April 2015
We want to share with you the great evening of music and community we had. The church was almost full to capacity with over 320 seats sold. The ticket price was only $12.00 and the guests were invited to bring an item of food for the food bank. Three large Food Bank bins were filled to capacity.
The concert began with the 70 voices of Simcoe Singers and Simcoe Youth Singers singing Uma Familia. Then the youth, dressed in costumes to represent different countries, invited the audience to join them in Picnic of the World. They recognized the tune and the lyrics were on the screen. While the youngest children pretended to have a picnic on the stage, a beachball of the world was volleyed over the audience. There were lots of squeals of laughter!
Songs about; discovering a new community,Let Go the Long White Sails, then Coming Home to a community, This Land is Your Land, Song for the Mira with a beautiful flute obligato and We Rise Again, represented Canada. Every song in the show had picture(s) on the big screen like a title page.
We had guest speakers to introduce some songs. Our Town was prefaced with a woman from the Oro community reminiscing about the local town of Coldwater. The children sang Let It Go (I had to have them do that popular song and justified it because it has been translated into 41 languages.) The Chairman from an Orillia Shelter, The Lighthouse, spoke of their mission and the annual fund-raising walk, "The Coldest Night of the Year". A young grade 10 student from Orillia was invited to talk about his up-coming trip to Kenya in August. What an amazing ambassador he is for the Me to We organization. During the 10 minute intermission, he sold his granola packages and raised more than $400.00. He introduced the Lady Antebellum song, I Was Here with it's very appropriate and thought provoking lyrics about making a difference in this world. He certainly will be doing that for 3 weeks in August! The women sang Bridge Over Troubled Water and related its meaning to the Stephen Lewis Foundation's "Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign", of which there is a chapter in Barrie. The choir made a cash donation to their organization and to the Orillia Lighthouse.
The children submitted pictures of their families which were showed on the big screen while they sang the song, Family. It was hard to keep their eyes focused as they were so excited to see their picture come up.
The audience had a second time to be "Together in Song" as we sang the song from the TV show Cheers, Everybody knows Your Name.
During the intermission, a montage played on the big screen of various organizations that have promoted the feeling of community and made a difference for people; the TD Bank recently gave $30,000 to different people to spend in 24 hours to help someone or a group of people, the West Jet Christmas surprise in Haiti, the Toyota Advent Calendar in Toronto, Tim Horton's warming up the town of Fort Frances with red knitted everything plus animals that helped each other. Very fun things you can find on Youtube!
Many members of the choirs had opportunities to sing solos or in small groups or to introduce a song. The Muppet movie, Life's a Happy Song opened with two powerful, young girls. A father and daughter duo sang You're My Best Friend accompanied with guitar and a female back-up trio. 12 little grade 1 to 3 girls sang in trios during 4 different phrases of Sing. That song was sung at the Queen's Jubillee in 2013 and Her Majesty made an appearance at our concert! She then invited the audience to celebrate the April 28th birthday of a member of the choir. Shirley Shelswell is the epitome of a woman of service throughout her 90 years. She still cooks and serves to the Barrie homeless each week, makes muffins each week for our church's social time and volunteers each week at the RVH. Her grandson and great granddaughters processed down the aisle with sparklers on cupcakes.
A young gr.8 girl sang the solo for our last song, Here's to Song and I sang the verse of thankfulness. "And often I will sit and stare and think about this evening rare, Your company beyond compare, for now, farewell and thank you." There were tears in many eyes as the 70 voices finished an amazing evening of music. We had a standing ovation from a very supportive community!
The concert began with the 70 voices of Simcoe Singers and Simcoe Youth Singers singing Uma Familia. Then the youth, dressed in costumes to represent different countries, invited the audience to join them in Picnic of the World. They recognized the tune and the lyrics were on the screen. While the youngest children pretended to have a picnic on the stage, a beachball of the world was volleyed over the audience. There were lots of squeals of laughter!
Songs about; discovering a new community,Let Go the Long White Sails, then Coming Home to a community, This Land is Your Land, Song for the Mira with a beautiful flute obligato and We Rise Again, represented Canada. Every song in the show had picture(s) on the big screen like a title page.
We had guest speakers to introduce some songs. Our Town was prefaced with a woman from the Oro community reminiscing about the local town of Coldwater. The children sang Let It Go (I had to have them do that popular song and justified it because it has been translated into 41 languages.) The Chairman from an Orillia Shelter, The Lighthouse, spoke of their mission and the annual fund-raising walk, "The Coldest Night of the Year". A young grade 10 student from Orillia was invited to talk about his up-coming trip to Kenya in August. What an amazing ambassador he is for the Me to We organization. During the 10 minute intermission, he sold his granola packages and raised more than $400.00. He introduced the Lady Antebellum song, I Was Here with it's very appropriate and thought provoking lyrics about making a difference in this world. He certainly will be doing that for 3 weeks in August! The women sang Bridge Over Troubled Water and related its meaning to the Stephen Lewis Foundation's "Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign", of which there is a chapter in Barrie. The choir made a cash donation to their organization and to the Orillia Lighthouse.
The children submitted pictures of their families which were showed on the big screen while they sang the song, Family. It was hard to keep their eyes focused as they were so excited to see their picture come up.
The audience had a second time to be "Together in Song" as we sang the song from the TV show Cheers, Everybody knows Your Name.
During the intermission, a montage played on the big screen of various organizations that have promoted the feeling of community and made a difference for people; the TD Bank recently gave $30,000 to different people to spend in 24 hours to help someone or a group of people, the West Jet Christmas surprise in Haiti, the Toyota Advent Calendar in Toronto, Tim Horton's warming up the town of Fort Frances with red knitted everything plus animals that helped each other. Very fun things you can find on Youtube!
Many members of the choirs had opportunities to sing solos or in small groups or to introduce a song. The Muppet movie, Life's a Happy Song opened with two powerful, young girls. A father and daughter duo sang You're My Best Friend accompanied with guitar and a female back-up trio. 12 little grade 1 to 3 girls sang in trios during 4 different phrases of Sing. That song was sung at the Queen's Jubillee in 2013 and Her Majesty made an appearance at our concert! She then invited the audience to celebrate the April 28th birthday of a member of the choir. Shirley Shelswell is the epitome of a woman of service throughout her 90 years. She still cooks and serves to the Barrie homeless each week, makes muffins each week for our church's social time and volunteers each week at the RVH. Her grandson and great granddaughters processed down the aisle with sparklers on cupcakes.
A young gr.8 girl sang the solo for our last song, Here's to Song and I sang the verse of thankfulness. "And often I will sit and stare and think about this evening rare, Your company beyond compare, for now, farewell and thank you." There were tears in many eyes as the 70 voices finished an amazing evening of music. We had a standing ovation from a very supportive community!