Creemore Choral Festival gets start with June 13 concert
Alex Miller, a member of the St. Paul’s Anglican Church choir, has a dream of bringing more choral music to his hometown.
Miller, who grew up in Creemore and still owns a local farm, said he likes the idea of bringing choral music to the area to enhance the village experience.
“We see this festival as a way to bring more music to Creemore,” said Miller.
The choir of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Toronto has visited Creemore each fall for the past three years singing Evensong at St. Luke’s Anglican Church. St. Paul’s Choir is one of Toronto’s top church choirs with a core of professional singers leading a talented group of volunteer choristers.
Many of those singers, and others, will form the Creemore Choral Festival Singers during a June 13 performance at St. John’s United Church.
The Creemore Choral Festival Singers will be directed by Thomas Bell, who is also the musical director of the St. Paul’s choir.
Miller said he and Bell came up with the concept for the festival with some encouragement from fellow choir members.
He said the idea bubbled up over drinks at the end of last year’s season and reminiscing about how much the choir had enjoyed coming to Creemore.
The idea of a weekend-long choral music was born but with tight timelines, organizers decided to start with a concert this year and expand on programming for next year.
“We’d like to see more people involved in choral singing, in schools, perhaps strengthen the church choirs. People need to get introduced in choral singing… the reality is many people do have the raw talent they just need the training,” said Miller.
Bell is also artistic director and founder of the Aslan Boys Choir and teaches music at the Toronto French School.
Bell studied music at Durham University, continuing his instrumental studies with teachers from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia of England. He later taught music at schools in Oxford and London. Since moving to Toronto in 1992, Bell has directed many professional and amateur choirs, including the 150-voice Mississauga Children’s Choir. Touring internationally, the choir won many awards, including the CBC choral competition.
The first performance of the Creemore Choral Festival presents works by composer George Frederick Handel, including the Coronation Anthems, written in 1727 for the coronation of King George II. These works have been performed at every British coronation since their first stirring performance in Westminster Abbey. The concert begins with one of Handel’s most famous anthems, Zadok the Priest, and concludes with the perennially popular Halleluia Chorus.
The performance will also include The Festival Orchestra and solos by soprano Claire de Sévigné and tenor Stephen McClare.
The inaugural Creemore Choral Festival, on Saturday, June 13, starts at 7:30 p.m.
General admission costs $20, reserved seating costs $30 and students and seniors are admitted for $10. For more information and tickets, visit creemorechoralfestival.ca. Tickets are also available at Curiosity House Books.
