ORIANA Women's Choir

As our reputation continues to grow and flourish, ORIANA is delighted to receive invitations to participate in collaborative musical ventures with other artists, at new venues.

St. Valentine’s Day – February 14, 2007 – will see us at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the Choir and Organ Concert Series. Here, with guests Ruth Watson Henderson (organ) and Daryl Edwards (tenor), ORIANA will present a concert entitled Love Flourishes. The concert will feature music by Hildegard von Bingen, Franz Schubert, and Ruth Watson Henderson.

Later next year, on May 26, ORIANA will join the Scarborough Philharmonic at Birchmount Secondary School. The choir will sing Gustav Holst’s The Planets and movements from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Folk Songs of the Four Seasons.

ORIANA’s strategic plan is a year old and we are well on our way to achieving some of the milestones we set for ourselves. These milestones include improved governance, creation of a new subscription brochure, continued audience expansion, increased individual concerts ticket prices, development of an individual donor campaign, change in venue for one of the subscription concerts, and the addition of two invitational concerts to the season’s performances. We have much more to do, but are energized by our achievements to date.

Key to future development is an increase in revenues. Choir members have played a leadership role in their commitment to increased fund-raising through special projects, donations, and their agreement to an increased membership fee. The board has established an annual fund-raising campaign targeting friends of the choir as well as corporations and foundations.

We were especially fortunate last year to receive a major gift from one of our choir members that made our partnership with the National Ballet School possible. We hope that future donors will want to sponsor concerts and events that will help ORIANA in our continued artistic growth.

The future is both exciting and challenging and, with a well-defined strategic plan, the support of our donors, and quality performances by the choir, ORIANA is well positioned for success.

At our May, 2006 concert – The Journey – we drew the winning ticket for the beautiful painting by Thelma Rock Tipping. Thelma, an ORIANA chorister and talented artist, gave the painting to be used as the cover for our new CD: “Comfort and Joy” and to be used as a fundraiser. The owner of the winning ticket, and now of the large, colourful painting, is Margot Hamilton.

Once again, ORIANA choristers and friends will be taking orders for fabulous tubs of ready-to-bake cookie dough and muffin batter from Macmillan’s. Please get in touch with your choir contact and place your order by October 15, 2006.

Every year, ORIANA Women’s Choir brings colour and joy to gardens all over Southern Ontario with our beautiful, healthy Impatiens plants. These plants thrive in shady woodland spots, in formal gardens, in casual country-style settings, in patio planters, and in hanging baskets. We will be taking orders until March 17, and delivering on May 23. Please get in touch with your choir contact to place your order.

ORIANA presented a season of three very different, and very successful concerts last year.

Starting in December with The Joys of Christmas, soprano soloist Jennie Such joined the choir for Paul Csonka’s Concierto de Navidad. Other works included the varied The Seven Joys of Christmas by Kirke Mechem, John Rutter’s ever-popular Dancing Day, and Christians Be Joyful from J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

We knew in advance that our second concert, Song of Survival, would be a very special experience. Perhaps none of us were prepared for the combined impact of the words, music, and dance when Veronica Tennant and teachers and students from Canada’s National Ballet School joined ORIANA to share the story of hardship and hope in the internment camps of Sumatra during the Second World War. The evening was an emotional and enriching experience for the choir, the dancers, and the audience alike.

Our third concert, The Journey, took our audience on a world tour. A highlight was William Brown’s arrangement of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Songs from India, Ireland, Japan, North America, and Zimbabwe delighted all with their variety and humour.

In mid-summer, 2005, a small group of Board members and choristers met to re-visit ORIANA’s 2003 strategic plan. We discussed and revised our mission statement and our goals. We wanted to continue focussing on artistic excellent, but also to bring our “back office” operations up to an equally professional standard.

Our previous mission statement was considered too long and hard to remember, so we distilled it down to its essence:

We will be able to achieve this ambitious mission only if we meet the following goals, which have been divided into three categories:

Performance
>   Continuously hone performance standard to higher levels of excellence;
>   Continuously expand performance versatility;
>   Continuously broaden the audience base.

Spirit
> Provoke a passionate response to the power, beauty, and joy of song;
> Provide a joyful sense of community within the choir.

Operations
> Establish a sustainable funding base for a world-class choir;
> Create and maintain a professional support infrastructure.

>   Update our approach to standard setting/ maintenance in all aspects of our organization;
>   Reinstate the annual auditioning of all Choir Members;
>   Strike a Financial Strategy sub-committee to develop a tactical plan for establishing a sustainable funding base and financial management infrastructure;
>   Investigate the costs and capabilities of arts organization marketers and include a financing strategy for paying for the hiring of such professionals in the Financial Management Strategy;
>   Articulate clear roles and goals before investing in professional marketing staff;
>   Strike an Audience Development committee to brainstorm ideas about how to grow our audience penetration, including what kind of music to we want to sing for what kinds of audiences;

Measures of success were developed for each of our goals. Together, we have already begun working hard to meet and exceed these measures.

On February 17, 2006, our Artistic Director, William Brown, will travel to New York city to participate in The American Choral Directors Association (ADCA) Eastern Division Conference. The highlight of the conference will be a concert in Carnegie Hall on Saturday, February 18^th: a 150-voice auditioned children’s choir, directed by Jean Ashworth Bartle, will perform William’s Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin.

William’s compositions (four to date) have all been written for ORIANA, but have now been performed by many treble choirs, including The Toronto Children’s Chorus, The Oakville Children’s Choir, Vox Femina of L.A, and Concerto Dello Donna of Montreal.

ORIANA Women’s Choir is eager to thank four departing members of the Board of Directors for their many years of dedication and hard work on behalf of ORIANA:

Jane Eberhard, Community Rep.
Enid Hardacre, Choir Rep.
Susan Basiuk, Community Rep.
Linda Grieve, Community Rep.

Susan Chopp, Choir Rep.
Deborah McFarlane, Community Rep.
Carol Ann Ballantyne, Community Rep.

We are, of course, delighted that the following members will be staying on
with the Board:

Barbara Sheffield, Chair
Eileen Crichton, Vice Chair
Jane Robinson, Treasurer
Debbie Walker, Secretary
Sara Lou Henderson, Choir President
Becky Voth, Choir Rep.

ORIANA Women’s Choir’s took a day trip to Kingston, Ontario on Saturday, April 9, 2005. We spent a delightful day with the “home team,” Cantabile Women’s Choir and Chorale de Jesu from Montreal. Afternoon rehearsals were followed by a delightful (and ample) potluck dinner provided by our hosts.

In the evening each choir sang for 25-minutes, then joined up to sing three pieces together. The choirs, as much as the audience, appreciated the wonderful day of music.

As the sun rose on Saturday, July 2, ORIANA choristers, friends, and family, along with our Artistic Director and Pianist, gathered in the departure lounge at Toronto Airport. After weeks of intensive rehearsing, planning, and organizing, we were on our way to Newfoundland’s biennial choral gathering: Festival 500 Sharing the Voices.

Our journey was not uneventful, being delayed and re-routed because of fog and non-existent runway lights in Halifax. A full twelve hours after gathering at Pearson, however, we were relieved to arrive at St. John’s Airport.

We were welcomed warmly by Festival 500 representatives, and transported efficiently to Memorial University’s residences, where most of the choir was staying. Assigned our rooms, we settling in and prepared for a busy week of musical exchange.

We were not disappointed. There were rehearsals for the adult massed choir project nearly every morning, and workshops most afternoons. ORIANA was scheduled to participate in six events, each at a different venue.

The opening ceremonies were great fun: forty choirs from around the world paraded across the campus to the Field House, where a fabulous Argentinian quartet – De Boca En Boca – entertained us before each choir was introduced. We sang together for the first time: just a taste of what was to come for the choirs and the attending audience.

Monday’s workshop was a real treat: 45 minutes of one-on-one time with renowned composer, friend, and Honorary Patron, Eleanor Daley. We sang The Rose Trilogy, which she had composed for ORIANA in 2002, and heard comments and suggestions to bring our interpretation closer to Eleanor’s vision of the piece.

Our informal lunchtime performance at the Scotia Centre was our chance to show our skills singing a cappella. This concert was something of a surprise, as we discovered that it was scheduled only after we arrived in St. John’s. Fortunately we had a few suitable pieces in our repertoire. The sheet music for these pieces, however, was filed in our library in Toronto. Thanks to Becky our librarian, a co-operative neighbour in Toronto, ever-efficient FedEx, a helpful St. John’s B&B operator, and one of the city’s inimitable taxi drivers, our music arrived safely the day before the concert.

For our Tuesday afternoon concert we were joined by two very different choirs: the University Choir of Pardubice, from the Czech Republic, and Take Note, a Jazz group from Alberta.

In the middle of the week a free day and fabulous sunshine allowed us to enjoy the scenic coastline around St. John’s. Some of the choir went sailing out of St. John’s harbour on a schooner; others took a catamaran trip out of Bay Bulls to see whales and puffins; the landlubbers visited Signal Hill and took in the magnificent view. Our intrepid Director and Pianist decided to get closer to the water and head out on a three-hour kayak expedition. We were all slightly sunburned but refreshed by the change of pace and scenery – and ready to get back to the music.

ORIANA’s main evening concert took place on Friday, July 8, at Gower Street Church – a beautiful building in the old part of St. John’s. Again, we were sharing the stage with two other choirs: Northwest Girlchoir from Seattle, and Apollo Male Chorus of Minneapolis. First we rehearsed music to be performed “en masse,” then the choirs practised separately. In the evening, as the setting sun shone through the stained-glass windows, we showed the packed house the full range of our musicality. The evening’s grand finale was a pair of Latin-flavoured pieces: Gloria from “Missa Kenya” and Tormento.

Throughout the week participants were invited to attend workshops – many of them involving a great deal of interaction and participation – and to hear other choirs’ performances. Many members of ORIANA filled their days with these fabulous opportunities to listen and learn. The other choirs were impressive in their diversity. We were particularly blown away by Coro de Niños y Jóvenes Ars Nova from Argentina, and by Hamilton Children’s Choir.

Sunday morning was a lovely opportunity to say Thank You to the people of St. John’s for making us so very welcome. We were honoured to sing a “sermon in music” at Wesley United Church. Not to be outdone, our hosts thanked us with a wonderful lunch – a delightful change from the brown-bag lunches that had become a Festival 500 staple!

Interspersed with all these activities were daily rehearsals for the adult massed choir project. The two pieces were Hector Berlioz’ Requiem and Arvo Part’s Credo. At the start of the Festival these works were unfamiliar to many of the singers. They were also quite different to what most of us were used to. Maestro Tõnu Kaljuste explained, illustrated, teased, and inspired us to see the beauty in the music.

Sunday’s final concert at Mile One Stadium was truly a night to remember: imagine the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and 2000 voices under Maestro Kaljuste’s supportive but demanding baton. We would not have imagined, at the start of the week, that this unusual music could form such an uplifting experience.

The Festival over, most of ORIANA boarded a plane back to Toronto, mercifully without delays. Others stayed on for a week or two to explore more of Newfoundland, finding even more music in the far corners of that beautiful province.

Once again, ORIANA Women’s Choir will be selling cookie and muffin dough from MacMillan’s this fall. Please get in touch with you choir contact and place your order by October 15.

In February and March we will be taking orders for our popular Impatiens plants.

NEW CD – "COMFORT AND JOY”

Last winter, 2004, ORIANA recorded a fabulous concert of seasonal music at Grace Church on-the-Hill. The recording has been edited and made into a beautiful CD of Christmas music. The CD features: Make a Joyful Noise (Clausen), Karitas Habundat (von Bingen), Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (John Gardner), All Is Calm (Timothy Phelan), Il est né, le divin Enfant (arr. Nicholas Burt), The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy (arr. Stephen Hatfield), Go Where I Send Thee! (arr. Paul Caldwell/Sean Ivory), Welcome, Yule (William Brown), A Celebration of Christmas (arr. Karl Jenkins), and Salvator Mundi (William Mathias).

The tracks include music from guest soloists Gillian Howard (oboe), Leslie Newman (flute), Timothy Phelan (guitar) Andy Morris (percussion), and Alison Melville (recorder). Of particular note are two world premieres: Welcome, Yule by William Brown, and Mary Had A Baby by Timothy Phelan.

In keeping with the original paintings on our previous CD covers, chorister Thelma Tipping is creating a new work of art for this release.

You can help make our third CD project a success by being a Christmas Rose Donor. Donors (of $250+) will be recognized in all printed materials to the end of 2006, and will receive complimentary personalized, autographed CDs from William Brown.

ORIANA Women’s Choir’s exciting travel plans kick off with a day trip to Kingston, Ontario on Saturday, April 9, 2005. We will join two other renowned Canadian choirs at Sydenham Street United Church for an evening concert. ORIANA will share the stage with Kingston’s own Cantabile Women’s Choir, directed by Mark Sirett, and Chorale de Jesu from Montreal, directed by Patricia Abbott.

Each choir will perform a 25-minute programme. Then each artistic director will take a turn to lead the three choirs together, in three glorious massed performances.

ORIANA is getting ready to hit the road, or rather, the skies. On July 2, 2005, 28 choristers, two artistic staff, and 14 family members and friends will fly to St. John’s, Newfoundland, for nine days. They are going to represent ORIANA Women’s Choir at Festival 500 Sharing the Voices. This international choral festival invites choirs from around the world. This year, choirs are coming from as far afield as Japan and China, as well as Canada, U.S.A., and Europe.

ORIANA will sing in at least four performances: one evening, one afternoon, a Sunday morning, and the Massed Adult Choir on the closing night. We plan to attend other choirs’ concerts as well as to take in the sights, smells, and tastes of Newfoundland. We are all particularly looking forward to a whale-watching expedition!

Our evening concert repertoire will be 100 percent Canadian: Child with the Starry Crayon (Eleanor Daley); Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin (William Brown); Stars, Blue, Ice (Stephen Chatman); and Voices of Light (Paul Halley).

Our afternoon programme will be very international: Sound the Trumpet (Henry Purcell); Puisque tout passe (William Brown); Widmung (Robert Schumann); Rose Trilogy (Eleanor Daley); and Aizu Bandai-San (Hirok, arranged by Hiroshi Ishimaru).

ORIANA is catching the ear of the music industry in high places: MidAmerica Productions, impressed by the quality of sound and high level of musicianship demonstrated by ORIANA Women’s Choir, has invited us to sing at Carnegie Hall, New York. We have been asked to participate in a performance of Vivaldi’s Magnificat, RV610 (for women’s chorus). The concert, which will include a chorus made up of 130 to 150 outstanding high school, university, adult, and masterwork ensembles from across North America, is scheduled for Sunday, February 12, 2006. The massed choir will join a full orchestra, professional soloists, and maestra Sandra Peter for what will surely be an evening to remember.

RECEPTION FOR OUR HONORARY PATRONS

ORIANA Women’s Choir is extremely grateful for the ongoing support and artistic contributions of our four wonderful honorary patrons. To show our appreciation, ORIANA’s Board of Directors is inviting Ms. Daley, Ms. Watson Henderson, Ms. Lundström, and Ms. Tennant to a private reception on Friday, February 4, 2005. The reception will be held at the home of Artistic Director, William Brown.

Choir representatives want to thank each of our patrons in person, and communicate how their personal excellence serves as inspiration to the choristers. Chair Barbara Sheffield will also address the gathering. William Brown plans to discuss highlights of the last two seasons, and bring to the patrons’ attention our exciting plans for the current season and the future.

On September 1, 2004, ORIANA Women’s Choir, formerly The ORIANA Singers, will officially launch its new name logo and wordmark. As part of our comprehensive strategic plan, initiated in the summer of 2003, the rebranding of the organization was seen as a necessity in updating our image and infusing new energy into our evolving organization.

ORIANA INVITED TO PERFORM AT FESTIVAL 500

ORIANA Women’s Choir has recently been invited to perform at FESTIVAL 500 Sharing the Voices – International Festival of Choral Music and Celebration of Song next July 3-10 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. In the letter of invitation, the jury wrote "The competition for participation was very intense, so you may feel very proud to be included in this exciting roster of international choirs."

Festival 500 is a unique cultural event which connects, explores, and celebrates the commonalities and differences among people through the power of singing. In an intimate setting of North America’s oldest city, this heralded non-competitive festival and symposium bring together singers from cultures worldwide with the very best of the world’s musical artistry and scholarship. Infused with a joyful spirit of inclusivity, acknowledgement, and inquiry, this sharing of voices results in powerful and enriching experiences for all.

Plans are underway for ORIANA Women’s Choir to participate in this exciting international festival next summer.

ORIANA RELEASES NEW CD –
"CHILD WITH THE STARRY CRAYON"

As Artistic Director of ORIANA Women’s Choir, William Brown is always looking for new and innovative ways to incorporate today’s youth into concert programmes.

With permission of the Toronto District School Board, six composers were commissioned by the choir to set selected student poetry to music for our special Poetry and Music Project. With the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Laidlaw Foundation, and the Harbinger Foundation, the choir commissioned Stephen Chatman, Eleanor Daley, Ruth Watson Henderson, Donald Patriquin, Imant Raminsh, and Mark Sirett to set the poems to music.

On Saturday, May 8, 2004, the choir presented the commissioned works in a concert entitled Children’s Voices. Initially, these new works were to be heard by ‘live’ audiences of the choir, with the hope that most would subsequently be published by the composers for other choirs and audiences to experience. Then the choir and board decided to release the commissioned works as a live CD for all to hear! "Child with the Starry Crayon" features most of the student poems set to music, two original works by Artistic Director William Brown, and Rose Trilogy by Eleanor Daley, originally commissioned by the choir for its 30th Anniversary in May 2002, and dedicated to the memory of John Ford.

"Child with the Starry Crayon" will be available for purchase this fall.

2004 CBC NATIONAL CHORAL COMPETITION FOR AMATEUR CHOIRS

ORIANA Women’s Choir had a very successful showing in the 2004 CBC Choral Competition for Amateur Choirs. ORIANA was successful at the provincial, national quarter-final, and national semi-final levels of the competition. On Tuesday, April 27, 2004, ORIANA competed in the live national finals of the Equal Voice – Women’s Choir category. The choir was thrilled to be awarded the judges' special prize for "Best Performance of a Canadian Work" in all adult choir categories. Artistic Director William Brown’s Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin was heralded by the judges for its uniquely aleatoric score and its appropriate graphic notation which results in a sensitive, expressive setting of the Charles Duc d’Orleans poem. William’s second composition Puisque tout passe, written for the choir to premiere in the national finals, will be published in November 2004.

ELEANOR DALEY JOINS ILLUSTRIOUS LIST OF
ORIANA HONORARY PATRONS

In the spring of 1984, ORIANA Women’s Choir Board of Directors nominated Lois Marshall to serve as its first Honorary Patron. She graciously accepted the invitation, and served until her passing in February of 1997. For thirteen years Lois Marshall gave ORIANA her seal of approval and encouraged audiences to support the choir.

Since Lois Marshall’s passing, the choir had been without an Honorary Patron until December 2000 when ORIANA officially introduced two new patrons: Ruth Watson Henderson and Veronica Tennant, C.C. In the spring of 2002, during the choir’s 30th Anniversary Concert, the choir welcomed their third Honorary Patron: Canadian fashion designer, Linda Lundström.

Ruth Watson Henderson, Linda Lundström and Veronica Tennant, C.C., as did Lois Marshall, represent the very best. We are honoured and privileged that these shining examples of successful women serve as ORIANA’s Honorary Patrons.

This is the very reason that we have augmented the list to include Canadian composer Eleanor Daley. She, too, represents the very best. The choir is inspired by her and hopes to live up to the excellence and dedication she displays.

ORIANA’s wonderful relationship with Eleanor Daley began when the choir commissioned her to write Rose Trilogy for the 30th Anniversary, and dedicated it to the memory of Conductor Emeritus John Ford. The relationship grew even further with the creation of the recent commission, Child with the Starry Crayon. ORIANA was overwhelmed with the beauty of this work, and wishes to thank Eleanor by using the work as the title track for the upcoming 2nd commercial compact disc scheduled for release in the fall of 2004.

ORIANA Women’s Choir was delighted that Eleanor Daley accepted the invitation to serve as its new Honorary Patron.

"ROSE TRILOGY" WINS NATIONAL AWARD

For the choir's 30th Anniversary in May 2002, Eleanor Daley was commissioned to write a three-movement work based upon the Rose theme. The Board of Directors thought it was most fitting to dedicate the work to the memory of Conductor Emeritus, the late John Ford. Some of the money from John’s memorial fund was used to finance this commission.

During the recent Association of Canadian Choral Conductors Biennial National Conference PODIUM 2004, the 2004 National Choral Awards were announced. The national jury selected Rose Trilogy by Eleanor Daley, commissioned by ORIANA Women’s Choir as the 2004 "Outstanding Choral Work" in Canada.

ORIANA is extremely proud to be associated with this national honour, and extends its warmest congratulations to Eleanor for this prestigious award.