The BALM Society

Supporting our friends. Hey, isn’t that our Sing-along Messiah conductor? https://facebook.com/events/s/ys-vs-presents-erin-craig/669899853626701/?ti=icl

Supporting our friends.

Originally from rural Manitoba, soprano Ani Brenton's passion for music brought her to Edmonton, where she graduated from Grant MacEwan University with a voice diploma in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music. Currently, Brenton is in the final year of her Combined Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Education, Secondary, at the University of Alberta. During this degree, Brenton has actively sought out new opportunities, including training at The Mozarteum in Salzburg with mezzo-soprano Hedwig Fassbender this past July. Brenton is excited to see the tradition of Sing-along-Messiah brought to Edmonton, and take part as both a soloist and member of the audience.

Happy Easter! Hallelujah!

I’m sure that our conductor and music director will write something here in the next couple of days. But I am overjoyed with the performance today. Maybe because we had done it before, there was a little stress going into the day, or maybe knowing that a couple of choirs whose members support this event were unable to attend, we lowered our expectations. But, there was no need. What a wonderful experience to stand in this audience and sing boldly. Our soloists today, some of... whom experienced their first Messiah, were amazing. I hope we will work with some of them again, either in a Messiah or other event. The BALM Society, is in its infancy, and we have now mounted 2 successful Sing-along Messiahs. I hope you will continue to support us, and spread the word, and come to our third annual sing-along next year. It only works if you come out and sing. #yegsingsmessiah #therewillbeamazingsolosists #andgoosebumps #Hallelujah

Jodi Penner is currently working on her Doctorate in Music with a focus on choral conducting and voice performance at University of Alberta. She has conducted the Coro Internacional de Santa Cruz Bolivia, Coro UPSA in the Bolivian Baroque Festival and also the Coro Filarmonica de Santa Cruz de la Sierra. She is an accomplished soloist as well as voice teacher and active in the Edmonton chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She also has two solo albums, T...ree in a Storm and Cielos Azules de Ensueños and given many solo and collaborative recitals. Jodi has sung with Operafestival di Roma in Italy, Edmonton Opera Chorus, Opera Roanoke, I Coristi, Richard Eaton singers, the Canadian Chamber Choir and more. She has been the recipient of the Johann Strauss award for advanced study of German Lieder in Baden, Austria. Jodi will be working with Pro Coro Canada in the spring of 2020 as an emerging conductor. Her website is http://jodipenner.weebly.com/ See more

We're all very excited (especially Laren) to present the second annual BALM Society Sing-Along Messiah! 2pm at Robertson-Wesley tomorrow! All are welcome!

A great story about our event Taproot Edmonton https://us13.campaign-archive.com/

Born and raised in Edmonton, Douglas Graham is an up-and-coming baritone that has always a keen interest in singing of all kinds. He started his musical journey at King’s University, where he received a Bachelor of Music in voice performance, studying under baritone Jihwan Cho as well as performing around the city in choirs and operas. After graduating from King’s University, Douglas worked with Michelle Minke, artistic director and founder of Cowtown Opera Company, in Calgar...y before moving across the country to pursue a Master of Music at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. While studying with Michelle, Douglas had the pleasure of performing on stage for both Cowtown Opera and Calgary Opera, and even had his first Messiah soloist experience performing with Voicescapes for their annual Sing-along Messiah. Douglas was taught by famous Canadian baritone Ted Baerg during his studies in London and had many more opportunities to perform on stage for opera and always time for Messiah. This will be the first Messiah in his hometown that Douglas will have the pleasure of performing in.

Olivia draws her musical vocation from her family roots, especially her grandmother, who was a life-long passionate chorister. Her parents awakened in her the love of sacred classical song, notably Handel’s Messiah, which she listened to throughout her childhood. Olivia continued her musical journey through choirs during her secondary studies in Cameroon then her university studies in France where she obtained her Masters in Mechanical Sciences. Currently working as an engine...er in Edmonton, Olivia is a cantor at the Église St. Thomas d’Aquin Church and sings with Kappella Kyrie. She has participated in competitive classes at the Edmonton Kiwanis Music Festival in 2018 and the Fall Festival at Alberta College Conservatory in 2019. She studies voice with Mireille Rijavec. Olivia sees herself as a vessel of communication of the sacred through music. We're really lucky to have so much young talent here in Edmonton! Tickets are still available for the Sing-Along Messiah, so make sure to not miss out :)

We are part of The Edmonton Journal’s 10 things to do this weekend. #yegsingsmessiah tickets available at Tix on the a Square https://www.tixonthesquare.ca//the-second-annual-sing-alo/ https://edmontonjournal.com//10-things-to-do-in-edmonton-t

Teaan van Zijl is an alumnus of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and a medical doctor by profession. Teaan’s vocal career started as a boy soprano soloist in Tygerberg Children’s cChoir and included performances for HM Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. He has taken part in numerous television broadcasts for the South African Broadcast Company and has composed music for a major retailer’s advertising campaign. Teaan commenced formal vocal training in 2010 and subsequently completed the Trinity College (London) Vocal Licentiate exam (LTCL). Teaan studied with Maarten Koningsberger in Amsterdam in 2014-15 and has been a student of Elizabeth Turnbull since 2016. He is a member of the Edmonton Opera Chorus.

Meet another one of our tenors, Robert Thom! He's excited to be a part of this year’s sing-a-long Messiah! A Calgary native who is now making Edmonton home, he has long been involved in choral music and singing. Robert is currently a member of Kokipelli’s Òran choir, and has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as well as alongside the Canadian Chamber Choir. Robert completed his Master of Science degree at the University of Alberta and now... works as a physiotherapist in private practice. He wishes everyone a happy holiday season and new year! See more

Check out this page from Taproot Edmonton https://us13.campaign-archive.com/

Our conductor Erin Craig is hard at work and has lots of Messiah scores! Are you a Novello or a Barenreiter Edition fan? Feel free to comment below :)

Meet our next soloist....Laren Steppler is a trained vocalist and instrumentalist, who's versatility spans across the worlds of opera, oratorio, art song, jazz, pop and musical theatre. Laren has been a member of several bands, choirs and instrumental ensembles across the province of Alberta, including the UofA Madrigal Singers, RDC Symphonic Wind ensemble, and the RDC Big Band. Upon completing his diploma in voice, jazz and contemporary music at Red Deer College, Laren trans...itioned into the world of classical music and served as choir director at Sunnybrook United Church. Now, he pursues a career in opera and musical theatre. Student of John Tessier, Laren is in his third year at the University of Alberta, and will be playing the roles of King of the East, and the Sun in the UofA Opera Workshop's production of The Enchanted Pig. Laren's previous roles include Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Memory I (.Gabriel). See more

Welp! The Sing-along Messiah! is listed here, but credited to the ESO instead of the BALM Society. Please come and sing-along anyway.

Graham Fast is thrilled to perform in the BALM Society’s second annual Sing-along Messiah as a soloist in this fantastic work. Graham currently works as Library and Artistic Assistant for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In June 2019, Graham travelled to Atlanta where he attended the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association annual conference, and in the spring of 2020, he is again excited to participate at the conference, this time in Vancouver. In addition to his work with th...e ESO, Graham works as the Bass Vocal Coach and Section Leader for the Richard Eaton Singers and the Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus. Graham is actively involved in Edmonton’s choral scene and occasionally performs with Pro Coro Canada, Chronos Vocal Ensemble, and The Da Camera Singers. Graham’s community music involvement also expands into the Music Ministry at First Presbyterian Church Edmonton, where he serves as assistant music director and handbell choir coordinator. Graham leads a busy schedule, but thoroughly enjoys his multi-faceted work in the Edmonton music community!

Stettler native, Dacia Gramlick is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta with a Bachelor’s degree in music. She studied voice performance for the last four years under the instruction of Elizabeth Turnbull and received her degree in June 2019. During her undergraduate studies, Dacia was also a part of the University of Alberta’s track and field team where she represented the University as a thrower, both provincially and nationally. She is currently taking a year off of school and continuing to be a part of the University’s Opera Workshop class while she prepares for auditions for graduate studies in the fall of 2020. She plans to attend grad school for opera performance.

Here's our first soloist! Amanda completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta in 2018. During which, she performed at the Winspear as a featured soloist for the University of Alberta Concert Choir, Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. Amanda was also asked to be a featured soloist for the Chamber Music Society’s summer festival in June 2016. In August 2018 she completed the COSI Summer Program (Centre of Opera Studies in Italy) where she perform...ed the role of the Monitress in Puccini's Suor Angelica. Most recently, Amanda has been studying opera in Salzburg and London England. Since graduating, Amanda has been enjoying a full performance agenda. Amanda was asked to perform with New Music Edmonton for their Now Hear This festival and is currently contracted with the Edmonton Opera Chorus where she was given the opportunity to perform as a chorus member in Verdi's La Traviata. Amanda is also pursuing personal projects ; co-producing, co-directing and co-starring in a first-ever clown opera cabaret titled, Scamp and Shorty go to the Opera and producing the "Tell Tale Heart" Song Cycle composed by Shayla Swanson. See more

100 likes! Thanks everyone~! Keep following for more updates and fun posts about the Messiah Sing-Along and our talented soloists!100 likes! Thanks everyone~! Keep following for more updates and fun posts about the Messiah Sing-Along and our talented soloists!

As we get closer and closer to the Sing-Along Messiah, we will start showing off our soloists! But first, let's have some fun! Here's the Silent Monks "singing" the Hallelujah chorus!

Today the BALM Society had a great meeting where we discussed our ticket sales, our new batch of soloists, and made a list of to-dos for our concert day! Lots of exciting things coming up. Stay tuned to learn more about our soloists for this year as well as the behind-the-scenes in our rehearsals! #yegsingsmessiah

Lots of fun was had at the first annual Sing-Along Messiah. Here's the Hallelujah Chorus, sung by not only our soloists, but also our audience members! Come again this year and join in on the fun :) kudos to Aaron Addorisio for putting this video together. (if you were in the video, please let us know and we will tag you in!)

We are a little more than month out from our second annual Sing-along Messiah! Advance tickets are only $20 each. One of our board members will happily deliver a batch of 10 tickets or more to your choir or church, saving you the Tix on the Square service charge. Please share our event on your page and ask your choir to share this event too. A bigger audience means a bigger chorus.

Attention church musicians and choir conductors...please let me know when/where I can deliver our Sing-along Messiah poster for you to post in your church or rehearsal room for your choir to see details of how they can sing-along to this great piece. Check out our FAQ page for more info. https://thebalmsociety.ca/events/

Hallelujah! The tickets and posters are ready. The orchestra is rehearsing, the soloists are preparing, and we cannot wait fast enough. Contact us at this page or by email [email protected] and we would be happy to get tickets out to your choir or group. Individual tickets are available TIX on the Square. Please buy in advance, for a significant saving. Scores will be available to rent at the door.

Is there a friend of the BALM Society, who likes editing video? We don’t have a budget, but we have video from last year’s Sing-along Messiah, and we would like to show some of that here. So if you would like to volunteer for us, please message us or email thebalmsociety@gmail

We have some sad news to announce today. We have had to postpone/cancel our new event Concert in a Day originally scheduled for October 5, 2019 at McDougall church. We are so disappointed to miss this opportunity to work with an orchestra and the wonderful soloists that we had already lined up, but there were just too many conflicts with other choral activities on this day that we couldn’t put all the pieces together. Having been involved in this project three years ago, a...nd knowing how much fun it was for the singers that year, we will try to launch this again at another date, but please remove this from your calendar for October 5th. So many of you shared our original announcement, if you are aware of someone who was planning to attend, please let them know. Our sincere apologies. Good news - Singalong Messiah! Is definitely going ahead December 14, 2019. See next post for details.

We can’t wait for the Sing-along Messiah, so we have added an full day singing event to our calendar just to whet your whistle.

Concert-in-a-Day 2019 Saturday, October 5th, 2019, all-day McDougall United Church Learn a large-scale choral work and perform it with an orchestra all in the span of one day! The BALM Society, in conjunction with the Music Ministry of McDougall United Church, presents Concert In A Day 2019. Registrations for singers start in the morning. There will be group rehearsals and sectional rehearsals throughout the day led by Edmonton’s top choral leaders, and the day will culmina...te in a performance of the piece for the general public! To participate in the choir admission is $25 church choirs, email us about a group discount! The piece of music will be announced closer to the event: watch our Facebook page for clues! To come to listen to the final product, there is no ticket, but donations will be collected in support of the Alzheimer Society of Canada. For more information, email [email protected]

Our fall project has us working with charitable partner Alzheimer’s and Dementia Alberta.

Watch this space - the BALM Society has some exciting plans for Fall 2019!

Although the Sing-along Messiah was not chosen for this grant, we would like to congratulate this deserving recipients, and thank all those people who supported our submission. Thank you @fieldlaw

TODAY at 5:00 PM MDT is the deadline to vote for your favourite pay-it-forward Ideas through the 2019 Field Law Community Fund Program! Winners will receive anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000 each in Northern + Southern Alberta + up to $15,000 in the Northwest Territories! Cast your votes at fieldlawcommunityfund.com/ideas Please vote for Sing-along Messiah. Thank you Field Law.

Only three days left. Please vote and share widely. Thank you to Field Law Community Fund for their support and the opportunity to be included in this process. Please mark December 14, 2019 to come sing-along the Messiah with us. #payitforward #fieldlaw

We are entering the final days of voting. Please click the link (from every device and browser you have) to make sure you voted. And please share with your friends and family. This would really help our event succeed.

The second annual Sing-along Messiah will take place at 2:00 pm on Saturday December 14, 2019 at Robertson-Wesley United Church. Please help us by voting for the Field Law Community Fund (follow link below)

We’re a finalist in @FieldLaw Community Fund Program to purchase a music library for the Sing-along Messiah. Please follow the link and vote for us before June 17. Share this link with everyone that you sing with, then mark December 14 in your calendar for this year’s Sing-along Messiah.

The second annual Sing-along Messiah has a date, and a couple of new projects are in development. Stay tuned for announcements.

The BALM Society of Edmonton was established to support women in leadership roles in the music. Our first event is the Sing-along Messiah! that will take place tomorrow, December 8, 2018. And because our mission is to support women; our first artistic director and conductor is Erin Craig. Erin Craig was five years old when she attended her first concert - it was the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven’s 9th symphony at the Jubilee Auditorium. As her mom tells th...e story, Erin was excited to hear all those instruments play a big version of her favourite piano piece, Ode to Joy, but she exhausted herself conducting the orchestra from her seat through the first few movements, and fell asleep before she got to hear the finale. Fast-forward a couple decades, and Erin is now a conductor and vocalist in the Edmonton music community. In addition to her work with the BALM Society, Erin is the Artistic Director of the Accord Ensemble, and sings professionally in Pro Coro Canada and the Richard Eaton Singers. Erin’s music education is rich and varied: after a childhood of piano lessons, choir rehearsals, and school band trips, she began her advanced musical studies in jazz piano performance, first at MacEwan University and then at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. She returned to Edmonton and taught jazz arranging, theory, and ear training at MacEwan, in addition to working as a gigging jazz and rock keyboardist. After being asked to work with the ETown Minors Youth Choir in 2013, Erin re-discovered her passion for choral music and felt called to pursue conducting. In 2018 she received her MMus in Choral Conducting from the University of Alberta, under the direction of Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff. Erin continues to juxtapose her love and knowledge of jazz music with her choral activity in her accessible, yet high-quality, choral arrangements of pop and jazz tunes. Within BALM as well as in her other work, she is an advocate for gender equality and diversity in ensemble make-up, concert programming and artistic leadership. See more

Did you know that with our first concert, we will be joining countless other Canadian cities in this holiday sing-along tradition? So come and feel free to join us on December 8th at 2pm! All ages and abilities welcome! Tix $20, doors and score rental at 1pm. Hope to see you there!

What has our artistic director have to say about our event this Saturday December 8, at 3:00 pm at Robertson Wesley United Church?

The first soloist that you will hear on Saturday....Ian Bannerman’s interest in choral music sparked at a young age encouraged by his mother, an elementary school music teacher. His choral experiences in his hometown London, Ontario, include serving as Assistant Artistic Director for Conspirato Chamber Singers, headlining for the Daejon Choral Festival in South Korea with Six Vocal Ensemble and Vocado, and nearly a decade singing with Amabile Boys and Men’s Choirs. At UBC, Ia...n performed with the University Singers, UBC Chamber Choir, and UBC Men’s Choir. In his first year, Ian helped pioneer Hussein Janmohamed’s ‘Leadership through Choral Music’ session for the UBC Student Leadership Conference, winning ‘Best Collaborative Workshop’. While living in Vancouver, Ian has worked with various ensembles including the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Phoenix Chamber Choir, and Music Intima. See more

So happy to have our event tickets available @tixonthesquare A great service to support the arts in Edmonton.

So many amazing soloists. Kimberley Denis, M.Mus. Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance (University of Alberta), B.Mus. (Mount Allison University), B. Comm. (Mount Allison University) is known for her energy and enthusiasm both on stage and off, and is sought after as a soloist, choral clinician, vocal coach, and adjudicator for voice and choir. Upon completion of both her commerce and music undergraduate degrees at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, she returned to... her home province of Alberta where she completed a double masters degree in choral conducting and vocal performance at the University of Alberta. She also holds an associate diploma in Education and a music diploma in contemporary vocal performance from Red Deer College. In addition to her work as a singer and conductor, Kimberley arranges pieces for choirs and is published by Cypress Music and Augsburg Fortress and was recently commissioned for an arrangement of the school song for the The Grange, a private, English-speaking school in Santiago, Chile and a setting of the United Arab Emirates National Anthem for an international school in Dubai. She is also the Managing Director for the Alberta Band Association. See more

Can you believe that we also have - Soprano Dawn Bailey is a versatile artist, moving fluidly from chamber music to opera, oratorio, and art song. After spending ten years studying and performing in Toronto, Montreal, and Amsterdam, Dawn returned to her hometown of Edmonton to raise her young family. A core member of ProCoro Canada, Dawn also... appears regularly with Early Music Alberta, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble and Calgary’s Early Music Voices. Dawn can also be heard on recordings with the Toronto Consort, Ensemble Caprice, the Theatre of Early Music, Ensemble Seraphina, and Vivavoce. See more

Even if you don't want to sing Hallelujah! You can just come listen to all our fabulous soloists. Soprano Lynnéa Bartel Nickel is in her last year of a Bachelor of Music, where she studies voice under John Tessier and choral conducting under Leonard Ratzlaff. Lynnéa has studied internationally in Salzburg, and has sung twice in the National Youth Choir of Canada. She is also an outdoor enthusiast who loves to be in the mountains!

We are so very lucky to have Oliver sing in our inaugural event.

Get your tickets here...

Our bass soloist - Connor Hoppenbrouwers is a third-year vocal performance major pursuing his Bachelor of Music at the University of Alberta. After completing a performance diploma at Red Deer College, Connor moved back to his hometown of Edmonton and is steadfastly working towards his dream of being a professional musician. Recently he has performed with Edmonton Opera in the chorus of La Traviata and can be seen performing throughout Alberta with the jazz combo The Five Seven. Connor Hoppenbrouwers is a student of John Tessier.

So many amazing soloists. Camilla Kershaw recently completed a Masters of Music in vocal performance at the University of Alberta, and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Lethbridge. During her studies she performed in several operas including the roles of Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Nananina in Jeff McCune's Zeus and the Pamplemousse. In 2009, she won Calgary Opera’s So You Think You Can Sing Opera competition. She is currently singing with Chronos Vocal Ensemble, and loves being involved in Edmonton’s musical community.

Meet Heeyun Park another of our talented soloists. Heeyun Park is a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance student at the University of Alberta and is honoured to be a part of the BALM's Sing-Along Messiah! She has won several scholarships and competitions over the years in Edmonton and recently performed the role of Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) in concert at the Winspear with the USO. Her recent operatic roles have been Princesse Laoula (L'etoile) and Cis (Albert Herring). She will be performing as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) this year.

Hallelujah It’s a sing-along to Handel’s Messiah! Edmontonians are invited to sing-along to one of the most well-known and beloved masterpieces of the holiday season, Handel’s Messiah, in the BALM Society’s first annual Sing-Along Messiah on Saturday, Dec. 8th. The audience becomes the choir as they sing along with a chamber orchestra of strings, organ and trumpet. They’ll also be entertained by solo arias performed by professional and emerging artists from the E...dmonton area, including Mairi-Irene McCormack, mezzo-soprano and Oliver Munar, tenor. The newly formed BALM Society is pleased to present Sing-Along Messiah as their first event, and in their mission to support artistic leadership opportunities for women they have named Erin Craig as artistic director and conductor of the production. Erin recently completed her studies with Dr. Len Ratzlaff at the University of Alberta, just concluded a gig as assistant conductor of the Alberta Music Honour Choir, and following Sing-Along Messiah she will be working as an RBC emerging conductor with Michael Zaugg and Pro Coro Canada. This sing-along will be an uplifting way to kick off the holiday season. It’s become a beloved tradition in cities like Vancouver, Toronto and San Francisco, and is sure to be a joyful celebration here in Edmonton. It’s a family-friendly event. From first-timers to professionals, everyone is welcome. Event: First annual Sing-along Messiah Date: Saturday, Dec. 8th Time: 2 pm Place: Robertson-Wesley United Church

Another of our amazing soloists: American-Canadian Mezzo Soprano, Emily Oickle, holds associate degrees from Eastern Arizona College and Tyler Junior College in Texas. Before pursuing her performance degree, she placed in the Texas All-State Women’s Choir and was featured in the college musical theatre productions, Singing in the Rain and as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. While living in Calgary she was featured as a Debut Singer in Handel’s Messiah with Voicescapes. Recently with Edmonton Opera in La Traviata, she sang with the opera chorus. She currently studies with Elizabeth Turnbull and Shannon Hiebert and is attending the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

We are pleased to share with you Oliver Munar another one of our fabulous soloists for our Sing-along Messiah! on December 8 at Robertson-Wesley United Church Praised for his 'instantly likeable voice', Alberta tenor Oliver Munar is honoured to participate in the BALM Society's inaugural performance of Handel's Messiah. An accomplished professional ensemble singer, Oliver is in increasing demand as a concert and operatic soloist. Recent engagements include Gounod's Roméo et J...uliette with Calgary Opera, and the role of 'Gastone' in two different productions of Verdi's La traviata (Calgary Concert Opera Company, Mercury Opera). He will be featured in a performance of Bach's St. John Passion in Calgary in the spring. Oliver earned a Master of Music in vocal performance at the University of Alberta, and continues to train with international operatic tenor John Tessier and coach Shannon Hiebert. See more

Not sure that the Sing-along Messiah! is for you? Here is our FAQ page to answer all of your questions. Q: How will I know what to sing? You can bring your own score, or you can rent one from BALM on the day of the performance for a $25 deposit, $20 of which will be returned to you when you return your score. We guarantee enough scores will be available to rent for all pre-purchased tickets. We can’t guarantee there will be enough if you buy a ticket at the door, so please bu...y ahead if you can! Q: Can I bring my own score? Does it matter what edition it is? You can absolutely bring your own score! Most of BALM’s scores are the New Novello edition (orange cover) but there will be notes in the program about what page to look at for every common edition of the score. Q: I’m not a very good singer. Can I still come? Yes! This production is for EVERYONE. There will be experienced singers planted throughout the room to help everyone find their way through the piece. Q: I don’t read music very well, or at all. Can I still come? Yes! This production is for EVERYONE. You will be seated in sections according to voice type (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass), and there will be experienced singers in all of the sections to help. And even if the notes don’t make sense to you, the words to sing are still in the score so sing whatever is in your heart! Q: Can I bring my children? Of course! But they do need a ticket. Q: Can I come to listen and not sing? You can, but it will be much more fun if you sing. And I mean, who doesn’t want to sing the Hallelujah chorus along with an orchestra and hundreds of other voices? Q: I have a large group that I would like to bring. Is TIX on the Square the only place I can get tickets? A member of the BALM society would be happy to visit your choir, church, or community group to deliver a large bundle of tickets. Email us for details: [email protected]

As the Sing-along Messiah! approaches we would like to introduce our soloists. Originally from Cape Breton, mezzo-soprano Mairi Irene McCormack recently graduated from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with a Performer Diploma in Vocal Performance. At IU, McCormack performed the role of Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes with IU Opera Theatre, Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief in a recital performance, as well as Charlotte (Werther) and Mrs. Grose (The Turn of the Sc...rew) in scene performances. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Alberta Augustana Faculty and received additional training from the Franz Schubert Institut, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy and Opera NUOVA. She has been awarded grants from the Anne Burrows Music Foundation, the Winspear Fund, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Edmonton Arts Council. McCormack is currently completing her Masters of Music degree at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she studies voice with tenor John Tessier. Recently, she performed the role of Aloes in L’etoile with the University of Alberta Opera Workshop ensemble and will appear this season as Third Lady in Die Zauberflote. Additionally, McCormack will perform as a soloist with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble and the Richard Eaton Singers. She is excited to be a part of this Messiah performance and is looking forward to singing: both on the stage and in the audience!

Thank you to Matthew McGuigan for the fabulous artwork for our Sing-along Messiah! If you want a beautiful poster for your choir rehearsal space, please send us a message. We can bring a poster and tickets for sale for your choir too. Coming soon announcements of our soloists.... #yeg #yegmusic #choir #singalongmessiah #hallelujah