Rideau Chorale has big news

singing professionally, including in a production of Stratford’s Beggar’s Opera, one of 32 young singers chosen from across Canada. He moved to Toronto for 10 years but returned to Ottawa in 1992 to make it his home base.

by Janice Manchee

Rideau Chorale has big news: Kevin Reeves is Rideau Chorale’s new music director.

Choirs are the shared creation of their members and their music directors. Each community of singers and each professional choral leader bring unique qualities to the music and the sound. It’s big news when change occurs.

“Kevin is a special artist in the Ottawa community,” says Rideau Chorale’s secretary Hilary Esmonde-White. “He’s not only highly experienced and respected as a choral leader and musician, but he’s a cartoonist, filmmaker and general all-round creative mind.”

Reeves was born in North Bay and moved with his family to Ottawa in 1961. He was surrounded by music –his mother was a piano teacher and his father was a singer, although not formally trained. He took up the piano and later the organ. And he began singing with St. Matthew’s Church Choir in the Glebe.

By the 1980s, Kevin, a tenor, was

Two years later, he returned to St. Matthew’s Church to try something new – conducting – and he spent a season as the church’s interim music director. During his tenure, he produced several concerts, including the Messiah

“When I left St. Matthew’s, I had no idea what to do next,” says Reeves. “Then Kathryn Palmer, our soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, approached me.”

She told Reeves he simply couldn’t give up conducting. He was too good at it.

Reeves took her advice to heart and one evening at the Glebe’s Royal Oak, he asked a group of equally talented friends if they wanted to form a chamber choir. They said yes and others followed, and the group went on to become one of Ottawa’s best performing ensembles, Seventeen Voyces.

Reeves didn’t stop there. He’s worked with a wide variety of Ottawa-based groups, including the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and the Ottawa Choral Society. He also prepared choirs for guest conductors at the National Arts Centre and other venues. He himself has conducted at the NAC, including the time when Boris Brott simply handed him the baton.

Then there are the concerts he’s produced, doing everything from developing the repertoire, to promoting the event in writing and interviews, to “bartering and stealing,” to physically setting up the venue. This included a four-city tour for a youth choir from Tampere, Finland. One of their stops was CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, where they were featured in a national broadcast.

And, of course, there’s the composing. From his Vision of the Gitche Manitou for counter-tenor Daniel Taylor, to the whimsical The Humpty-Dumpty Blues, to the comic opera Nosferatu, Reeves has combined his musical knowledge, creativity and wit to the delight of singers and audiences.

This is not to mention his musicthemed movies, such as the recent

Ghost of Beethoven about a little girl who meets the famous composer, and cartoon books, such as The Composers: A Hystery of Music Reeves is looking forward to his new challenge with Rideau Chorale.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with Rideau Chorale for its Haydn/Mozart concert this past spring,” he says. “The enthusiasm and love of the music was evident the entire evening.”

The feeling is mutual.

“We are really excited to have Kevin as our new music director,” says Esmonde-White. “I can’t wait to see what he’ll have us do and how he’ll nurture the growth of the choir.”

Information about Rideau Chorale and its virtual and upcoming performances can be found at rideauchorale.com.

Janice

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Small class sizes

By Mary Forster

For the first time in its 24-year history, the Bytown Voices Choir invited children aged nine and older to join our ranks this past year. The experiment has proven a success! Six young choristers have completed a year with us along with three parents.

The Bytown Voices is a no-audition-necessary choir of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. Most younger children are grouped with the soprano section. Previous choir experience is not required, and members benefit from many online learning supports in a nurturing environment.

Joan Fearnley has led the choir for the past three years. She brings her many years of choral experience including her time with both the children’s and women’s choirs of Notre Dame Basilica in Lowertown.

Our fall session begins on Tuesday, September 12. Registration began August 1 online at our website www. bytownvoices.com. There you’ll find more information about the leadership, membership costs and examples of the wide range of music sung by the

BVs. We should be mask-free for the fall session.

The Bytown Voices Community Choir meets every Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at St. Basil’s Church on Maitland north of the Queensway. Remember – no audition is necessary to join. And please consider passing on a word about us to any young friend or relative.

Mary Forster has sung with the Bytown Voices for the past three years. She strongly encourages anyone who loves music to try it out because it’s a fine choir with a supportive ethic.

Ottawa Choral Workshops tackles Orff’s Carmina Burana

By Roland Graham

This fall, Ottawa Choral Workshops mounts its most ambitious production to date: Carl Orff’s mighty Carmina Burana, the famous 20th-century masterpiece for choir, orchestra and soloists, which it will present in a pair of concerts at Southminster United Church in late November.

Hot on the heels of successful workshops this past spring and summer that culminated in rousing performances in May (Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb), July (a summer festival evensong) and August (national anthems at an Ottawa Titans baseball game), the program rides significant momentum as it prepares to dive into one of the most loved masterworks for choir of the past century.

Carmina Burana needs little introduction. Famous for its captivating blend of powerful melodies, rhythmic energy and dramatic storytelling, the piece resonates timeless themes of love, fortune and fate, elements that connect with singers and audiences alike on a profound level.

Set predominantly in Latin – with a bit of ‘Middle High’ German thrown in – the score offers singers a perfect cocktail of musical challenge and reward. An effective reading requires nuanced musicianship and a good measure of vocal stamina; learning the score facilitates these, offering not only great educational value, but also a thrilling, immersive and unforgettable sonic experience.

Beginning on September 11, over the course of 11 weeks, participants will learn the music through a schedule of weekly rehearsals and sectionals in preparation for a pair of concerts presented in the last week of November. The first of these will be a day-time concert for local school children, who in many cases will never have experienced a large scale “classical” music production involving massed choir, percussion array and vocal soloists; the second, an evening gala event to celebrate the accomplishments of participants before the community.

Starting with a review of singing fundamentals, the fall workshop will explore sound production, vowel and consonant management, breath control and blending of voices required for large scale choral productions. Participants will also be introduced to singing in Latin along with the 20th century harmonic and rhythmical idioms that pervade Orff’s imaginative score.

Spurred on by the enthusiastic return to group singing post-pandemic, Ottawa Choral Workshops is enjoying a return to singing with vitality and passion not seen since pre-2020. Originating as a training program for novice choral singers in the summer of 2015, the program has evolved into a movement that offers a unique approach to learning and experiencing choral music. Based on the idea that anyone, regardless of their skill level, can enjoy profound and transformative musical experiences, I founded and developed a unique training model for group singing that breaks down barriers and supports participants in accessing their musical potential.

Workshop overview

• Dates: Sept. 11–Nov. 24

• Primary Rehearsals: Monday evenings 7-9 p.m.

• Sectionals and secondary rehearsals: Wednesday afternoons/evenings

• ‘Educational’ concert (for school kids): Thursday, Nov. 23, 10 a.m.

• Carmina Burana performance: Friday, Nov. 24, 7 p.m.

• Fee: $380 (HST included)

Pay-what-you-can fees: New this year, sliding scale fees are now available to people for whom workshop fees are a barrier. Reach out through our new website, OttawaChoralWorkshops.ca, to inquire.

To encourage the leaders out there, experienced singers may audition to participate in the workshop for no fee in exchange for their leadership contribution. Leads should be confident singers who are available for the bulk of the sessions and able to hold their part while others are learning. Inquire through our new website, OttawaChoralWorkshops.ca.

Roland Graham is the founder and director of Ottawa Choral Workshops.