Walking through the doors of the Christ Church Cathedral, the strains of piano and faint voices grow louder as you ascend wooden stairs to the second floor.
Girls of all ages, dressed in uniform – a white button-down shirt, a navy vest and a burgundy tie – are singing in preparation for an upcoming show.
The Christ Church Cathedral Girls’ Choir celebrated its 10th anniversary with performances from their new Christmas CD In The Bleak Midwinter on Nov. 18.
The choir, consisting of 34 girls – ages eight to 18 – performed in a concert that night to raise money for a tour next August in Europe, where it will perform at Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral in Britain, as well as at the Menin Gate memorial in Ypres, Belgium.
The choir is also the only Cathedral Girls’ Choir in Canada, says Janine Drinnan, the choir’s manager. Cathedral choirs are usually comprised of boys, or a mix of both girls and boys, but an all-girls choir is “quite rare.”
It hopes to raise money through the sale of their CD, which will be available for purchase online in early December as well as various music stores across the city.
Selling at $20 each, the choir’s new CD includes a variety of Christmas songs.
“I like to always have the familiar, as well as the unfamiliar,” says Timothy Piper, the choir’s director and founder.
The CD includes popular carols such as O Holy Night and Carol of the Bells, as well as unfamiliar ones such as a traditional Latvian song called ZiemassvÄtki Sabraukuši.
According to Piper, the thing that shocks people most about this choir is “how young the girls are.”
“There’s something really special about the girls, that they’re able to sing at a professional level, and they’re so young,” he said. “People are really taken with them.”
The choir was founded in 2001 and since then has been invited to perform in a number of high-profile places, such as the 2010 Christmas concert for the European Union, and Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Canada last summer.
“The choir operates in one of the oldest churches in the area, and it’s open to everybody,” Piper says. “So any girl – be she rich or poor – can come and get a good musical education for free.”
Membership is free, but the girls have to have a passion for music, says Piper, and being in the choir comes with its obligations, commitments and responsibilities.
Anna Harman, 16, one of the co-heads of the choir, said that being in the choir has taught her to manage her time properly.
“It’s a big commitment,” she said, adding that the choir meets at least twice a week to rehearse and the choristers often practice on their own time.
Emma Drinnan, 16, also a co-head, said during the past few weeks the choir has been practicing and performing much more frequently because of upcoming performances.
“Everything happens around the choir,” said 16-year-old chorister Ola Bourns.
The singers’ hard work showed during a recent practice. Performing Carol of the Bells, the 34 girls were in perfect harmony; their music soft and pleasant, and their voices in unison.