IROQUOIS – There is no more sure sign that spring has finally arrived than the welcome news that the Seaway Valley Singers will be holding their spring concert on Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Iroquois United Church.
The mixed choir draws members from Winchester to Morrisburg, and all communities in between, and traditionally holds two major concerts a year. The Singers performed In Dulci Jubilo, in December of 2018, playing to a full house.
Now celebrating 26 years of bringing beautiful music to the community, in 2019 the Seaway Valley Singers, under the direction of Robert Jones, with piano accompaniment by Margaret Whiselle, are presenting Look At the World.
This year’s SVS concert might actually be regarded as ‘Spring in Three Acts’.
Act I will take the form of a salute to the end of World War I. Although the guns went silent in November, 1918, the War was not officially over until the European powers signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
Act I will feature some of the music most associated with the years of the Great War. It will also present the famous poem, In Flanders Fields.
However, audiences will also be treated to a memorable addition in this section of the program.
The Coast Gunner’s Lament is taken from a poem by an unknown gunner of the 6th Heavy Battery from Sydney, Nova Scotia. Music for this piece was composed by SVS bass Mike Ouellette and arranged by Robert Jones.
Act II of the Spring concert will salute the British Isles. Concert goers will enjoy such classic pieces as Early One Morning, Shenandoah, and Ye Banks and Braes, interpreted beautifully by the Seaway Valley Singers.
Act III offers something of a musical upswing, as the SVS tackle the California Beat.
Featured in this section are a medley of songs from California Dreamin’ and a powerful rendition of Queen’s extraordinary Bohemian Rhapsody.
There will be another special treat for audiences attending the Spring concert. For the first time in 15 years, the choir from Timothy Christian School in Williamsburg will perform. Then the children will join the Seaway Valley Singers for a combined rendition of John Rutter’s piece, Look At the World.
Master of ceremonies for the Seaway Valley Singers in Look At the World, is Wendy Gibb. Don’t miss the much-anticipated 2019 Spring concert, Look At the World, by the Seaway Valley Singers, at Iroquois United Church.
