected language, Neil described being in total communion with the universal experience we’re all longing to access. It was such an honor to not only to facilitate his first exposure to live choral music but to share with him afterward. My sense of purpose in life was given a huge shot in the arm tonight as I experienced through him what a gift it is to be on this journey. Tonight, I was there to hand someone else the orange.

MONTREAL

Nothing says Montreal quite like maple syrup. Or…

…a huge smoked meat sandwich. So, indulge we did!

The drive from Ottawa to Montreal takes only 2 hours and covers some very pretty landscape. One almost dreams of trading their half-million-dollar townhouse in the suburbs of Vancouver for a beautiful farm along this route where I could be out tapping the maple trees at this time of year…

Did I mention I have no winter boots and nearly had a panic attack when I saw what the salt did to the bottom of my pant legs?

We shared our concert with four other choirs, and the evening was all organized by the Montreal Choral Institute and Michael Zaugg. (Thank you SOOO MUCH!!!) Each group sang a short set by themselves, and all had a beautiful conviction and a love for performing. We then sang 5 pieces together in a mass choir of combined forces. I love doing that -- it’s like a big choral love-in, and you get to meet and connect with all the people around you.

I was freaking out a little as one of the pieces was in French, and… let’s just say I rely heavily on our French coaches. Jean-François, the tenor sitting beside me, actually complimented me and told me my French was perfect! I should really just be passing along that compliment to our coaches but I will save it for the next time they correct my vowels.

The beautiful church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce where we rehearsed and performed during our time in Montreal.

Even more beautiful on the inside.

Rehearsing one of the mass choir pieces.

There was also a festival happening in Montreal called Nuit blanche. It was an all-night festival of art and performing arts that happened throughout the city. Thousands of people were out celebrating and we just happened to be at the right place at the right time to take part. Here are a few pictures from the night.

I joined in and left my mark.

Even the snow could not keep the people from partying.

Montreal

2011-03-02T17:28:00.001-08:00

Nothing says Montreal quite like maple syrup. Or…

…a huge smoked meat sandwich. So, indulge we did!

The drive from Ottawa to Montreal takes only 2 hours and covers some very pretty landscape. One almost dreams of trading their half-million-dollar townhouse in the suburbs of Vancouver for a beautiful farm along this route where I could be out tapping the maple trees at this time of year…

Did I mention I have no winter boots and nearly had a panic attack when I saw what the salt did to the bottom of my pant legs?

We shared our concert with four other choirs, and the evening was all organized by the Montreal Choral Institute and Michael Zaugg. (Thank you SOOO MUCH!!!) Each group sang a short set by themselves, and all had a beautiful conviction and a love for performing. We then sang 5 pieces together in a mass choir of combined forces. I love doing that -- it’s like a big choral love-in, and you get to meet and connect with all the people around you.

I was freaking out a little as one of the pieces was in French, and… let’s just say I rely heavily on our French coaches. Jean-François, the tenor sitting beside me, actually complimented me and told me my French was perfect! I should really just be passing along that compliment to our coaches but I will save it for the next time they correct my vowels.

The beautiful church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce where we rehearsed and performed during our time in Montreal.

Even more beautiful on the inside.

Rehearsing one of the mass choir pieces.

There was also a festival happening in Montreal called Nuit blanche. It was an all-night festival of art and performing arts that happened throughout the city. Thousands of people were out celebrating and we just happened to be at the right place at the right time to take part. Here are a few pictures from the night.

I joined in and left my mark.

Even the snow could not keep the people from partying.

Florida Oranges in Ottawa

2011-02-28T14:04:00.001-08:00

Before I start with our trip to Montreal, I am going to post a story from Catherine Laub from the Soprano section.

Here is a picture of Catherine and Paul Nash (one of our Basses).
Florida Oranges in Ottawa
When I was a child, my aunt organized a trip with both our families to Florida one Christmas vacation. My mother still tells the story of driving south through the mountains in the middle of the night trying desperately to follow my uncle who was pushing 80 mph through blinding snow. Half way through the 24 hour car trip, even I, the oldest and best behaved of the five cousins, was starting to get car sick and cranky. I couldn’t imagine that any kind of paradise could make up for the fact that we were spending a whole day and a night cooped up in the car, not to mention that there would be no Christmas tree that year and very few presents as our families’ Christmas present budgets were being blown on this trip. When we finally arrived at the mildew-scented condo and the end of the 26 hour trip (too much soda, many tiny bladders), the day was uncharacteristically overcast, and I was inclined to think that my aunt, who does have a tendency to embellish, had grossly over-sold the whole concept of Florida.
Then, a neighbor arrived with a bag of fresh oranges.
Yes, this sentence deserves its own paragraph. Such a simple pleasure, but I never knew until then what it was like to enjoy the very essence of a thing. I peeled this fragrant fruit and could see the citrus oils burst from the skin in a fine mist. I popped a segment into my mouth and tasted a month of sweet sunshine. I was entirely present in that moment, and I turned and said to my aunt, “The whole trip was worth it for this one orange!” That was even before the remaining 6 days of glorious weather, the trip to Disney World, exploring the shell beach, swimming endlessly out to the sand bar, discovering that not only was I the best swimmer ever, but that I was also clever enough to pick up live sand dollars from said sand bar with my toes!
Although I was the oldest of my siblings and practiced at that point at existing in the no-man’s land between the adults in my family and all the considerably younger cousins, I was still enough of a child to give myself over without reserve to the taste of that orange, to the delight of something so perfect in itself.
Tonight, I had the same experience that my aunt must have when I uttered my much quoted comment about a piece of fruit. She was so grateful that I appreciated the experience she was trying to share with us. Much as she must have felt planning such a trip and hoping it would please everyone, we as musicians often feel when birthing a concert. As a child, I would have had no idea of the hours of planning, the money, the driving, the putting up with children and husband complaining. We spend so much time attempting to perfect our craft, and we don’t always know (particularly in the current arts funding climate) if anyone really understands what we’re trying to do. Tonight the long flights, short sleeps, and all the rest vanished because someone truly got it.
After our Chamber Choir Concert in Ottawa with the Cantata Singers, I partook of some of the lovely food and wine at the post concert reception and chatted with a few of the friendly singers from the other choir. Then I circled around some of the standing clumps of singers and prepared myself for some strategic socializing. Spotting a single, and thus more approachable, member of the choir, one of the audience members moved in. Curious about the First Nations emblems on the womens’ scarves, he first asked me a few questions about our concert attire. Sensing that I was happy to answer his questions, he moved on to his real reason for wanting to make contact.
This was Neil’s first choral concert.
A colleague of his sings with the Cantata Singers and had introduced him to Classical Music about four months back. Recordings of Handel’sMessiah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Rossini’s Barber of Seville had convinced him that there was something to this whole Classical Music thing, so he agreed to attend the concert. According to the agreement he made with his wife, he could attend on a week night if he put his kids to sleep first, so, unsurprisingly, he was running late and missed almost all of the first half. He told me that he came in just at the end of the Brahms, and that it was like angels singing.
That in itself is always a lovely compliment, but over the course of the ensuing hour long conversation, I reconnected with my real purpose in being a musician. With the purest enthusiasm, Neil described to me how he not only heard but felt the music. Greg Smith’s setting of the 23rd Psalm had forever changed his understanding of that passage of the bible. During the dream sequence in Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams, he had closed his eyes and felt himself to be in the middle of the very same dream. He wondered if everyone else there could be feeling what he had felt. He asked me how it was that there could be so much beyond the words.
I told him that this is the very essence of music. What he was describing is why we as musicians compose, conduct, sing, and play. Music goes beyond words. It’s the universal language that brings us back to our timeless selves. Music connects us through sound vibration, through pure energy and intention.
The more he asked, the more I was excited to tell him. I gave him a two minute crash course in (Western) music history, an overview of the higher education system for musicians, my desert island top 5 recordings, and overall enough information to choke a moose, all in less time than it took to type the last two paragraphs, and all in response to his very specific and wide ranging questions. I allowed myself to be a channel for the information he was so eagerly soaking in, just as all our preparation allows us to get out of our own way in performance and let the music through.
This is my job.
I can hardly believe it. This is my job! My job is to work with world class musicians on beautiful, challenging, music and to perform it for receptive audiences. My job is to perform, to educate, to inspire, to communicate, to connect. I know that my intentions and actions have wider consequences than what I immediately perceive. This one person will bring his wife and children to concerts and open up this whole world to them the way it was opened up for him. Who know how far this one (half) concert will eventually spread? I am so grateful for this glimpse of some of the positive ripples my chosen art form generates.
In the clearest and most unaffected language, Neil described being in total communion with the universal experience we’re all longing to access. It was such an honor to not only to facilitate his first exposure to live choral music but to share with him afterward. My sense of purpose in life was given a huge shot in the arm tonight as I experienced through him what a gift it is to be on this journey. Tonight, I was there to hand someone else the orange.

Ottawa

2011-02-26T07:12:00.001-08:00

We left Toronto early and rushed to the airport only to find that our flight to Ottawa had been cancelled and that we were booked on a later flight. I swear this choir has had the worst luck with flights. Well, I was dreaming of a bump up to first class, but no luck… It ended up taking as long to fly as it would have to drive, and we just made it to our rehearsal with the Ottawa Cantata Singers with little time to spare.

The next morning we gave a workshop for the singers of Ecole Secondaire De La Salle.

These kids are doing such amazing repertoire, it makes me so proud of them!

One of the pieces was in French, and all I will say is that they were very kind and did not make too much fun of our “West Coast” pronunciation.

Another of the pieces that they were working on was called Minnewanka, by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. It is about the cycle of water, and Jon is showing them the original score (which almost looks more like a piece of art rather than a piece of music) and how it flows from one section right into the next.

In the the evening we had a concert, but had a couple of free hours to go and see a few sights in Ottawa.

A pretty amazing city!!

Toronto Day 2

2011-02-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

In the morning we had a great opportunity to give a workshop for the students of North Toronto Collegiate Institute. They were preparing for a competition the next day! I think they probably have a very good shot… with our tips and hints it put them over the top.

We sang our first concert with the Orpheus Choir directed by Bob Cooper (above). He directed the National Youth Choir of Canada one of the years I was in it back in the early 2000s… alright, it was the early 90s…

Lucy showing off her VCC attire

The two conductors are posing with royalty of the Canadian choral world. Mary Mason is the daughter of Healey Willan (a.k.a. the father of Canadian composers). Our tour program features a set of three of Willan’s pieces, which Jon dedicated to Mary this evening.

We were then off to bed for an early flight to Ottawa.

Vancouver-Toronto

2011-02-23T07:43:00.001-08:00

It was a very, very early morning and we were on our way. The choir was powering up on Starbucks in order to make it through the day.

Some of the members who did not make the Starbucks run and were quickly picked up for lagging behind

We checked into our hotel and I got some beautiful shots from the window of our room.

The weather was a little different than what we’ve been used to as of late.

I mean, this is what we left…. well… almost.

We had a quick rehearsal before going off to a well-deserved rest!

The Magnificent Madrigal

2011-02-16T19:38:00.001-08:00

We have been working very hard all week at the 31st National Conductors’ Symposium. It is a great program in which 5 conductors get to come and spend a week working with Jon and the choir in a master class setting. Workshops, seminars and conductor training have always been an important part of the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s role as a professional choir.

One of the conductors: Brian Schmidt from Denton TX

During the workshop the selected conductors are observed in morning and evening rehearsals with the Choir. These are complemented with various sessions throughout the week.

Karen and Sharon before the concert.

Join us as we travel to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Manitoba next week.

2010-03-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

We are almost away

Well, it seems the world is leaving Vancouver en masse and we are following the trend. So many people left our city that a new temporary terminal was made for the departing Olympians at Vancouver International Airport. It handled something crazy like 40000 people yesterday.

We are departing from the Safeway parking lot. Corner of Oak and 25th, 7:30 am... sharp! Maybe not the most auspicious departure, but there is a quote that goes something like "Mighty things from small beginnings grow". I believe that. I have had the privilege of being on some pretty amazing tours and have been to some exotic places. I love touring in Canada because you see that we live in the most amazing country. Nothing is more fun than rubbing our Vancouver weather in the faces of all the prairie folk, or seeing the humour behind the eyes of those hardy prairie people (myself being a prairie expat) as they watch the "wimpy" Vancouverites navigate over the drifty terrain.

I am sure gonna miss the blossoms!!

When I write 7:30 sharp, I mean 7:30 sharp! On one of my first tours with the choir, I slept in and was late for the bus. I ran from my hotel room, a pit in my stomach, my bed-head hair still sticking straight up in the air, to a busload of choristers chanting "DIVA, DIVA" and stern looks from the powers that be. I have never been late again.

I swear Violet missed her calling to be a superstar real estate agent. She is capable of putting a positive spin on almost any situation. She calmly reminded us how lucky we were to be meeting so early, because we will get to the Starbucks before all of the moms dropping off their children at the school beside our designated pick-up spot.

There are some new faces that are on this tour with us:

Marsha Goold

Karen Mang

Kathleen Allan

On the television show "Biggest Loser" they have a "Last Chance Workout" where the contestants have a vigorous workout before they see who lost the most weight in the week. This morning was our "Last Chance Rehearsal" where we ran the whole program top to bottom. I think the people at our concerts are in for a great show!

Our maestros are hard at work getting us ready

I hope we all can survive!!

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010

Day 1-Vernon

We were away without a hitch. After doing it for more than 35 years, the Vancouver Chamber Choir has turned touring on a bus into an art form. Like church pews on Sunday mornings, we each have claimed spots that we sit in. Some have been sitting in the same spot for years and years. We have front of the bus people, back of the bus people, and the few inbetweeners and floaters.

Steve and I loading up (notice us posing while poor Vi is hefting boxes in the background…oops, sorry!)

We got on and then counted off. Each singer in the group has a number associated with them. (I happen to be lucky number 13.) It is VCC tradition that if a female singer wants to announce to the choir she was pregnant she would list off her number then her number plus a half. John Trotter our assistant conductor is only staying on tour with us a couple of days, because his ”half” is actually “seven-eighths” and fatherhood is imminent.

It may be the last time we see him this awake for a long time…

The trip to Vernon has some pretty amazing scenery:

We made great time and were in Vernon before you know it. We got to the hotel, put our stuff away, got our music ready and went to a sound check at the theater.

Backstage they have hundreds of posters of different groups who have performed in the Vernon Centre for the Performing Arts.

In the green room, just chillin’ after our sound check.

We then went for dinner, got changed and sang the show.

The lobby after the concert where we got a chance to talk to the audience.

After the show, since it was someone’s birthday, we went for a celebratory drink (like we need an excuse).

Happy Birthday!! :)

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010

Day 2- Vernon

We had the morning off, and we were left to our own devices. I took advantage of some rest and relaxation. I woke up at 9:30 and managed to pull myself to the free breakfast provided to us until 10:00 am. We saw some sights and went to a sound check at the theatre for noon.

We tired poor Cameron out and all he wanted to do was rest…

The theatre in Vernon is the first place where I have encountered a versatile amplified acoustic. All one had to do was push a button and BOOM, you had a 5-second reverb that made it feel as though you were in a great cathedral in Europe. We opted out of the chamber acoustic, and settled on the symphonic setting… of course! Someone told me that the young designer of this sound system is from Vernon, and that he has gone on to sell it to some of the great theatres around the world.

We had a quick rehearsal, then sang a show to a rather full house. Who has a full house at a concert at 1:30 pm on a Thursday afternoon? I guess Vernon does.

After the concert we had a photo-op with the sponsor, Windsor Plywood!!

This is Rosina (middle). She is Bill’s 6-year-old niece. We serenaded her with “Happy Birthday” during the concert and she is so cute!! She took instantly to Jenny (left) and Kathleen (right).

We were finished by 4:00pm and decided to go for a nice supper.

Hello, Margaritaville!!

SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010

Day 3- Osoyoos/Oliver

Some of the more rowdy members of the group regaled us with tales from the previous evening.
Apparently they gave better than they got and got away mostly unscathed.

It was a very slow fight. My mom took tai chi and was disappointed when she found out this move was actually called “Play Guitar”, not the much more exotic “Pray Gitah” she thought it was.

The trip from Vernon to Osoyoos is so scenic, and the landscape is dotted with orchards and vineyards. We actually begged Vi to stop at a winery, but to no avail. We had places to go and not much time to get to them.

Did you know that Osoyoos is actually a desert? You can see the cactus in the planter, no?
We took over our hotel which had beautiful balconies and views of the lake.

The water was like glass.
We had enough time to eat supper/relax before going off to the Frank Venables Auditorium in Oliver to sing our show.
Cam won an award!! The Ogopogo Invitational. He was so overjoyed, he got quite emotional.

See, he is losing it.

After that picture-taking ordeal we laughed and laughed!
After the concert we found a little pub and had a quick ginger ale before bed

SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2010

Day 4 - Creston

We left early, and traveled east on Hwy #3, headed toward the Kootenays.

We drove up the side of a mountain, and from the top there was a beautiful view of the lake and town of Osoyoos.
Once we hit the summit we encountered something that we were not that familiar with, coming from Vancouver.

Snow! We decided to remain strong and venture on. ;)
The town of Grand Forks is famous for 2 things: sunshine and borscht. I am not joking. That’s what it says on the sign on the way into town.

I can’t say where the claim of famous sunshine comes from (although it was very sunny when we were there), but the borscht claim comes from a large Doukhobor population (Russian heritage). It was the perfect place to stop and have a great lunch which consisted of Pirohi, Borscht, and Veroniki (sorry for the spelling). Don’t ask what they were. They were just good!

I ate lunch with Grant.
The bus trip to Creston actually took the better part of the day. Creston also is on Mountain Time. We took a “scenic” route… Whatever. The short story is that we were really late getting into Creston and had just enough time to get to the auditorium for our sound check.

Much different country here. Very mountainous.

Prince Charles Secondary, where the concert was held.

Creston, like Grand Forks, is also famous for 2 things:

It is the home of Kokanee beer.

And the Sasquatch!!
See the fear in his eyes!!!

(After a pretty intense rehearsal/sound check, Will provided us with some much needed comic relief.)
We sang a great show and got to bed early for an early departure to Nelson.
Wait… what am I missing? Oh, yeah.

Peter, our awesome driver, brought us a present for the long trip back to the hotel (2 blocks away) (a peace offering for the “scenic” detour earlier in the day).

MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010

Day 5 - Nelson

You know you are not in the metropolis anymore. The store across the street from the Downtowner Motor Hotel where we stayed in Creston is an actual gold panning store (the only one I have ever seen before). If only we had more time…
Lorraine got all giddy at the chance to acquire more jewelry. It might just be me, but if there was gold in the streams around town would you want to advertise the fact, or sell the supplies so that other people could find it?

The Kootenay’s sure are majestic!

We left Creston and headed out to Nelson. Our concert was held at the Capitol Theater at 2:00 pm. A great old converted movie theater.

The inside of the theatre.

A lovely day in Nelson.

I’ve stood atop what was once the tallest building in the world, but I have to say the view from our hotel in Nelson is one I will remember.

Since our concert was in the afternoon, it meant we had the evening off. The Academy Awards were on television, so we decided to get junk food and have an Oscar party. Junk food in Nelson consisted of organic Thai-flavored rice crackers in environmentally conscious packaging. Gluten-free… of course! So Nelson!!

We then went to bed early for the next day which Vi termed a “potential day from hell”.

5:15 am is way too early to get up. Right girls?

Right!

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010

Day 6 - Edmonton

We left Nelson at 6:00am, and had a very strict schedule to get to Cranbrook to catch a flight to Edmonton via Calgary.

Violet found out that the mountain highway we were on was being shut down at 8:00am for avalanche blasting, so we had to rush in order to not get caught. To make matters worse, we ran into a bad snowstorm 15 minutes outside of Nelson. Apparently she had no fingernails left by the time we made it to Cranbrook (with only about 20 min. left before our plane was scheduled to take off).

Snowstorm pictures from the bus.

Here we are all lined up at the check-in counter at Cranbrook airport.

We made the flight by the skin of our teeth.

We packed into the back and were on our way.

We flew over the Rockies and landed in the Prairies.

We went to our hotel and had a rest before a 3-hour rehearsal with Edmonton’s Richard Eaton Singers, with whom we are sharing a concert.

Downtown Edmonton

Bill, Cam and I went to lunch.

Our combined forces, which is going to make for a real great concert!!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010

Day 7- Edmonton

Our day started with a workshop for young composers. We sang through their pieces and then offered some constructive criticism..

These are the vipers you have to watch out for… :) (Marla in the middle just offered me chili-flavoured chocolate and I almost feel guilty for calling her a viper.)

Jon is working with one of the young composers. I like these sessions. There were some really creative and talented young composers in this bunch.
In the evening we joined forces with the Richard Eaton Singers and had a concert at First Presbyterian Church.

The concert went really well. It was especially nice to sing in a church acoustic. (We had gotten used to singing in theatres up until this point.)

Jon was in fine form.
We sang the world premiere of a piece by Ruth Watson Henderson.

Here is a picture of conductor Len Ratzlaff, with Ruth.

The girls with poet E.D. Blodgett. He was once poet laureate of Edmonton, and wrote the text for the piece which was commissioned for this concert.
There was a great reception after the concert.

We even made some friends.

Cheers, everyone!!

Time to get ready for bed!

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010

Day 8 - Edmonton, long layover in Calgary, and finally Regina

The day started with a conducting workshop at the University of Alberta. There were 6 conducting students who each got a 20-minute masterclass with Jon and the choir.
In the rehearsal room someone very creative transformed this no smoking sign. How appropriate!

One of the student conductors.

They all did very well.
We then rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Regina with a stopover in Calgary. Unfortunately, due to fog earlier in the day, our plane was an hour late leaving Edmonton.

Here we are in line at the Edmonton airport. This is before we found out that our short trip to Regina was going to take much, much longer than expected.
We made it to Calgary and found out that we had missed our connecting flight. They had rescheduled most of us on a later flight that would get us to Regina at 1:30am. The rest were coming at 7:00am the next morning. We split up, and those who were staying the night in Calgary went to their hotel (supplied by Air Canada), while the rest of us had an all-day campout at the airport waiting for our late-night flight to depart. There went our hopes of the Caribbean dinner adventure we were supposed to have which Melissa (our host in Regina) was going to put on for us.

Vi, at the customer service desk in Calgary. Before her visit to the Maple Leaf Lounge…

Here she is handing out our new boarding passes and meal vouchers.
We camped out at the restaurant where a really nice waitress took pity on us (after we bribed her with chocolate) and took really good care of us!

The hours went by like seconds… well, almost.
We got to Regina and my head hit the pillow at 3:00 am. Wow! What a day!!! It took longer to get from Edmonton to Regina than it did for us to get from Vancouver to Tokyo in November.

FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010

Day 9 - Regina

After getting to bed at 3:00 am the night before I slept like the dead, and woke up at 11:00 am feeling remarkably well rested (aside from a little kinked neck). I missed the heavenly bed from Edmonton.
It was the most comfy bed I have ever slept in. In fact, it was so comfortable I even took a picture of it.

Oh, how I miss you!! Luckily I found a catologue in our room which can help me recreate the whole experience at home, linens and all.

Only $3620.00… I don’t think Vi would mind if I charged it to the room…right? (I am worth 300 thread count, no?) For that price I am sure someone will come and make it every day just like at the hotel.

We had a 2-hour workshop with a high school choir from Luther College, as well the choir from University of Regina, in which we sat mixed up with the students and worked on some of the basics: listening to each other, balance, word stress, etc. They were the exact same things we work on in Chamber Choir on a daily basis. I like doing these kinds of workshops where Jon asks us to demonstrate singing something the “wrong” way and then the “right” way. My favourite demonstration was singing an Italian Renaissance piece in a country-western style -- wrong on many levels!

Here is Melissa Morgan (our presenter, and longtime friend of the choir).

She is the music teacher at Luther College and her kids had all the music we worked on memorized!! So well prepared!!

Christ Lutheran Church has a great acoustic and we had just a few details to work through before the concert.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the show.

Here we go!
After the concert we were officially on “time off” with a free day the next day. Some of us went out for some nachos and wings to celebrate.

Then, off to bed.
We were invited to Melissa’s mother’s house for a Caribbean banquet the next day at 4:00 pm and I intended to remain in bed until the last possible second…

SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 2010

Day 10 - Regina (day off); Day 11 - Calgary

Let’s get the party started!!
It was our day off and I can tell you that I spent a good deal of it in bed. What a whirlwind tour so far. We were very lucky to be the guests of honour at Melissa’s house for dinner. She is the music teacher at Luther College and is our presenter here in Regina. She is such a special person and the whole choir truly loves her very much.

Marla collecting the coats at Melissa’s place.

Melissa’s mom worked day and night to put together this whole Caribbean feast. The smile never left her face once.

She is one of the kindest and most beautiful people I have met. I can see where Melissa’s generous character comes from.

Here we are all hanging out in her rec room.
Gordon brought an orchid as a small token of our appreciation.

Here is the menu:

We found a place to sit and had an enjoyable evening and a great day off.

Dolores was actually a little overwhelmed by the great magical Caribbean spices! (hee hee)

During dinner, John Nelson, a choir director from Regina and fellow guest, came into the dining room. Cameron looked up at him and said, “Camrose, Alberta, Summer 1968... the Workshop Chorale!”
They had sung together 42 years ago. It was Cam’s first professional singing gig and he made $18.00 a day.

The years have been kind to both of them, considering what they have been through.
A great night was had by all, and no one wanted to leave at the end.

A special thanks to the multi-talented Morgans!!!

5 AM came very, very early. We had been flipping back and forth between timezones like ping pong balls. Even though Saskatchewan's time doesn’t change, I was thoroughly confused.

The beautiful prairie sunrise greeted us on our way to the airport where we would be flying to Calgary.

At the Calgary airport we met up with Kathleen, who had had to fly back to Vancouver on our day off to sing a concert with her university choir in order to fulfill her academic obligations. Ironic, no?

A smile like that deserves an A+!!
We then had a rehearsal with the Spiritus Choir in Calgary. We are singing a piece together in tomorrow’s concert.

Then we were set loose for the rest of the day and left to our own devices. We only have one more night of gathering teeny, tiny soaps for our collections.

The tour mantra!!

“grrrr”
“I’ll be home tomorrow, honey!”

MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010

Day 12 Calgary-Home

This post took a little while to send out.

We made it home!!

We had a great time and I personally would like to thank everyone who made this tour possible.

Here is a link to a great article from the Vancouver Sun. They interviewed Steven, one of our singers about life in the choir and on the road.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/westcoast-life/Vancouver+Chamber+Choir+road+then+home+again/2694805/story.html.

Day 12 Calgary-Home

2010-03-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Day 10 - Regina (day off); Day 11 - Calgary

2010-03-13T19:47:00.001-08:00

Day 9 - Regina

2010-03-12T13:17:00.001-08:00

It was the most comfy bed I have ever slept in. In fact, it was so comfortable I even took a picture of it.

Oh, how I miss you!! Luckily I found a catologue in our room which can help me recreate the whole experience at home, linens and all.

Only $3620.00… I don’t think Vi would mind if I charged it to the room…right? (I am worth 300 thread count, no?) For that price I am sure someone will come and make it every day just like at the hotel.

We had a 2-hour workshop with a high school choir from Luther College, as well the choir from University of Regina, in which we sat mixed up with the students and worked on some of the basics: listening to each other, balance, word stress, etc. They were the exact same things we work on in Chamber Choir on a daily basis. I like doing these kinds of workshops where Jon asks us to demonstrate singing something the “wrong” way and then the “right” way. My favourite demonstration was singing an Italian Renaissance piece in a country-western style -- wrong on many levels!

Here is Melissa Morgan (our presenter, and longtime friend of the choir).

She is the music teacher at Luther College and her kids had all the music we worked on memorized!! So well prepared!!

Christ Lutheran Church has a great acoustic and we had just a few details to work through before the concert.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the show.

Here we go!

After the concert we were officially on “time off” with a free day the next day. Some of us went out for some nachos and wings to celebrate.

Then, off to bed.

We were invited to Melissa’s mother’s house for a Caribbean banquet the next day at 4:00 pm and I intended to remain in bed until the last possible second…

Day 8 - Edmonton, long layover in Calgary, and finally Regina

2010-03-11T14:58:00.001-08:00

The day started with a conducting workshop at the University of Alberta. There were 6 conducting students who each got a 20-minute masterclass with Jon and the choir.

In the rehearsal room someone very creative transformed this no smoking sign. How appropriate!

One of the student conductors.

They all did very well.

We then rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Regina with a stopover in Calgary. Unfortunately, due to fog earlier in the day, our plane was an hour late leaving Edmonton.

Here we are in line at the Edmonton airport. This is before we found out that our short trip to Regina was going to take much, much longer than expected.

We made it to Calgary and found out that we had missed our connecting flight. They had rescheduled most of us on a later flight that would get us to Regina at 1:30am. The rest were coming at 7:00am the next morning. We split up, and those who were staying the night in Calgary went to their hotel (supplied by Air Canada), while the rest of us had an all-day campout at the airport waiting for our late-night flight to depart. There went our hopes of the Caribbean dinner adventure we were supposed to have which Melissa (our host in Regina) was going to put on for us.

Vi, at the customer service desk in Calgary. Before her visit to the Maple Leaf Lounge…

Here she is handing out our new boarding passes and meal vouchers.

We camped out at the restaurant where a really nice waitress took pity on us (after we bribed her with chocolate) and took really good care of us!

The hours went by like seconds… well, almost.

We got to Regina and my head hit the pillow at 3:00 am. Wow! What a day!!! It took longer to get from Edmonton to Regina than it did for us to get from Vancouver to Tokyo in November.

Day 7- Edmonton

2010-03-10T16:03:00.001-08:00

Our day started with a workshop for young composers. We sang through their pieces and then offered some constructive criticism..

These are the vipers you have to watch out for… :) (Marla in the middle just offered me chili-flavoured chocolate and I almost feel guilty for calling her a viper.)

Jon is working with one of the young composers. I like these sessions. There were some really creative and talented young composers in this bunch.

In the evening we joined forces with the Richard Eaton Singers and had a concert at First Presbyterian Church.

The concert went really well. It was especially nice to sing in a church acoustic. (We had gotten used to singing in theatres up until this point.)

Jon was in fine form.

We sang the world premiere of a piece by Ruth Watson Henderson.

Here is a picture of conductor Len Ratzlaff, with Ruth.

The girls with poet E.D. Blodgett. He was once poet laureate of Edmonton, and wrote the text for the piece which was commissioned for this concert.

There was a great reception after the concert.

We even made some friends.

Cheers, everyone!!

Time to get ready for bed!

P.S. We miss you Alicia!!! John, still no baby?

Day 6 - Edmonton

2010-03-09T12:07:00.001-08:00

We left Nelson at 6:00am, and had a very strict schedule to get to Cranbrook to catch a flight to Edmonton via Calgary.

Day 5 - Nelson

2010-03-08T09:14:00.001-08:00

Lorraine got all giddy at the chance to acquire more jewelry. It might just be me, but if there was gold in the streams around town would you want to advertise the fact, or sell the supplies so that other people could find it?

The Kootenay’s sure are majestic!

We left Creston and headed out to Nelson. Our concert was held at the Capitol Theater at 2:00 pm. A great old converted movie theater.

The inside of the theatre.

A lovely day in Nelson.

I’ve stood atop what was once the tallest building in the world, but I have to say the view from our hotel in Nelson is one I will remember.

Since our concert was in the afternoon, it meant we had the evening off. The Academy Awards were on television, so we decided to get junk food and have an Oscar party. Junk food in Nelson consisted of organic Thai-flavored rice crackers in environmentally conscious packaging. Gluten-free… of course! So Nelson!!

We then went to bed early for the next day which Vi termed a “potential day from hell”.

5:15 am is way too early to get up. Right girls?

Right!

Day 4 - Creston

2010-03-07T10:05:00.001-08:00

Day 3- Osoyoos/Oliver

2010-03-06T11:10:00.001-08:00

Some of the more rowdy members of the group regaled us with tales from the previous evening.

Apparently they gave better than they got and got away mostly unscathed.

It was a very slow fight. My mom took tai chi and was disappointed when she found out this move was actually called “Play Guitar”, not the much more exotic “Pray Gitah” she thought it was.

The trip from Vernon to Osoyoos is so scenic, and the landscape is dotted with orchards and vineyards. We actually begged Vi to stop at a winery, but to no avail. We had places to go and not much time to get to them.

Did you know that Osoyoos is actually a desert? You can see the cactus in the planter, no?

We took over our hotel which had beautiful balconies and views of the lake.

The water was like glass.

We had enough time to eat supper/relax before going off to the Frank Venables Auditorium in Oliver to sing our show.

Cam won an award!! The Ogopogo Invitational. He was so overjoyed, he got quite emotional.

See, he is losing it.

After that picture-taking ordeal we laughed and laughed!

After the concert we found a little pub and had a quick ginger ale before bed

Day 2- Vernon

2010-03-05T10:24:00.001-08:00

We tired poor Cameron out and all he wanted to do was rest…

The theatre in Vernon is the first place where I have encountered a versatile amplified acoustic. All one had to do was push a button and BOOM, you had a 5-second reverb that made it feel as though you were in a great cathedral in Europe. We opted out of the chamber acoustic, and settled on the symphonic setting… of course! Someone told me that the young designer of this sound system is from Vernon, and that he has gone on to sell it to some of the great theatres around the world.

We had a quick rehearsal, then sang a show to a rather full house. Who has a full house at a concert at 1:30 pm on a Thursday afternoon? I guess Vernon does.

After the concert we had a photo-op with the sponsor, Windsor Plywood!!

This is Rosina (middle). She is Bill’s 6-year-old niece. We serenaded her with “Happy Birthday” during the concert and she is so cute!! She took instantly to Jenny (left) and Kathleen (right).

We were finished by 4:00pm and decided to go for a nice supper.

Hello, Margaritaville!!

Day 1-Vernon

2010-03-04T11:56:00.001-08:00

Steve and I loading up (notice us posing while poor Vi is hefting boxes in the background…oops, sorry!)

It may be the last time we see him this awake for a long time…

The trip to Vernon has some pretty amazing scenery:

We made great time and were in Vernon before you know it. We got to the hotel, put our stuff away, got our music ready and went to a sound check at the theater.

Backstage they have hundreds of posters of different groups who have performed in the Vernon Centre for the Performing Arts.

We are almost away

2010-03-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

I am sure gonna miss the blossoms!!

Marsha Goold

Karen Mang

Kathleen Allan

Our maestros are hard at work getting us ready

I hope we all can survive!!

BC/Prairies March 3-14

2010-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready to head out on the road again.

Follow us each day, March 3-14th and get a first hand view as we head off to: Vernon, Oliver, Creston, Nelson, Edmonton, Regina, and Calgary.

Canada is such a beautiful country, and we are going to some spectacular places.

Asia tour 2009

2009-11-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

Some great pictures from the tour:

Perspectives

2009-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

In a way, it's a little surreal to be home. Lucky to have returned just before a holiday, giving us the chance to spend precious time with family before jumping headlong into the backlog of whatever work was put on hold for three weeks.

This odd feeing of of being so comfortable being away at work for such an extended period has occurred for me on occasion, but never so much as on this past tour.

As I listened to similar comments from my colleagues, I was struck by how many collective tour experiences we all share, and just how many important facets there are to the making of a successful tour. So many of us (if not all!) have agreed that this was probably the best tour they can remember, and everyone numbers their priorities in his or her own particular order of importance. For me, it was the diversity of the events in which we were able to participate, and the level of appreciation for our collective musicianship and versatility that was so immensely gratifying. Sharing in the culture of each place we visit always adds a special perspective, and this tour was certainly no exception, but hugely enhanced on this occasion due to the personal involvement of family and friends of Tama Copithorne and Cecilia Chueh. The incredible array of unique events, so many of which were arranged especially for us, and some not usually available to the casual visitor, added an especially rich aspect to this tour.

Not to leave the exemplary level of musicianship we achieved together unmentioned, I feel that the description of what it takes to make a tour like this work on so many levels was so eloquently articulated by our own Violet Goosen, a day or two ago on this blog. As I digested her comments, it made me feel so proud that she felt this way about our performances, comportment, and the level at which we represented ourselves as a choir, as musicians and as citizens.

I would like to add that we can never say enough about the incredible 'behind the scenes' work, much of which seemed to go on 24/7, not only in the months leading up to, but also during the tour. We can only imagine the incredible amount of detail and organization, and the stresses of dealing with the constant changes that arose as the days proceeded. Always, and as ever, handled seemingly without a hitch, hiccup or ruffle of feathers, Vi and our intrepid team of 'handlers' soldiered on, smoothing the way and ensured that things went according to somebody's plan! That these compliments come from someone whose years of musicianship and dedication has contributed so enormously to the shape and soul of the choir, is high praise indeed.

So, to Violet, Tama, Cecilia, and their extended friends and families, profound thanks and gratitude for all your efforts and expertise. Thanks to Jon for his leadership and that special ability to always find a direction for those workshops, and to John William Trotter, (John-boy, Trotzky, Asistanto) Bravo! It's the first time we've ever seen someone play 'Lotto Conductor" and we were dazzled by your skill, versatility and good humour. Special thanks to Charles and Lucille Flavelle, whose companionship and enthusiastic support always adds so much.

I know that, in the days to come as we make the transition back to the hectic scramble of making a living as musicians, I will remember the depth of appreciation of our art from those we visited, and particularly, the moving words of Charles, as he described the effect our performances had on their friends and his deep affection for the choir. It brings an enormous sense of fulfillment to have chosen this as a career. The memories of what we achieved and the people we were able to touch with our music are gifts I will treasure always, and I know I will be able to call on them whenever I need a reminder of just how profound and powerful the choral art can be.

Marla - #8

Day 17, 18, 19 Yokohama

2009-11-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

We have finally made it to the last stop on our tour. Each place that we have visited has had such a distinct "flavour", and all the different cultures and experiences from each place we will bring back home with us. The really neat thing is that we, in turn, were able to give them a gift in return.

The view from our hotel room!!
I went on this ferris wheel. I am very proud of myself and thankful that Steve did not rock it too much.

Our hotel!!

The beautiful hall we performed in!!

We led a conductors' workshop. Lots of fun!

View from the ferris wheel.

We also led a workshop with some local choirs... We helped them perfect the sound of music.

My last post will be tomorrow!
T

2009-11-08T02:50:00.000-08:00

In case you, our family, friends and faithful followers of this blog, have come to the conclusion that the singers have been on vacation, I am going to dispel that illusion very quickly! This tour has not been a holiday - the Choir has been the finest ambassador any city, province, country could ever hope to send abroad. Their "free" days were free only from singing. Most of those days were spent graciously accepting the "gift" of visiting shrines, temples, castles, museums when they might rather have been sleeping, resting or having some "down time" alone. Then there were the challenges of travel - on at least 3 occasions, our larger luggage had to be sent by truck (no room on the trains!) and so the Choir carried their music, their concert costumes and other incidentals as we climbed the stairs of rail stations and hustled into the train cars whose doors open for only 2.5 minutes to allow passengers to disembark and others to embark but we all made it! Our mantra of "patience, tolerance and flexibility" was put to the test many times.
But then, there were the performances...sitting in the lobby at the first performance in Tainan, Taiwan, I heard the audience respond to the Choir with cheers and thunderous applause. I felt like a very proud "Mom" whose kids have done well! And they did this over and over again. There wasn't one performance that didn't measure up! The audiences in Japan have been just as appreciative - the lineups for Jon's autograph after the concerts, the number of photos people have taken of themselves with the singers - we have about 8 CD's of photos taken by the people in Izumo alone. Yes, they've had some good times but they've also done Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada proud - Thank you, Vancouver Chamber Choir!

Day 15 & 16 Kyoto

2009-11-07T03:18:00.001-08:00

We made the paper again! This time in colour!

We took the train from Izumo to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. It took us around 5 hours, and we had just enough time to check into our hotel before we went off to perform a concert.

So Japanese.

We were joined by a local womens' choir for the final piece on the programme. Their director also has a mens' choir which came to Vancouver and sang with Chor Leoni at MusicFest Vancouver about 5 years ago.

With 1000 tickets sold, the concert was pretty well sold out. People were lined up around the block.

This concert was presented by Pana Musica. It is a sheet music store here in Kyoto that specializes in choral music. This was the first time that they have presented a concert. The evening went off so well that we were told it will definitely not be the last.

Some of the awesome staff from Pana Musica.

Marla, the singers' representative to the board, made a very nice speech/presentation to Mr. Hattori, the director of Pana Musica, at a great reception after the concert.

We got aquainted with Mary Blossom... a Japanese merlot.

She was quite unforgiving.

Kyoto is so neat with hundreds of little temples that dot the city.

A little dog temple.

His bite is worse than his bark!

We had the next day off, so some people went sightseeing. We were staying right in the shopping district.

So, when in Rome...

T.

Sopranos (and a few altos) gone wild in Izumo!

2009-11-06T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hello blog followers,

Ever wonder what the VCC ladies do after dark?

Well, let us tell you!

In Izumo, after a full day of sightseeing, Tama – our fearless and tireless Japanese liaison - took several of us gals to the local hot spring.

We entered the building, removed our shoes, turned a corner and were overwhelmed by local fig products at the hot spring store (the ones we sampled were very yummy!).

We were then led into the women’s change room and instructed to remove all articles of clothing, jewelry and makeup. After that, we passed through the steamy glass doors into the bathing room.

We were bumbarded by the sight of many backsides in individual, open showering stalls, where women sat facing the wall on bum contoured stools and completely scrubbed away all traces of the outside world. When we sat down, Emily commented that a picture of this would make great cover art for our next cd – notice how no one actually brought a camera!

Once thoroughly cleansed, we eased ourselves into the steaming indoor mineral pool. The water was soft, fresh and pleasantly odourless (unlike Harrison). There were two lovely jets to massage your cares away, but there was more...

Outside, the lanterns cast a warm glow in the chilly night as we followed a stone pathway under a wooden canopy. At the end we found a small natural rocky pool surrounded by a Japanese garden. Since we were still in our birthday suits, we were glad there was a bamboo divider between the men’s and women’s pools!

Through conversations with Tama, the local bathers discovered that we were singers and asked for a song. We ended up singing Aka Tonbo (Red Dragonfly) and Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) with them. The altos hummed along since in our arrangements they don’t get any words. There were two young girls outside with us who had never seen foreigners before. They were fascinated with our white (now pink) skin and asked us our favourite colours. Their favourite was pink.

Once the bathing beauties were fully cooked, we reluctantly left our pool and showered again – this time, to face the outside world. We felt calmed and soothed, and our skin was silky smooth. We were driven back to the spa resort by our lovely volunteer host, Aya, in our blissful state.

During the concert in Kyoto the following night, we discovered that our bonding experience had created our best blend ever!

Recounted by a few sopranos.

Video - O Canada

2009-11-05T23:12:00.000-08:00

You might say this was our opening act for our concert in Shūnan: a group of local schoolchildren singing "O Canada".
ADORABLE.

s.

Video - Izumo, post-concert reception

2009-11-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the efforts of the Izumo-Canada Friendship Society, we were treated like royalty for the duration of our stay. Our concert was merely the beginning of a long evening of performances, photo sessions and parties. The post-concert reception included singing, a short performance by traditional Koto players, and this dance routine by local schoolchildren.

s.

Video - Sea of Japan

2009-11-05T21:25:00.000-08:00

By the time we arrived in Izumo it was already dark, and although we could hear the sound of waves crashing around us, we couldn't quite appreciate the stunning beauty of our surroundings until the next morning. This gorgeous view of the Sea of Japan was what we saw from our balcony the next morning. Incredible, no?

s.

Video - Taiko drumming

2009-11-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

As we arrived at our hotel in Izumo we were greeted by the deafening roar of six Taiko drummers in the hotel lobby. These six drummers are actually part of a larger group -- 21 drummers in total, all female, and none of them older than 21! Quite spectacular. And a mere preview of the local hospitality that would await us...

s.

Day 14 Izumo

2009-11-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

We managed to make the news!

Today we had a full day away from singing. That doesn't mean we were left to our own devices, though. The Izumo-Canada Friendship Society had a full day of sightseeing planned for us. We were up early and on the bus to our first stop. We visited a museum of sculptures made entirely out of sushi dishes. (So Japanese; it's cute, you like it, but you don't entirely get it.)

This is a bug made out of bicycle parts??
We were there for around 15 min. before being ushered back onto the bus to go to our next stop.
The town of Matsue is so beautiful. We took a trip on the Horikawa pleasure boats, traveling past some of the ancient samurai houses and some pretty amazing scenery.

The canopy needed to be lowered for when you went under some low bridges, at which point you had to practically lay down.

We went to a great Japanese restaurant for lunch!

So good!!
It had a lovely Japanese zen garden in the back.

This has inspired me to create one in my backyard. (You do all realize a mucky mess will be the more likely outcome.)

After lunch we went to the castle in Matsue. Second-largest of the 12 remaining medieval castles in Japan, it was built over a period of 5 years, and was completed in 1611.

We were of course greeted by Samurai warriors -- people from the village dressed in traditional costume especially to greet us. Wow.

We sang for them.

The views from the top.

You had to take off your shoes while inside. This is as closed as I could get the locker for mine.

Really cool displays inside as well.

Helmets and armour

I really enjoyed it.
On our itinerary we were next scheduled to go to a kilt museum... apparently the only one in Japan. We were all a bit leery. I have not run into many Scots here, or for that fact seen too many Japanese men in tartans (outside of Shinjuku, if you know what I mean). It turned out to be the only QUILT museum in Japan. By quilt I mean the most beautiful/priceless works of art made out of ancient kimonos, housed in a 250-year-old Japanese home that made my mouth drop.

Mt. Fuji

This is the owner/designer of these beautiful quilts. Her quilts have been exhibited all over the world.

We presented her with a traditional Inuit wall hanging.

This day was so amazing. It was made even more special by the people from the Izumo-Canada Friendship Society, who followed us around everywhere. At any given time we had an entourage of 25 or so smiling faces. Where words could not communicate, their love and friendship definitely came through. I hope our appreciation did as well!
Thank you!

T

Day 13 Izumo

2009-11-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

Izumo is known in Japan as the birthplace of myths and legends. It is home to the oldest and most important Shinto shrine in the whole country. Apparently all of the gods throughout the nation gather at the Taisha shrine in Izumo each October. ( I was 3 days late, but better late...)
I have sung in many, many church services, but in this case it was our songs that were actually given as an offering. A very special morning.

We had to wash our hands and lips in order to enter the shrine.

Robert (middle) works for the city of Izumo as an interpreter. He managed to catch the eye of many a choir member...

We were seated and had a sacred tea ceremony. We had sweets first (very sweet) and then a bitter tea (very bitter).

The sweet... a.k.a. sugar cube

Bitter tea... only palatable after the sugar cube.
We then were given vestments to wear, we washed our hands again (no H1N1 here) and were given a thimbleful of holy sake.

Mmm... sake

We processed in 3 lines to the holy shrine where we gave our offering.
Every 60 years the shrine is renovated -- they showed us some of the techniques used.

A demonstration of the roof construction. It is about a foot thick and made of layer upon layer of a special tree bark held together with bamboo nails.

The high priest was sure that the God of Izumo liked our gift.

It was a national holiday in Japan, so our concert was at 2 in the afternoon. I am sure the 50 or so people who had to stand at the back of the hall (every seat was full) had sore feet by the time it was over as there was a childrens' choir, ladies' choir, mens' choir, plus we sang a whole program, encore and all. We then sang 3 pieces with the large massed choir made up of the citizens. The audience loved it and just clapped and clapped.
After, there was a toast and a photo session. The toast included Koto players and a dance routine from the children. Kind of like a post-concert concert.

We learned how to play the koto.

Speeches were given by our oldest and youngest members.

We were then ushered off to the post-concert concert reception dinner hosted by the Izumo-Canada Friendship Society. They wanted to make us all feel like home so they served us all ceasars, the Canadian drink.

Of course the altos were soon out of control.

And the sopranos were not too far behind.

Well... some of them.
There was a speech from the mayor of Izumo who was not at the concert, but got a text from someone telling him it was very good. (Like a true politician he did not miss the reception.)

The Mayor.
That started it. What followed was speech after speech and presentation after presentation. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

I think Caitlin said it best when I asked her what she would remember the most about this trip, and she answered, "The people and the hospitality that they have shown us."
I think I agree.

T

Video - Liberty Square

2009-11-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

This is without question my favourite video. It's taken from the centre of Liberty Square (formerly Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Square) in Taipei. No matter which way you turn, you can't help but be overcome by the colossal beauty of these buildings. In order: the main archway of Liberty Square (WEST), the National Theatre (SOUTH), the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (EAST) and the National Concert Hall (NORTH). We had the privilege and honour of performing in this amazing concert hall, an experience I will cherish forever.

s.

Video - Taipei 101

2009-11-04T04:31:00.000-08:00

This video was taken from the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor of Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world... until construction on the Burj Dubai is completed this December. (Dubai, Schmubai. We still love you, Taipei.)
Although there are 101 floors, the 91st floor is the uppermost floor open to the public, giving stunning views of the city below.

s.

Video - Taiwan High Speed Rail

2009-11-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

This is Steve, Tommy's roommate on tour and the blog's copy editor (ha!). Tommy is having wireless issues (again) tonight, so I thought I would post some videos to keep you all happy!

This first one was taken while on board Taiwan's High Speed Rail. It's one of the fastest trains in the world, running at speeds of over 300 km/h. Our trip from Tainan to Taipei -- 315 km -- took a mere 90 minutes. (Via Rail, I hope you're watching.)

More on the way!

s.

Day 12 Izumo

2009-11-02T01:18:00.004-08:00

We said goodbye to rainy Hiroshima. It was a 3.5-hour-long trip on the bus through some pretty amazing scenery to get to Izumo. I didn't realize Japan was so mountainous. We went through one postcard picture village after the next.

We arrived at the hotel at Izumo right before supper to be greeted in the hotel lobby by six young girl taiko drummers. Welcome to Izumo!!

They played us 3 songs; you could feel the music reverberate right through your body and we were mesmerized by their drumming. There was a girl in the back row who couldn't have been more than 7 years old. Just watching her concentration and her dedication put a smile on my face.

Izumo reminds me of Tofino in British Columbia. We are at a hotel where the waves are crashing only 20 feet from our room. So beautiful!!!

On the beach close to our hotel.

We put our feet in the Japan Sea. Very warm, but a large wave came and soaked us above our knees.

The hall where our concert will be.

We were taken out to a French restaurant for dinner.

We had a workshop with a choir made up of about 90 or so citizens from Izumo. We will be performing with them tomorrow night -- a song we have dubbed "The Happy Bunny Song".

Still not entirely sure what this song is about.

They are so nice!!

Since Steve and I were given the largest room at the hotel (karma has its benefits), we decided to have a room party. A fun night for all.

Kanpai!!
T.

Day 10 & 11 Shunan-Hiroshima

2009-11-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

Our concert with the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus went exceptionally well. They sang the first half of the concert, and premiered a new work by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. We sang all Canadian works in the second half. Our ensembles have such different sounds; I honestly think it would be hard to compare the two. A friend of mine from Vancouver was visiting her brother in Tokyo, and she came to the show. She said she was very proud of us.

Anyway, we got up early the next morning and went on a fast train to Osaka where we transfered to another train -- apparently not as fast -- to Tokuyama station. (Even the "not as fast" train was going well over 200 km per hour!)

It is farther in the south and you could feel the difference in temperature and see more tropical vegetation. On the way, we caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji.

We arrived to find ourselves in a hotel full of sumo wrestlers... of course!

He is the grand champion.

This is the only person I have ever seen who tried to stare down Vi...

We sang at a peace concert. The concert opened with about 10 children from the community who got up and sang "O Canada"! It was possibly the cutest thing I have seen.
We sang a set, then there was a short film about human torpedos!
The area that we were staying in was famous during the war for its young men who sailed out in these kamikaze torpedos. They were martyrs in that they sacrificed themselves for their country.

Jenny had some pictures and stories that her choir and students had made, which she presented to the children. It was so lovely that the children actually made some pictures for her to bring back to her kids in Vancouver. It is true that music has no borders.

All I am saying is... this bus would be illegal in Canada. 26 people in a vehicle built for 12...

A great group of ladies!!

In the morning we got up and headed for the train station again. We had a long trip to get to Izumo, but we were going to stop along the way for a couple of hours at the museum in Hiroshima. I was not prepared for, nor expecting, the impact that visiting Hiroshima museum had on each of us.

This building at ground zero is left in ruins as a reminder of the horror of the nuclear bomb, dropped Aug. 6, 1945. It killed hundreds of thousands of people and has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Childrens' peace memorial.

Please read Jenny's following post about her experience and reaction to this profound place.