Submitted by David Warder
The Community Christmas Cantata Choir, based in Lion’s Head, began about 35 years ago when it was discovered that 3 choirs in Lion’s Head were learning the same piece for Christmas. An opportunity arose for the 3 choirs to sing this piece together at a community event and the Community Christmas Cantata Choir began the following Christmas and has continued ever since.
The Choir’s performances, usually within about 10 days of Christmas Day, have become a long-standing and meaningful tradition for the people of Lion’s Head and from a wide surrounding area.
A Cantata is a vocal composition with instrumental accompaniment, typically split into multiple movements and written for soloists, chorus or both. Cantatas can be sacred or secular. In our case, we always perform sacred Cantatas, and we now perform a Cantata for Christmas and a Cantata for Good Friday annually.
We sing almost entirely in 4-part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass or SATB) harmony, so the ability to read music is definitely an asset but not mandatory. We provide part-dominant recordings so people can hear their own parts and practice at home between rehearsals.
In recent years, our singers come anywhere from Tobermory in the north to Clavering in the south. We are based in Lion’s Head but you certainly don’t need to live here to sing in this choir. This is a somewhat unique type of choir in the Grey-Bruce area and is an ideal opportunity for people in these days when church choirs are less common. This is also an ideal choir if you are looking to sing but only want a short-term commitment as the entire process is complete within about 8 to 10 weeks.
This year’s Christmas Cantata is entitled “Glory to the Newborn King!: Celebrating the Light of Christmas.” It includes 3 songs that are often requested by people but the choir has never sung, so I’m quite excited to have found all 3 pieces in the same work and I can hardly wait for people to hear us sing them.
Rehearsals begin on Sunday, October 18 at 2 pm at Bethel Evangelical Missionary Church, 18 Ferndale Road, in Lion’s Head. Performances are on Tuesday, December 15 and Wednesday, December 16 at 7:30 pm also at Bethel.
If you’d like to sing in the choir or have any questions get in touch with me (David Warder 519-793-4015 davidcharleswarder@gmail.com) or show up at the first rehearsal.
If you want to check us out first, we have some videos online (search for Bethel EMC Lion’s Head on YouTube, click on the Videos tab, click on the Popular tab), or come to a performance in December.
Rehearsals for Good Friday will begin on Sunday, January 10.
