Spring Concert 2013
‘My Heart’s in the Song’ - GMC 2013 Spring Concert It was cowboy time for the Goulbourn Male Chorus. The Chorus introduced the cowboy genre of music to its repertoire for the first time at its spring concert held on Saturday, May 11th at St. Thomas Anglican Church in Stittsville. A quarter of the concert’s 24 songs were cowboy in nature. Arranged for male chorus were songs such as: ‘A Night Ride’ – telling the story of a rider and his faithful horse travelling through the night and ‘The Streets of Laredo’ – known as the cowboy lament song. The Chorus, with harmonica and guitar accompaniment, delivered two cowboy masterpieces – ‘Red River Valley’ and ‘Down in the Valley’ with the harmonica and guitar accompaniment, adding that cowboy flavour. And while the cowboy songs were new for both chorus and audience, there were still plenty of folk sings, ballads, and other three and four part traditional male chorus numbers in the program. Two of the new songs included: ‘Song for the Mira’ a Maritime folk song extolling the Mira River in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and ‘The Working Man’ the tribute to coal miners written by the late Cape Breton singer Rita MacNeil and the ‘Men of the Deeps’ - North America’s only coal miner’s choir. One interesting aspect of the concert was the explanation of the history of virtually every song that was sung, each explanation delivered by a different member of the Male Chorus. David Steventon of the Male Chorus served as the overall MC. The two-hour concert concluded with the chorus and audience singing the always popular ‘This Land is Your Land’. Guest musicians were Normand Glaude – harmonica, Christine Philipson – flute, Gary King – guitar, Bob Steadman – bass guitar. The Chorus is directed by Robert Dueck with Bonnie MacDiarmid as the chorus accompanist. The performance offered a wide variety of music styles and enjoyed by all.
Stittsville Food Bank May 13, 2013
A quick use of Google will reveal that not only does Stittsville have a Food Bank, it has had one for better than 20 years. Supported by its cadre of volunteers, local businesses, high school students, and by the community at large, the Stittsville Food Bank continues to help families in need with little fanfare. May 13, 2013, the GMC was invited, both as benefactors, and as entertainers, to be part of the Food Bank’s Volunteer/Donor Appreciation Night, held at Bistro 54 at the Amberwood Village Golf and Country Club, Stittsville. It was an evening to mingle, and hear recent news of the Food Bank. GMC performed several songs, concentrating on the West and East Coast folk songs like Hunker Down and Song for the Mira. Once again, in a very relaxed and cozy setting, the performance brought forth smiles and hand-clapping from an audience gathered to celebrate a fine organization dedicated to serving the community. A good night had by all.
Stonehaven Manor April 2013
Tuesday, April 23rd saw the Goulbourn Male Chorus perform their spring term concert program to approximately 50 residents at Stonehaven Manor Retirement Community in Kanata, Ontario. The hour program consisted of various style of music ranging from folk to love songs, to traditional four part male chorus. In addition to this, several sing-a-long numbers were included in the program of which ‘This Land is Your Land’ was a definite favourite. Thank you Stonehaven Manor for the opportunity to sing in your lovely setting … and for the post performance cookies
Gaia Java Cafe
We remember coffee houses, or we think we do. Pretty, long-haired girls in long embroidered coats, earnest looking men in goatees. Berets. Army surplus jackets. Jack Kerouac novels. Ian and Sylvia on the hi-fi. Politics, revolt and cigarette smoke curling through the air.... Well, fast forwarding to Friday, April 5, 2013, the Goulbourn Male Chorus, minus berets, did a bang up job entertaining a packed house at the Gaia Java Coffee House. Shoe-horning 14 singers, 1 conductor, 2 guitars and an electric piano into one end of Gaia Java’s comfortable setting, the Chorus ran through an array of crowd pleasers, from old Irish folk songs, to sing-along numbers such “This Land is Your Land”. The Chorus also showcased their skill with music that speaks of dusty plains, cattle drives and High Noon gunfights, performing dark and interesting arrangements of “Down in the Valley” and “Streets of Laredo”. In addition, the Chorus sang of Canada’s coasts, howling south-easter storms, witches, werewolves and Maritime romance, in their renditions of “Hunker Down” and “Song for the Mira”. Last, the Chorus was joined on stage for their finale by members of the West Ottawa Ladies Chorus. In brief, this is a chorus of men who excel at singing about men, their work, their trials, their triumphs and dreams and they are getting better and better with every time out.
GMC Christmas 2012
The Goulbourn Male Chorus with guest performers; the West Ottawa Ladies Chorus, the Trinity Hilltop Ringers (a handbell choir) and the Yuletide Flute Trio, performed their annual community Christmas concert on Dec. 16th, 2012 to a sold out audience. The ‘Welcome Christmas’ concert was held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church – Kanata.
Family Day at the Stittsville Library
The Goulbourn Male Chorus presents, ‘Coast to Coast – a journey across Canada through Song, Story & Poetry’.
Winchester concert
Winchester, Ontario: The Goulbourn Male Chorus participated in a fundraising concert on September 22nd, 2012 for the Winchester United Church.
Council meeting performance
Goulbourn Male Chorus was invited by Councillor Shad Qadri to represent Ward 6 with the singing of our National Anthem at the City of Ottawa Council Meeting. The July 11, 2012 meeting was held at Ben Franklin Place - Centrepointe
Walden Village concert
The west Ottawa Goulbourn Male Chorus presented a program of traditional male chorus music on April 17th, 2012 for the residents at Walden Village Retirement Residence
