by Morinville News Staff
More than 50 Edmonton musicians are going on tour to celebrate Canada’s Sesquicentennial. The United Voices of Edmonton (combined choirs of United on Whyte and Choir of Robertson-Wesley) and the Robertson-Wesley Ringers handbell choir will be in Morinville at the Morinville United Church (9610 Morinville Drive) June 11 at 7:30 p.m.
The Morinville stop is one of five made possible through a Canada 150 community grant from the Edmonton Community Foundation.
The music will include Edmonton composers (Warren Mack, Betty B. Radford, Violet Archer, Richard Eaton, John Hooper), Alberta composers (Robin John King, Ian Tyson, Darryl Dewalt) and Canadian composers from across the country (Healey Willan, Eleanor Daley, Bruce Wheatcroft, Stephen Hatfield, Patrick Wedd, Patricia Thomson, Peter Togni, James Rankin (the Rankin family), Harry Somers, and Christopher Bowman).
They are proud to support the on-going work of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and say they are thrilled to have Cree singer/songwriter Karen Donaldson Shepherd collaborating with us in healing and harmony.
“We are excited to celebrate and promote Canadian composers and to use the international language of music to share with other Canadians on this tour”, said Tammy-Jo Mortensen, one of the co-conductors of the choirs.
Co-conductor Warren Mack echoes the sentiments.
“It has been a pleasure exploring the wonderful compositions of my fellow Canadian composers. To experience the tremendous creativity, and variety of compositional styles and techniques has truly been enlightening and inspirational. As someone who remembers fondly the Centennial projects many of us undertook 50 years ago, it is a joy to celebrate Canada’s Sesquicentennial with this amazing project!”
The musicians say they are eager to perform in the beautiful surroundings and acoustics of Morinville United Church on Sunday, June 11 at 7:30 pm and to celebrate through music.
Admission to each of these concerts is by freewill offering. For more details: www.rwuc.org.
