The Nightingale Sings Its Final Song
Written by Andrew Whiteside, Tenor in Pro Coro Canada
After a resounding concert in Owen Sound the previous night, we spent one final evening and morning with our host friends. I had the absolute delight, alongside fellow tenor Tyson, of staying with David and Frank. A staple of our wonderful stay with them was our evening games of Qwirkle. Each of us took turns at the top of the Qwirkle podium, but I was the one who finished with the most points. Thank you to all the folks in Owen Sound who opened their homes to us and made us feel like part of their community. We truly enjoyed being guests at the choir camp and hope to return again to continue sharing beautiful music and meaningful relationships.
We then set off for the Wellington Centre area, a quaint community just outside Guelph. We arrived in Elora at the historic Gambrel Barn, where the majority of concerts for the internationally renowned Elora Festival are held. We went straight into rehearsal with the Elora Singers, who serve as the festival's resident ensemble. During rehearsal, we read through Thomas Tallis' monumental 40-part motet Spem in Alium, a bucket-list piece for me ever since I first heard it performed in 2019. We also rehearsed Mendelssohn's Jauchzet dem Herrn and a new 40-part work that you'll hear more about in a future blog.
We spent the afternoon discovering new favourite coffee shops and restaurants while enjoying a gorgeous day in Elora. I especially loved the flowers lining the town's main street. It reminded me of a small village in the English countryside where composers such as Vaughan Williams or Holst might have stayed while collecting traditional folk songs.
We then headed to the neighbouring town of Fergus, where we settled into our hotel. From there, we made the grueling walk directly across the street to St. Joseph's Catholic Church for our soundcheck before the final solo concert of our tour. By this point, we had been singing this repertoire together for just over ten days, but we had grown so much in such a short time as an ensemble that it sounded as though we had been performing together for years. It truly felt as though we were singing for one another after bonding throughout the tour and building a level of trust with one another—and with Michael—that allowed us to tell meaningful, impactful stories that resonated with our audiences.
A highlight of the program for me was our opening piece, The Stolen Child by Eric Whitacre. I had the privilege of singing in the soli sextet, portraying wood nymphs attempting to lure a child into their forest. This was also the final performance of The Nightingale by Uģis Prauliņš. Rather than standing in our usual soprano, alto, tenor, and bass sections, we performed scattered across the stage, mixed within our voice parts, with our Nightingale, Vincent Lauzer, standing in the center of the choir. We gave the performance everything we had, bringing our final solo concert to a close on a high note—both figuratively and literally.
