The Moose Jaw Community Choir remains active, with close to 80 members practicing every Monday night, and choir director Diane Rhodes said they’re excited for holiday sing-outs in December.
“Our regular rehearsals are on Monday evening, so we’re going to do some sing-outs on Monday evening because that’s when everyone’s available,” Rhodes told Discover Moose Jaw. “So, we’re going to sing on the 2nd at Chateau St. Michael’s at 6:30, and then the Bentley at 7:30.
“On Dec. 16th, we’re going to sing at Victoria Towers at 6:30 and then at Temple Towers at 7:30. ... We sing Christmas choral songs for the people that live in those facilities, just for half an hour, like sort of a mini concert.
“And then we’re going to sing at the Rotary Carol Festival on December 9th.”
The Community Choir has a long history in Moose Jaw, even managing to meet through the pandemic with the help of facilities large enough for social distancing. They currently have nearly 80 members, including 17 male voices, which Rhodes noted are always the most difficult to recruit.
There’s lots of great male singers locally, she pointed out, and there are young men who learned to sing in high school — but they “don’t come out in droves to local amateur choirs.”
“We’re really grateful for the wonderful men who do come to practice with us,” she added. “They’re very important.”
The Moose Jaw Community Choir (MJCC) benefited from a visit with a professional clinician recently. Renowned choral director Stewart Wilkinson came from Regina to help the group prepare for their Christmas performances, and also for the choir’s annual Spring Sing concert, which is scheduled for May 10, 2025.
“Any time a choral group gets to work with such an experienced conductor, you jump at the chance,” Rhodes expressed. “We all learned new techniques that helped us sing with more confidence and achieve a better musical blend.
“(Wilkinson) used to be the music director at Campbell Collegiate in Regina, and then he’s also led other adult choirs, so he has experience with the same type of singer, so he was very good with us. We really found a lot of his ideas and insights very helpful.”
Another exciting opportunity coming up for the MJCC is being a ‘featured choir’ at the Moose Jaw Band & Choral Festival on May 14th.
“It’s quite an honour to be asked to do that, because they bring choirs and bands from the three Prairie Provinces for that event,” Rhodes explained. “There are competitive performances during the day for the festival groups, and then in the evenings they are in the audience and they bring in feature choirs to perform for them, and the (Band & Choral Festival) committee has asked for us, so.”
You can follow the MJCC on Facebook to keep up with their activities, or contact Diane Rhodes at Rhodes_diane@hotmail.com to see if there’s room for another voice or accompanist.