Music for a Sunday Afternoon

A Toronto choir with a growing reputation travels to Almonte to team up with a recently-launched Ottawa valley choir to perform a special concert as part of St Paul’s Church 150th Anniversary celebrations on Sunday April 7 at 3:00 pm.

Toronto’s ESPRIT Chamber Choir and the Con Coro Project, an 18-voice choir whose members hail from as far afield as Renfrew and Killaloe, will join forces to sing works by Palestrina, Mendelssohn, Durufle, Bruckner and a suite by Canadian composers.

Founded in 2010 under the dynamic and enterprising direction of Mervin William Fick, ESPRIT was awarded a first prize at the Peel Music Festival in April 2012. The choir was also the proud recipient of the Hon. Barbara A. Hagerman Award for first place at the 2012 Ontario Provincial Music Festival and was awarded second place in the Barbara Hagerman Class at the 2012 National Music Festival.

Through his diligent and experienced guidance, the group has impressed its audiences with the depth and range of its interpretive skills in performance of a capella early music repertoire.

As part of its mission the chorus seeks out performances in historical venues; in the summer of 2012, ESPRIT toured Montréal, Québec, performing at St-Joseph Oratory, Notre-Dame Basilica, Christ Church Cathedral and Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral. The choir also performed as the resident chorus at the ‘Festival de la Nouvelle-France’ in Québec City, and delighted its audiences with early sacred music and French Renaissance Chansons.

The concert is part of the fundraising efforts for St Paul’s 150th Anniversary fund, part of which will go towards the restoration of St Paul’s stained glass windows, many of which now need urgent care to preserve them for future generations.

Tickets to the concert cost $20 and are available from the St Paul’s Church office (613 256 1771) 70 Clyde Street, Almonte, or at the door.