Ottawa Folk Choir practises for its upcoming concert in April.
A new choir in Ottawa is giving people of all ages, faiths, and singing ability a chance to learn and sing together.
“It’s kind of like a youth choir for adults,” says Kurt Ala-Kantti, director of the Ottawa Folk Choir. Ala-Kantti says he began the Ottawa Folk Choir to give beginners a chance to learn how to read music. He says the choir also gives those with more singing ability time to practice.
Ala-Kantti directs more than one choir. He began the well-known Harmonia choir in 2003 to promote local and Canadian composers.
The group travels and does about seven concerts a year.
Ala-Kantti says many people with great voices would audition for Harmonia, but they lacked the experience to join such an intensive choir.
The folk choir, he says, gives them a chance to gain that experience.
“It really strikes a chord with people who are terrified of auditioning,” says Ala-Kantti. He decided to put an ad in the paper for anyone interested in joining. The group has had about 25 members since it began last fall.
For $100, members practice as a group once a week and perform about two concerts a year. They also sing for charity and local fundraisers.
The choir sang Christmas music in December to raise funds for the Youville Centre in Ottawa.
Its first concert performance was in January for Robbie Burns Day.
The group’s next performance will be a Canadian folk music concert called Canada: Coast to Coast on April 27.
The Church of the Ascension on Echo Drive will host the concert at 3 p.m.
“I always wanted to join a choir,” says Anne Marie Bazinet-Miller, 58, a retired elementary school teacher.
It wasn’t until last year, after Bazinet-Miller’s mother died, that she decided to join the Ottawa Folk Choir. “I thought, this is something I can do in memory of her,” says Bazinet-Miller. She says her mother loved music.
She says the first few words she sang at the Christmas concert brought back old memories of her mother. “It has helped with the grieving,” says Bazinet-Miller. “Just to know that I’m continuing something that my mother enjoyed.”
The group’s members range in age from early twenties to late fifties. Each member has his or her own personal reasons for being there.
“It’s been forever since I’ve read music,” says Ana Marques, a member of the Ottawa Folk Choir. “I wanted to get back to my musical background.”
Marques, now in her early thirties, hadn’t sang or read music since she was in the school choir.
Both Marques and Bazinet-Miller say the Ottawa Folk Choir is a welcoming social experience.
Bazinet-Miller describes the experience as a “cooperative adventure”.
“We’re working together and sharing,” she says. “Even while singing, we’re helping each other.”