A trip down movie memory lane is in store for those attending Songs of Film and Fantasy, presented by Nove Voce, a local choir, Saturday at the Playhouse.
To start off the all-girl chorus's sixth season, the group will showcase songs from beloved movies like Avatar, Runaway Bride, Lord of the Rings, Slumdog Millionaire and for the first time the choir will be accompanied by video clips from the movies.
Nove Voce will also showcase Canadian shorts like The Log Drivers' Waltz that used to be broadcast on local television stations.
Nove Voce director Robin Norman said to organize this concert was especially daunting because the film companies all had to grant permission for the group to show clips of the movie during the concert.
"The National Film Board of Canada was the first to grant permission and even volunteered to send higher quality video for the concert," said Norman, who has worked on this project since mid-June. "It was just wonderful to have their support. I cannot sing the National Film Board of Canada's praises high enough. They were fabulous."
Other film companies not so much. There were many hoops to jump through and lots of red tape to cut but through perseverance Norman managed to get clips for most songs the choir will perform that night.
There are ten singers who will perform during the show and most of them are university age.
"We get a fair bit of turnover within the group because people leave town to attend school and it's stayed the same so we have a fair number that we can keep building on," said Norman. The group won top spot at the provincials Performing Arts Festival competition in Kamloops in June.
"We just want to keep moving with the momentum that we already have and that means we're doing music that's more ambitious."
Nove Voce will be singing an arrangement written for Electra, a women's professional choir in Vancouver, and it's a nine-part, very complicated piece, said Norman.
"They are handling it beautifully," she added. "And it's so much fun."
There's a piece by Karl Jenkins called Adiemus that was originally written for a Delta Airlines commercial then used in the Avatar trailers.
"We have a younger girl Noelani Jung who will be playing the drums for us and she will also play during Jai Ho [from Slumdog Millionaire] while the girls do the big Bollywood moment," said Norman, who has also arranged for pianist Maureen Nielson to accompany the group. "I'm really lucky that we've got girls that can sing in Hindi and dance Bollywood at the same time. It's tricky -- I'm just sayin'."
Tickets for Songs of Film and Fantasy at 8 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Prince George Playhouse are on sale at Studio 2880, 2880 Fifteenth Avenue or by calling 250-563-2880.
