Last night, April 19, 2022, at Toronto's Koerner Hall, the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth's Raise Her Voice Chamber Choir (RHV Chamber) sang and performed on stage with opera sensation and three-time Grammy winner Joyce DiDonato in her new show EDEN.
According to Oakville Choir for Children and Youth (OC), their RHV Chamber group "is a select group of choristers who have attained a high level of vocal skill." The OC has been a community youth choir since 1994.
OC also says these RHV Chamber group singers "are frequently called upon to serve as ambassadors for the community and leaders within the OC organization."
That's part of the why the RHV Chamber, one of the seven choirs under the OC umbrella, was selected to perform and share the stage with DiDonato at Koerner Hall last night, where she presented her worldwide tour of EDEN, a major concert hall performance about environmentalism.
"Many of our singers have never been on the stage of Koerner Hall," said RHV Chamber Conductor, Dr. Charlene Pauls before the show on Tuesday. "I am excited that they will have the experience of singing on that stage and, more importantly, that they will experience working alongside an artist of DiDonato's calibre."
An "international sensation in its own right," OC says the RHV regularly tours both within Canada and internationally, including scoring notable successes in recent years at World Choir Games in the United States and Latvia. They have also recorded several CDs and have premiered new choral compositions by Canadian composers.
Participating in the EDEN experience is an opportunity for the choir "to celebrate the majesty, might and mystery of nature through the transformative power of music," according to the show's description.
DiDonato describes EDEN as "an invitation to return to our roots and to explore whether or not we are connecting as profoundly as we can to the pure essence of our being, to create a new EDEN from within and plant seeds of hope for the future."
Combining music from different genres and times (from the 17th to the 21st century) DiDonato’s vision includes a stage setting designed to connect the audience to the natural world around us.
In addition to performing during the concert, and as part of the EDEN experiencem the RHV choristers spent an afternoon with DiDonato prior to the concert. They were also invited to participate in workshops and creative projects designed to help them gain a deeper understanding of nature and their direct impact within the world.
The RHV workshop, facilitated by Associate RHV Chamber Conductor, Natalie Fasheh, explored water injustices as they relate to indigenous livelihood and rights, and the many ways in which indigenous communities and allies have been coming together to protect water - an appropriate topic for a choir from a town nestled right beside Lake Ontario.
"By empowering youth, we empower the community," explained Fasheh. "Leadership and music development provide an encouraging combination of skillsets that the singers of Chamber carry with them in their lives and into their communities."
"Whatever the singers take from this experience, whether it be through the workshop on water justice, or EDEN rehearsals and concert with Joyce DiDonato," she continues, "it will be a springboard for any climate change initiatives they feel inclined to make in their lives."
More information about the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth choir is available on their website. For information about the groundbreaking EDEN tour, visit the tour's website here.