DaCapo Chamber Choir

New music for a new year! Beginning in April 2020, composer and DaCapo director Leonard Enns set himself the challenge of composing one short choral piece each week. "One Ruby-throated Moment" was the seventh such work, composed in May 2020 with Rae Crossman's permission to use his text. Len writes of this piece: "[In May,] A friend had just survived a month in ICU with COVID-19, the days were getting longer, and perhaps we could again "drink from the chalice of the sun". ...It was obviously not to be so immediate, but the truth remains in the perspective. We wish you that fresh viewpoint, bright with amazement, for 2021." https://youtu.be/6pd82qd4uB8

Our first "Garage Choir" recording session video is now live! https://youtu.be/6S53PNaKzTg At our last "concrete cathedral" gathering on October 28th, we recorded a few short pieces; not as "performances", but rather as a record of our activities, and as a positive statement in the face of our current COVID reality. This first release is "one that is actually atypical for us, given our commitment to contemporary music, since it is a century old. It is a setting the Nunc Di...mittis (the words of Simeon as he saw the infant Christ Child) by the Russian composer Victor Kalinnikov. Perhaps, as we enter Advent and the Christmas story, Kalinnikov's music (with the text set in his Church Slavonic) can be a comfort and a source of hope." ~ director Leonard Enns Video production by Chestnut Hall Music

Matthew Emery's glorious "Night on a Starry Hill" was our 2104 #NewWorks Choral composition winner (premiered March 2015) and is on our NewWorks CD. So lovely to hear it played on air!

We have a treat in store! We spent tonight with the team from Chestnut Hall Music recording a "Garage Choir" concert...which we hope to release in sections over the next month or so, starting on what would have been our November concert weekend. To tide you over, though, take a listen to the conversation between Martin deGroot (CKWR) and director Leonard Enns, manager Sara Martin, and soprano Janelle Santi...about what we've been up to this fall, and why! https://bit.ly/37Xm4Wu

Testing, testing, one, two... Just trying out our "super high-tech" gear for next week's recording session! Thanks to Earl McCluskie and his team at Chestnut Hall Music we hope to have some new, spiffier, videos to share with you in the coming months. Still a "live" #GarageChoir (complete with traffic noises) - but hopefully you'll be able to hear and see us just a little bit better

Grateful for another beautiful Wednesday evening so we can keep singing together in our Concrete Cathedral! #GarageChoir