Concert Choir Alumni Infiltrate Pro Coro Canada
Posted on: Jan 31, 2020
Recent Concordia Concert Choir alumni and emerging singers Jessa Clarkson, Christina Sawchuk Debusschere, and Juan Ramirez join Pro Coro Canada this Sunday for a concert of Ukrainian music. The students are three out of four Pro Coro interns this year (soprano, alto, and tenor, respectively), joining the professional choir for several concerts in the 2019-20 season. For this sweet and prestigious gig they get paid to sing, get mentored by a senior chorister, and get to network with many of the city’s leading vocal forces.
They join past Pro Coro interns and recent Concordia alumni Lynnéa Bartel Nickel, Christian Maxfield, and Amy Voyer, who quickly graduated into the core roster of the choir. And School of Music manager John Brough, a longtime tenor with the group!
Guest conductor Mykola Hobdych is founder/conductor of the Kyiv Chamber Choir and the world’s foremost authority on Ukrainian classical and liturgical music. He has been leading the group through 1000 years of Ukrainian sacred music–and some notoriously difficult repertoire!–over the last week with the help of a translator. And despite the inherent challenges, he is amazed at how the choir is responding, even nailing a piece he says only his own choir can pull off in his home country.
What an opportunity for our students! Catch them in concert with Pro Coro Canada this Sunday at St. Josaphat Cathedral in Roots II: Коріння.
