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An important and exciting part of the Oakville Children’s Choir is touring. Touring provides us an opportunity to grow musically and share our music with other communities both locally and abroad. Click on the following to find out more about the exciting places and events the OCC has visited. Coro Città di Soave (Festival Europeo) - Italy (June 27 - July 6 2007) Senior Tours Podium 98 - Halifax (14 -18 May 1998) Niagara (30 June - 4 July 1999) Festival 500 – St. John's (2 - 8 July 2001) Kathaumixw, B.C. (1 - 10 July 2002) Budapest (13 - 17 April, 2003) Choir Olympics - Bremen & Holland (7 - 16 July 2004) Los Angeles (2 - 7 February 2005) Vienna, Salzburg and Prague (29 June – 10July 2006) Intermediate Tours Stratford (27 - 29 March 1998 and 22 - 24 March 2002) CLEVELAND TOUR (MAY 16-19, 1997)
The first tour of the Senior Choir occurred in the third season and took them to Pennsylvania and Ohio. Concert highlights included a guest appearance in Oberlin, near Cleveland and a performance for elementary schools in Edinboro, on the outskirts of Erie. There was also plenty of opportunity for exploring the area, especially the city of Cleveland. PODIUM 98 - HALIFAX (MAY 14-18, 1998)
In 1998, the Chamber Choir was invited to attend Podium 98, the 9th biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral conductors. This was held at Dalhousie University in Halifax and the choristers stayed on campus. In addition to performing for the conference in Dalhousie Arts center, they joined other delegates in giving a mini concert for the community at St. Andrew’s United Church. When not performing, the choristers fit in some sightseeing and a traditional lobster supper. NIAGARA (JUNE 30 – JULY 4 1999)
In 1999, the Senior Choir was chosen to be "Artists-in-Residence" at the Niagara International Music Festival held in St. Catherines, Ontario. Naturally, in between singing, they found time for a visit to Niagara Falls! ITALY TOUR (JULY 3-11, 2000)
In the sixth season, the Senior Choir traveled to Italy for their first overseas tour to participate in the Tuscany International Children’s Chorus Festival. This was a packed trip with concerts and sightseeing in Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano and Rome. FESTIVAL 500 – ST. JOHN’S (JULY 2 – 8, 2001)
Festival 500 is a non-competitive international choral festival open to all through an audition process. In 2001, the Senior Choir was selected to be one of 26 choirs from around the world to participate. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet other choristers from places as diverse as Australia, South Africa, Brazil and Poland. There was also time to fit in some whale-watching. KATHAUMIXW – B.C. (JULY 1 – 10, 2002)
In their eighth season, the Senior Choir was accepted at the 10th International Choral Kathaumixw in Powell River, British Columbia. This is a prestigious competition and the choir was delighted to win 2nd place in the Children’s Choir category. The week at Powell River gave the choristers wonderful opportunities to sing and meet other choirs. After the competition, they participated in a mainland tour and performed in the village square in Whistler and at St. Andrews Church in North Vancouver. BUDAPEST (APRIL 13 – 17, 2003)
The Chamber Choir made a short successful trip to Budapest, in Hungary in the spring of 2003 to compete in the International Choir Competition. They placed 3rd in the youth choir class with a score sufficiently high to achieve gold medal standing. This achievement completed the requirements for the OCC to participate in the Choral Olympics in 2004. CHOIR OLYMPICS – GERMANY & HOLLAND (JULY 7 – 16, 2004)
At
the end of the tenth season, the Senior Choir traveled to Germany to
participate in the 3rd Choir Olympics in Bremen. With
11,000 singers from 65 countries this was the largest choral gathering in
the world and the opening Parade of Choirs was spectacular.
The OCC qualified for the finals in both the Children’s Choir and the
Folk Song classes and finished third in the Children’s Choir category
behind choirs from Hungary and China. They achieved Gold
Medal standard in this class, and Silver Medal Standard in the Folk Song
category. With
the Olympics over, the choristers traveled to the Netherlands and visited
Amsterdam, Arnhem and Epe. In Epe, they put on a concert to a packed
church and woke up to the headline in the local newspaper of “Canadian Children’s Choir Captures Hearts in Epe”.
LOS ANGELES (FEBRUARY 2 – 7, 2005)
The
Chamber Choir has a short busy trip to Los Angeles as a showpiece choir
for the National Convention of the American Choral Conductors Association.
Being selected was a huge honour and a special 25-minute program was
prepared called “Faces of Femininity”. The five
songs presented, showed different aspects of womanhood and was very well
received by the convention audience. After three days of hard work, and early mornings, the choristers were rewarded with a visit to Disneyland before flying home. Click here for Letters from Los Angeles
The next tour for the Senior Choir will be to participate in the Prague Children’s Music Festival and will include concerts in Vienna, Salzburg and Prague. Festival participants will be selected choirs from around the world and the 2006 event includes celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. For more information, see www.classicalmovements.com/rhap.htm STRATFORD (MAR 27-29, 1998 and MAR 22-24,2002)
The Intermediate Choir usually makes one weekend trip a year to a training choir festival somewhere in Ontario. Typically this will involve festival activities culminating in a concert on Saturday and a church service on Sunday. The festival hosted by St. Mary’s Brio choir in Stratford has been visited twice. It was the site of the first Intermediate tour in 1998 and recently, in 2002, was visited again by a new batch of Intermediate choristers. Both trips included a trip to the Stratford costume warehouse. Home
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