New Hamburg Live! Offers Free Youth Choral Workshop

Media release: August 25, 2009

A free choral singing workshop for young people from grade 7 through grade 12 will be held in New Hamburg, Saturday, October 17. The workshop will be led by choral conductor Vicki St. Pierre and accompanist Charlene Nafziger. It is sponsored by the local arts organization, New Hamburg Live!, and funded through a grant from the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation.

New Hamburg Live! produced the successful, five-day New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts in May, 2009. Plans are now underway for the 2010 Festival, to take place June 2-6, 2010. It will again include an adult choral workshop and performance, a highlight of this year's Festival.

But first, there is an opportunity for area young people to enjoy professional instruction and the change to sing in a mass choir, on October 17.

The day will be led by two of the country's finest musicians, who happen to have close connections with the local community. Vicki St. Pierre is Music Director of New Hamburg Live!, and an internationally known mezzo soprano. She has recently sung with Festival Vancouver, Toronto Philharmonia, Tafelmusik, and the London Symphonic Chorus. This summer, she has conducted in the summer program of Opera Atelier. She is also music director of Zion United Church. Charlene Nafziger is a renowned accompanist, working closely with Cynthia Dale, and as a musician and assistant musical director at the Stratford Festival. She lives in New Hamburg.

Both St. Pierre and Nafziger were highly acclaimed for their performances during the 2009 New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts.

Paul Knowles, executive director of New Hamburg Live!, noted that the grant from the Lyle S. Hallman foundation, provided through a program administered by the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries, means that all young people from grades 7 through 12 can attend at no cost. Singers are asked to bring a brown bag lunch.

The choral workshop and concert will take place October 17 at Zion United Church, New Hamburg, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the concert at 4 p.m. Participants can pre-register on line at www.newhamburglive.ca. Admission to the 4 p.m. concert will be $5 for audience members.

New Hamburg Live! is now in the process of being incorporated as a not-for-profit arts organization.