The Rainy River Community Choir is hoping to become the Rainy River District Community Choir, with efforts now underway to double its numbers in order to perform Vivaldi’s “Gloria” next Christmas.
Presently having more than 30 members, director Stephanie Hawkins said the current choir will begin working on the 30-minute piece tonight in Rainy River. And she hopes to start with a second group of new members from the east end of the district before the month is out.
“If I get enough people interested in the Fort Frances and Emo areas, I will begin a rehearsal for these people,” Hawkins said, likely in Fort Frances.
Hawkins is planning to perform “Gloria” as the main feature in a Christmas concert next December, complete with a 10-14 piece chamber orchestra of professional musicians.
“With an orchestra and everything, it would be nicer to have more volume in each section,” she said, giving the choir a greater balance.
Although the concert is nearly a year away, Hawkins said learning the piece is “fairly difficult work” and wants to get most of the groundwork out of the way before the group breaks for summer.
“It’s like doing eight pieces of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in a row,” she remarked. “Out of the 12 sections, the choir has to sing eight of them.”
The tentative plan is to have one concert in Fort Frances and the other in Rainy River. While Hawkins figures she can recruit half of the musicians locally, the rest will come out of Thunder Bay–and at some cost.
“We’re looking for ideas on fundraising at the opening meeting [tonight],” Hawkins said. “We do have some money saved but we will be needing more for sure.”
The Rainy River Community Choir has done much to establish itself in the past several years but Hawkins realized this is a major jump for its members.
Still, she said the choir’s executive seemed quite excited about the move and looked forward to the expansion.
“I found when I was in school, a lot of my experience in the choir are still very memorable,” Hawkins said. “You sort of feel like you’re close to heaven when you sing with an orchestra.
“I just want my choir to experience what I experienced,” she added.
Fort Frances Times
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