February is, of course, Black History Month, and here in Niagara there have already been several observances of the month to take in, and there is another this weekend that's always been near and dear to my heart.
Several years ago, Laura Thomas, an old friend and founder of the locally-based choral group Choralis Camerata approached me to narrate a new concert they had designed for this very month. If I remember correctly it was back around 2012 and I think it was in Niagara Falls at one of the area churches. I returned to narrate the concert again in 2016 down in Stevensville on what I recall being a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon at the tiny church in the heart of the town.
The performances are always well attended and very entertaining, so when I was approached to narrate the concert again this season I readily agreed, even though I am officially now retired and my personal hosting opportunities are few and far between. But always happy to be back in the so-called saddle again!
The problem this season was...where was the script? They didn't have a copy as there had been a change of artistic directors and since it was 8 years since the last time they had done the concert, it didn't seem to be anywhere. I checked my venerable old computer nearing retirement and found a reference to it having been saved many years ago, but somehow it became lost in the ether during the ensuing time period.
No matter. I had plenty of time, so armed with a new set list and a set of parameters I knew I wanted to follow from my memories of previous performances, I began my research and rewrote the script from scratch.
Learning about the history of slavery in the United States as well as here in Canada is both enlightening and heartbreaking at the same time. I find myself so often asking myself "how can we be so heartless towards our fellow man?!" But history records time and time again that we can be. I don't want to go into too many of the details here as some are quite frankly gut-wrenching and besides, I would humbly suggest to get the full effect of the history as well as the music that revolved around the period, you might want to come out tomorrow afternoon and attend the concert for yourself.
We held our dress rehearsal last evening at Trillium United Church at 415 Linwell Road in the north end of St. Catharines, a church I often delivered mail to during my days as a Canada Post letter carrier.
I must say the choir is in fine fettle and primed and ready for action.
The current Artistic Director and conductor, Giancarlo Feltrin is a pleasure to work with and knows the strengths of this choir very well. Joining the singers will be pianist Aaron Albano and Devon Fornelli will be featured on a variety of percussion instruments.
Interested? You should be. The concert, "Listen to the Lambs" is both educational and entertaining, and I guarantee you will be humming some of those old tunes on your way out the door tomorrow afternoon.
For more information, check out the website, www.choraliscamerata.com and to order tickets. The concert is at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon at Trillium United Church on Linwell Road. Hope to see you there.
Have a great weekend!
February 24th, 2024.
