Welcome to our special landmark season in which we celebrate 25 years of truly wonderful music making in our Hamilton community and far beyond! We are blessed to be joined in this festive year by many of our favourite guest musicians who have enriched our concerts throughout our history. They include such illustrious singers as Janet Obermeyer, John Fanning, and Marian Sjölander; and such exceptional instrumentalists as Valerie Tryon, Sonia Vizante, Anita McAlister, David Gerry, Joan Browne, Sharlene Wallace, Angus Sinclair, Andrei Streliaev, and Roger Flock. Our city’s choral variety is made abundant with the inclusion of many distinctive and distinguished local choirs who will perform in our unique “Hamilton Sings!” festival; we have chosen to accommodate this multitude of voices comfortably in the spacious and ambient Central Presbyterian Church. Similarly, we have turned to the more intimate setting of Melrose United Church for our annual “Gala Concert”, where our galaxy of guest soloists will delight us on the beautiful instruments available there.
Our traditional Christmas and Spring concerts remain at Christ’s Church Cathedral, in which acoustic our Singers have thrived during the past 15 seasons. It is this building that we have chosen for our recordings, the latest of which being our new 25th Anniversary CD “Merrily Sing We!”. Our first recording devoted to treasures from the Christmas season has now been recorded and will be available from us from mid-October. Its official launch will be at the splendid Canadian Marine Discovery Centre, located at Pier 8 in Hamilton Harbour, on Friday, November 3, 2006 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Admission is free to this event. You can order your copies of the CD when you purchase your series subscription; please see the order form on this brochure for details.
As I look back over a quarter of a century of magical singing experiences, there are so many beautiful memories. There are more highlights than I can possibly list in this introduction, but here are a few from the time we first came to wider prominence as finalists in the 1986 CBC Choral Competition: the watershed European tours and the enthusiastic responses of the audiences there; the critical acclaim of our performances to the North American Liszt Society; our memorable visits to our sister city, Sarasota; our highly successful recordings; and the grandeur of our Millennium concerts and the performances of ‘Spem in alium’ and ‘Heiligmesse’.
Perhaps the best memory of all is of our 25 years of celebrating beauty, peace, and harmony.
John Laing, Artistic Director