Canadian Chamber Choir returns to Windsor

Concerts and collaborations will take place January 10 to 14

The Juno-nominated Canadian Chamber Choir (CCC) will land in Southwestern Ontario next month, making its first trek back to the Windsor-Essex area since 2016.

“This is a region that many of us call home,” said CCC Artistic Director, Dr. Julia Davids. “We’re delighted to be returning.”

CCC Associate Conductor Dr. Joel Tranquilla was a Windsor resident for several years, previously serving as Artistic Director of the Windsor Classic Chorale, Chorusmaster of Windsor Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and Director of Choirs at the University of Windsor. He founded the Windsor Choral Festival (WCF) in 2011 and will return as the guest clinician for WCF 2023.

“There is such a vibrant choral community in the Windsor-Essex area,” he said. “The CCC is thrilled to be taking part in the Windsor Choral Festival showcase concert on January 14. Performing in the wonderful Capitol Theatre will definitely be a highlight of our tour.”

The singers of the CCC – 22 in total – hail from all regions of Canada, from British Columbia to the Northwest Territories to Newfoundland. Since its founding in 1999, the organization has embarked on twice-yearly tours and is Canada’s only professional choir with national representation. In tandem with the organization’s commitment to offering audiences engaging, musically dynamic performances, the CCC singers are recognized leaders and innovators in choral education and community engagement.

“Our mandate is to build up and support choral community in as many different places and spaces as we have the privilege of entering,” said Tranquilla. “Our singers bring with them a rich and diverse range of lived and professional experiences. We are constantly being shaped by our interactions with one another and with the communities we enter.”

From January 11 to 13, the University of Windsor will serve as the Canadian Chamber Choir’s base of operations as singers prepare their tour repertoire and present a series of workshops and performances. Joining them will be Cree-Dene singer, composer and educator Sherryl Sewepagaham, from the Little Red River Cree Nation in Northern Alberta.

“Sherryl brings experience and profound insights from her work focusing on Indigenous Music Education and First Nations songs for the classroom,” said Davids. “The CCC will be creating and collaborating musically with Sherryl, but also co-leading workshops and rehearsals with the Windsor-Essex Youth Choir, the Windsor Classic Chorale, and the University of Windsor choirs, culminating in a fantastic joint performance as part of the Windsor Choral Festival.”

On January 12 at Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts, the CCC will be engaging with Indigenous high school students and their families, as well as leading a workshop for in-service teachers, from across the Greater Essex County District School Board. This workshop, and work at University of Windsor, is partially supported by the University of Windsor’s Office of Indigenous Relations and Outreach, and Senior Advisor to the President Dr. Bev Jacobs.

“I’m so excited that my Cree-Dene friend/sister Sherryl Sewepagaham will be a part of this event,” said Jacobs. “I am grateful for her presence and look forward to listening to her and others’ powerful voices. I am also grateful to the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Windsor Choral Festival, and the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Education & School of Creative Arts for actively engaging in reconciliation by ensuring Indigenous representation.”

At the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Education, “Music Education students will be considering the variety of ways our voices can create sounds and how those sounds can bring us together in community,” said Davids, crediting Dr. Danielle Sirek for bringing the CCC into those spaces.

Sirek, who has sung with the CCC since 2016, is currently Vice President of its Board of Directors. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Windsor, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the Faculty of Education and School of Creative Arts before a move to Western University in London last year. She also chairs the CCC’s Indigenous Collaborations Committee, which oversees its commissions and collaborations with Sewepagaham and others, as well as facilitating educational opportunities for the CCC singers.

“I am thrilled to be hosting the CCC and Sherryl at both University of Windsor and at the Windsor Choral Festival, as well as at Western University later in the week. It’s all my worlds colliding,” said Sirek, who is also Associate Artistic Director of the WCF.

One of the mandates of the Windsor Choral Festival is to commission new works. A premiere performance of London composer Sarah Quartel’s revoiced “Carry the Music” will be featured as the massed choir work with the CCC and eight other local choirs.

Commissioning new works is something that is also important to the CCC.

“Like so many other arts organizations, the CCC has invested a lot of time in recent years listening and learning,” said Tranquilla. “I think this has given us a renewed sense of vision and passion for the work that we do. We are thrilled to be performing several recently-composed works on this tour, including “Nipîy” (Water Song) by Sherryl Sewepagaham and “Where Waters Meet” by Carmen Braden.”

The latter was commissioned by the CCC in 2017 and explores water from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, using music as the catalyst for collaboration. It was developed over a number of CCC tours, with an ever-evolving cast of collaborators. The piece also contains aleatoric elements – and eventually an audience participation aspect, continually engaging with local issues of water that are unique to each place the CCC visits.

At each CCC performance, selections from Where Waters Meet will be unveiled amidst a dynamic water-themed program of all-Canadian repertoire from both emerging and established composers.

After its visit to Windsor, the CCC will head to London for workshops and performances at Western University, and in the community, January 15-18.

For more information and a full itinerary of events, please visit canadianchamberchoir.ca.

PUBLIC ITINERARY:

Friday, January 13, 2023 (Windsor)

12:00–1:30 pm
SoCA Fridays Concert
featuring the Canadian Chamber Choir and Sherryl Sewepagaham
Performance Hall, Windsor Armouries – School of Creative Arts (353 Freedom Way – Windsor, Ontario)
Free admission

Saturday, January 14, 2023 (Windsor)

7:30 pm
Windsor Choral Festival Showcase Concert Performance
featuring choral groups from across Windsor-Essex singing repertoire selected by their music directors. The choirs will join voices for a massed choral finale of a newly commissioned choral work by Canadian composer, Sarah Quartel, conducted by Dr. Joel Tranquilla – guest clinician at the 2023 Windsor Choral Festival. The Canadian Chamber Choir and Sherryl Sewepagaham will perform three selections.
Capitol Theatre (121 University Ave. West – Windsor, Ontario)
Admission by donation
Click here for more information.

Sunday, January 15, 2023 (London)

2–4 pm
Vocal Spa Day with the Canadian Chamber Choir
an interactive workshop gathering multiple choirs from the London area
Wesley-Knox United Church (91 Askin St. – London, Ontario)
Tickets: $25 Adults / $20 Students ($35/$25 if combined with concert)
Available online and at the door.

7 pm
Canadian Chamber Choir in Concert
featuring the Canadian Chamber Choir and Sherryl Sewepagaham
Wesley-Knox United Church (91 Askin St. – London, Ontario)
Tickets: $25 Adults / $20 Students ($35/$25 if combined with workshop)
Available online and at the door.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023 (London)

3:30–4:30 pm
Where Waters Meet (Lecture-Performance)
featuring the Canadian Chamber Choir and Sherryl Sewepagaham
Wampum Learning Lodge, Althouse Faculty of Education
1137 Western Rd. – London, Ontario
Free admission

Wednesday, January 18, 2023 (London)

7:30 pm
Canadian Chamber Choir with Western University Singers
featuring the Canadian Chamber Choir and Sherryl Sewepagaham, and a performance of Carmen Braden’s “Where Waters Meet”
Paul Davenport Theatre –Talbot College (1151 Richmond St. N)
Free admission
Click here for more information.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Andy Rice – General Manager • 1-778-855-9942 • thecccgm@gmail.com
Interviews with Dr. Julia Davids, Dr. Joel Tranquilla, Dr. Danielle Sirek and collaborator Sherryl Sewepagaham can be arranged upon request.

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January 14, 2023 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Event Website/Tickets  

Capitol Theatre Windsor

121 University Ave W
Windsor, ON N9A 5P4 Canada
Phone: 519-973-1238 ex. 2