Annapolis Valley Honour Choir Launches 2017-18 Season!
/PRESS RELEASE: September 7, 2017
Artistic Director and Conductor Heather Fraser has just returned from a sabbatical year working with some of North America’s most talented choirs and conductors, so it’s perhaps not surprising that she has chosen to focus this year’s season on the theme of “home”. The performances will explore what home means to each of us in a world where people are too often displaced and forced to find and create a new sense of belonging.
In developing the season line-up, the AVHC was successful in receiving special grant funding to invite, this fall, Arabic musical guests from Toronto, Shireen Abu-Khatter and Hussein Janmohamed. These expert clinicians will provide a weekend of workshops for AVHC choristers in Arabic music and cultural identity in addition to a presentation open to the public at Acadia University. These sessions will culminate in two moving “must see” performances open to all. Through music exploring what it means to leave home behind, “Shall We Dream”, will be at Horton High School’s Performance Centre on October 21st and 22nd.
The ever popular holiday concert, this year entitled “On This Winter’s Night With You”, will celebrate East Coast Celtic traditions and music and is guaranteed to be a good ol’ Maritime kitchen party. To round out a night of down home music and stories, the AVHC will be joined by two well-loved local favourites, singer-song writer, Sarah Pound Gaetz and actor-director Mike Butler. Two concerts will take place at Horton High School on December 9th at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
The spring concert, “North” will take place at the Wolfville Baptists Church on May 12 and will feature music selected with the input of AVHC choristers to capture their own thoughts and feelings of what home means to them.
In addition to these special concerts, the AVHC season has a few other highlights. Choir members will perform at the Deep Roots Festival in September sharing the stage with Coco Love Alcorn and, in the spring, will participate in the provincial Juvenata Youth Festival in Halifax.
The AVHC this year has its largest cohort of singers ever with 140 junior and senior choir members hailing from throughout the Annapolis Valley.
For further concert information or AVHC news, check the website www.avhc.ca or www.valleyevents.ca. Tickets will be available soon from Ticketpro or the AVHC website.
