It has been a quarter of a century since the last B.C. Choral Federation conference was held in Prince George, but the wait is over.
Chorfest will be held at the Civic Centre May 20 to 22 and will include workshops, an opening reception, a banquet, and a gala concert to conclude the event.
"Right now the choral community of Prince George is really strong," said Evelyn Lee, co-chair of Chorfest and president of the Prince George Cantata Singers. "We have all kinds of great choirs - smaller, bigger, children, teens, church choirs. I think maybe it's something about the downturn in the economy but people are looking for ways to express themselves without spending a lot of money. And of course singing is something that makes you feel really great and recharges your batteries and there are no 5 a.m. practices!" (Making reference to the early morning practices many minor hockey parents dread.)
The Chorfest committee really wanted a centrally located conference so that the northern communities' choirs could attend the event as it is cost prohibitive to travel to Vancouver for many of them, Lee added. There are about 180 people expected to attend the Prince George event.
To have the honour of hosting the three-day event, Prince George had to make the proposal four years in advance as every other year the lower mainland gets the right to hold the event because of its geographical location. So cities outside of that area vie for the chance to host well in advance.
'O' is for Opera is the gala concert presented Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Civic Centre. Choristers from all around B.C. will gather to form a mass choir, joined by Maestro Leslie Dala and the PGSO to present favourite opera choruses. Also featured will be guest soprano, Sarah Kirsch, performing some of the most beautiful arias of the operatic repertoire.
Dala, who is the outgoing musical director and conductor of the symphony, will also be the clinician at Chorfest. Dala has had his title with the PGSO since 2003 and is not taking on the challenge as the new conductor of the Vancouver Bach choir and the chorus director of the Vancouver Opera. This will be Dala's last work in Prince George.
"Usually there is not a symphony orchestra accompanying the choir," said Lee. "Rarely will a community choir from the Lower Mainland get that opportunity so it's really special."
The choral communities in B.C. have been brought into the 21st century by doing a lot of communicating, registering and music sharing online, Lee added.
"The music is wonderful," said Lee. "Les picked the music and we are doing one Canadian piece that is not an actual opera piece. It's a wonderful chorus called Earth Songs by Stephen Chatman. It's going to be challenge because we're singing in Italian, in Latin and in German. That is the more difficult part - the music isn't, it's the words."
Tickets for the concert are at Studio 2880 or at the door. Adults are $32, seniors are $25, and under 25 are $22 each. For more information call 250-562-0800 or visit www.pgso.com or www.pgcantatasingers.ca.
