Hello all!
It’s an exciting time to be part of Twisted Desert and Sage Sound Singers!
We started our rehearsals for the music in early September and are well into it.
Things are going well, and we have “almost” a full cast and Chorus!!!!    Just missing a few minor parts, which I’m sure we can get filled by the end of the year.
We start script rehearsals in early January 2025.  That will be exciting!

SAVE THE DATE!

We have our performance dates nailed down,
(but the dates could change in an extreme circumstance!)

ASHCROFT HUB
April   8, 2025 – Evening Performance
April   9, 2025 – Evening Performance
April 10, 2025 – Evening Performance
April 11, 2025 – Evening Performance
April 12, 2025 – Matinee Performance
April 12, 2025 – Evening Performance

All our ducks are in a row!  If you live in the South Thompson River Area of British Columbia, Canada, please consider auditioning!

We are excited to let you know that Dimiter Terziev will be performing a solo piano recital in Ashcroft, featuring masterpieces by J. Haydn, J. Brahms, A. Scriabin, and L Boulanger. Each representing a different country and generation of European composers.

Sage Sound Singers will also be performing several songs before Dimiter begins, as well as perform a short choir piece within his recital.

The magic begins on FEBRUARY 10, 2023  at  2:00PM at St. Alban’s Hall (501 Brink) in Ashcroft.
Tickets are $15 at the door or online:   Click here for tickets!

Although, this is a short season for us, we have 20 singers with 5 in each section (SATB). We are welcoming new people to Sage Sound Singers. For many, this will be their  first time singing in a choir. We are especially pleased getting young people interested in singing. Thankfully Michelle is a wonderful teacher and knows how to make it easy. Its just like the song from the Sound Of Music – Do  Re M, the first three notes just happen to be…. (you know the rest!)    She has a way of getting the most out of all of us, regardless of our ages. It is so nice to see our area’s youth wanting to sing with us!
We started our rehearsals on January 7^th and will be rehearsing Sunday’s and Tuesdays right up to the Concert date.  Our plan is to be “off book” (just like a play!) for the concert.   We’ll have Dimiter helping us learn the music at our Tuesday rehearsal.
We don’t have a lot of time to learn our music, but with the more experienced singers helping the newly minted singers, we should be fine!
In a way its better that we are doing a smaller concert (but including Dimiter’s recital) so the new folks won’t feel so overwhelmed by a full scale concert and will be excited about singing in  our planned Fall 2024 Christmas Concert.

We hope you can join us on February 10th!

Hello one and all!
Since our smashing success at Carnegie Hall (with the help of 115 other singers!) we are back again.   We took a break for the Fall of 2023 due to sheer exhaustion from New York. Well we did provide “vocal support” for the W.R.A.P.S. production of Shaken Not Stirred:  A James Bond Pantomime, and a number of us were actually in it.

That done, we are going to do a concert with Dimiter Terziev.  He will be performing a  solo piano recital featuring masterpieces by J. Haydn, J. Brahms, A. Scriabin and L. Boulanger, each composer representing a different country and generation of European composers.

Here is a video sample of Dimiter’s concert

Sage Sound Singers will help out by performing three of our own pieces prior to the main event of Dimiter playing. We will also help him out with a choir chorus within one of his pieces. We are SO excited Dimiter asked us to do this!
The concert is on February 10th at St. Alban’s Hall in Ashcroft, BC with Dimiter also performing his Generations concert in Kamloops on February 17th.

Our tentative plan for Fall of 2024 is a our annual Christmas Concert.  The format will be a surprise to all!

We had the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall in the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage! It all started in Spring of 2022. We were invited to be a part of this fabulous event. The idea was to gather as many choristers from BC choirs and beyond and sing Missa Brevis at Carnegie Hall in June of 2023. The choir would need be around 130 strong.  We’d even have an orchestra to accompany us!  We were ready to take on the challenge.  Rehearsals began in early January  2022 for Missa Brevis in C minor by Imant Raminsh. There were 13 of us from Sage Sound Singers who were quite excited about a road trip in 2023 – especially to NYC and Carnegie Hall! The rest of the choir was composed of people from Kamloops, Prince George, Kelowna, Ashcroft, Cache Creek and beyond. There were even a few from Ontario and India, giving us a grand total of 69 singers. We also had a name for our “new” choir. We were now collectively the “Raminsh Choir”. At the end of May 2022 we had most of Missa Brevis under our belts, so we took a long break, resuming rehearsals again in January 2023. This is where it got grueling. We were practicing two to three days per week from January to June, rotating between Kamloops and Ashcroft. We were told we needed at least 100 singers and we only had 69, so we joined forces with a choir from Arizona USA. They would perform our Missa Brevis with us, and we would perform their  “Lion Teeth Suite” by Anders Edenroth with them. We finally had the magic number of over 100 choristers. Opening night came on June 27th, 7:00 PM at Carnegie Hall. It was exhilarating to be standing on a stage so many famous people had performed on. The hall was almost to capacity, the orchestra warmed up, and the conductor on his platform. I can’t describe how we all felt at that moment, but it was a culmination of hard work, LOTS of practice, and the determination to do this.  It went well and we got a standing ovation (and asked to return in 2025!) We all will look back at this with fond memories and the knowledge that “We did it!”

Our conductors were Cvetozar Vutev, and Ryan Holder. They are fourth and fifth from the right in the poster below.

What a thrill to see that it was for REAL!

Sorry for being so late with this post! but we did pull off another concert in December 2022.

It was chock full of Beatles music and, of course, some traditional Christmas music. It was a smashing success with almost full-houses for both concerts.

We successfully pulled off a Christmas Concert on December 18 and 19, 2021.  It was a great success. Now we are planning our 2022 Season.  We will be working hard this Spring 2022 preparing for our Spring 2023 Season. We won’t have a Spring Concert, but we will be very busy!  You must be wondering what we have planned for 2023?  Well – it is exciting!  We have been asked to sing with a 100+ National Choir in June of 2023 — (drum roll!) at Carnegie Hall in New York USA!  We will be performing the music of Imant Raminsh. Our conductors will be our very own Cvetozar Vutev and the composer himself, Imant Raminsh!  We are VERY excited and honoured to be asked to be a part of this event.

Never fear, we will have a Fall Concert in 2022.  As we get the planning done, I’ll keep you posted!

Jim

Click HERE to go see this on Facebook!

Sage Sound Singers are so excited to be able to present a Christmas Concert for
our communities! During these hard times, we need to come together and show
that even in adversity our community spirit and our concern for each other are
very much alive. We hope this Concert will remind people of that. It will be a time
where we forget about the troubles, be together, and enjoy the entertainment.

DATES:

Saturday December 18th, 7:00pm Doors open at 6:30pm
Sunday December 19th, 2:00pm Doors open at 6:30pm

TICKETS:

To make it easier for our audience, we are selling tickets at the door for each
performance. Cost per ticket is $15. Children under the age of 5 are free.

PROTOCOL:

All patrons will use the hand sanitizer provided up entry to the HUB.
All patrons age 12 and onward, must be fully vaccinated and have their vaccine
card validated upon entry to the concert hall (gym).
All patrons age 5 and onward, do not need to wear a mask when seated for the
concert but must wear a mask while not seated.All patrons under the age of 5 do not need to wear a mask or show proof of vaccination.

CONCERT NOTES:

Our concert name and theme “All On A Silent Night” was inspired by the song of
the same name sung in this concert. A version of “Silent Night”, it evokes peace
and wonder and was especially perfect for this concert.
In addition to the main choir, we have a subset of choir members called “Small
Group” that will be part of the program as well. They will be singing 5 songs
interspersed between the full choir songs.

OUR LINE UP OF SONGS:

We start off with a fun song called “Holiday Tango”, which is just that!
The next seven numbers include a ballad, an African Noel, and some Gospel
thrown in!
During a 10 minute Intermission we will have a delightful reading from “A
Christmas Carol”. We are doing this so the audience will be engaged during the
Intermission, since we can’t serve refreshments due to covid protocols.
The second half of the program includes some very nice more traditional
Christmas music. Of course, it will be something you probably haven’t heard
before, because our Director, Michelle Reid, is a master at selecting interesting
and engaging music.

SONGS OF NOTE

Pacem
Of all the songs ever written, the simple ones can be some of the best. “Pacem,”
with it’s main lyric “Dona Nobis Pacem” which means ‘Grant Us Peace,’ is one
such song. The songs’ simple but powerful message is still very relevant in
today’s world.
Walking In The Air
The song forms the centrepiece of animated short feature, “The Snowman”. The
story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has
come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to theNorth Pole. “Walking in the Air” is the theme for the journey. It brings back
memories of childhood and simpler times.
Hallelujah Chorus
We are VERY excited to bring our audience “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s
Messiah. It’s one of the more difficult pieces Sage Sound Singers has attempted.
Because of Michelle’s skill and faith in our ability, we think we are able to pull it
off. An interesting thing about this song is that traditionally the audience is
required to stand up while it is being sung. The origins of this tradition are rather
obscure, but the most accepted explanation is that King George II stood up during
the chorus at the Messiah’s 1743 London premiere. While it might be said that he
stood up because he was so moved by the music and wanted to show his
reverence, one historian has a different take on it. One historian mentions that
“The King rose to his feet, possibly because of a bad case of pins and needles or
gout, rather than an outburst of royal emotion inspired by the music.” Who
knows which is true, but Sage Sound Singers will honour this tradition and ask the
audience to stand up while we sing this finale to our Christmas Concert.

Hi everybody,

Since the last post a lot has changed for the worse regarding the Covid-19 situation and protocols now in place.

Currently, we ARE going to start practicing on September 14, 2021 and provide you with something to watch in December. Hurray for that!   What we are not sure about is whether we’ll be able to have a LIVE concert or not. Our original plan was to have a live concert at the HUB and also post a video (similar to our Fall 2021 concert). If it ends up we cannot have a live concert, we’ll see you on YouTube in December!

UPDATE:  It is looking better than ever that we will be able to sing “live” for you! The Province of BC has targeted September 7th as the date many Covid restrictions will be lifted. A lot will depend on  the number of VACCINATIONS! So PLEASE be sure to get  vaccinated and help us get back to normal!

We are hard at work planning our next LIVE not-online concert. We will start rehearsing in early September 2021 and have two performances in late November, or sometime in December. It will all depend on Covid vaccinations and how successful we in British Columbia are at reducing this scourge. We choose to remain optimistic and plan for the best.

For a “sneak peak”, I can divulge two of the songs we will be performing in the Fall:

Fare Thee Well, Love
Is a song recorded by Canadian music group The Rankin Family. It was released in 1992 as the second single from their second studio album, Fare Thee Well Love. It peaked in the top 10 on the RPM Country Tracks and Adult Contemporary Tracks charts, and won the Juno Award for Single of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1994. We will be bringing you this lovely song SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in an arrangement by Stuart Calvert.
Walking In The Air
Is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs’ 1978 children’s book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. “Walking in the Air” is the theme for the journey. We will be bringing you this SATB in a simple, but haunting arrangement by John Leavitt.