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Spíra 2024Come sing for fun this summer with Spíra - a summer choir!
Anybody can sing, and it feels good to do it, especially with other people. Singing in a group can reduce stress and pain, improve your mood and musicianship, and build relationships and community. Spíra is a drop-in, outdoor community choir, active during the summer months on Tuesday evenings. It is perfectly suited for folks who are looking for a chance to sing, to develop their music skills, and to build community. No auditions, no experience necessary, and you don’t need to know how to read music. Everyone is welcome! Spíra: Singing Together! Details(Summer 2024)
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Past Events
Polaris in collaboration with The Inclusive Choir present: CELEBRATIONS | November 26 & 27, 2022
Featuring Choirs for Change's core choir Polaris, this year's Celebrations focuses on uplifting the contributions of queer musicians to our musical culture. All of the music that will be performed is composed or originally performed by queer musicians.
This concert will feature the works of classical choral composers Benjamin Britten and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, contemporary Canadian composers Stuart Beatch and Leslie Uyeda, and choral arrangements of queer pop musicians Tegan and Sara, and Stewart Legere.
Polaris is excited to be joined by the Inclusive Choir, an initiative that brings people of all abilities together to make music.
This concert will feature the works of classical choral composers Benjamin Britten and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, contemporary Canadian composers Stuart Beatch and Leslie Uyeda, and choral arrangements of queer pop musicians Tegan and Sara, and Stewart Legere.
Polaris is excited to be joined by the Inclusive Choir, an initiative that brings people of all abilities together to make music.
Spìra featured in NOCTURNE ART AT NIGHT | October 15, 2022
Come sing with Choirs for Change in our drop-in, community choir Spíra, featuring easy-to-learn arrangements of songs by local artists.
Choirs for Change is returning to Nocturne! On October 15, every hour, beginning at 6pm, we will teach community members a song and perform it together. You have a voice to share, and we want to hear it! During each session, Spíra’s artistic team will teach participants a song by a local artist, with simple harmonies. Come back throughout the evening to learn different songs!
Group singing is a longstanding global tradition. It is a way of building community, sharing oral histories, and celebrating one another. Music making and singing—whether in a choir, at karaoke with beloved friends, in the shower belting your heart out, or at a campfire singalong—is a deeply human experience. Nova Scotia has a particularly rich musical tradition (kitchen parties, anyone?), and we hope to reimagine the traditional choral structure by inviting community members to sing easy-to-learn arrangements of songs by local artists. Historically, music has been a way of creatively moving through difficult experiences, and we are now in a period of time when we can safely gather as a community to rejoice and celebrate one another and our local artists. Spíra will follow the COVID-19 singing guidelines of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation and Choral Canada.
By both relishing in the musical tradition established by our ancestors and creating new traditions for our choral future, we invite you to play a role in upholding our musical culture. How can we address the diversity of music makers traditionally excluded from formal music spaces? What lasting music and music histories do we want to pass on to the generations to come? Join us as we juxtapose a dated format with contemporary content that better represents our community.
Eastern Horizon presents UNTURNED PAGES | June 25, 2022
After a two-year long hiatus due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Eastern Horizon is excited to return for their fourth project under the direction of Co-Conductors Amelia McMahon and Thomas Burton. “Unturned Pages” features challenging new music by Canadian composers of Levantine and Persian descent, as well as established Canadian women identifying composers.
The ensemble is characterized by pursuing top-quality choral performances that offer space for composers and music that has been historically under-represented in the choral canon. Eastern Horizon focuses specifically on delivering modern, contemporary choral works to performances at various locations around Nova Scotia.
Collaborative Artists:
Kathryn Wagner, Piano
Mohammad Sahraei, Doumbek / Daf
A huge thank you to the SOCAN Foundation for a grant that has made these concerts possible
The ensemble is characterized by pursuing top-quality choral performances that offer space for composers and music that has been historically under-represented in the choral canon. Eastern Horizon focuses specifically on delivering modern, contemporary choral works to performances at various locations around Nova Scotia.
Collaborative Artists:
Kathryn Wagner, Piano
Mohammad Sahraei, Doumbek / Daf
A huge thank you to the SOCAN Foundation for a grant that has made these concerts possible
Polaris presents RESTING PLACE | May 28 & 29, 2022
Featuring Choirs for Change's core choir Polaris, Resting Place is an invitation to explore the theme of home through various lenses. Over the past two years, many of us have had to foster new, intimate relationships with the spaces we inhabit. At the same time, the pandemic has exacerbated many social issues related to housing; a lack of affordable housing, an increase in the number of individuals experiencing houselessness, and the ongoing gentrification of neighbourhoods throughout the HRM. Polaris is excited to be joined by the Halifax Newcomer Choir, a new intiative that seeks to create opportunties for Newcomers to learn English and create community through choir. Featuring works by Marie-Claire Saindon, Pärt Uusberg, Ryan Henwood, and Andrew Balfour, join Polaris as we reflect on what home means to us as individuals and as a community.
Polaris presents CELEBRATIONS | November 26 & 27, 2021
Celebrations is a community cultural event that gives space for a number of perspectives on how different people and cultures choose to celebrate together. This year, we are celebrating a return to community art-making! Presented by Choirs for Change Association, this event will feature Polaris choir, along with special guests:
Darshini Shah of ViBeat Dance
Rebecca Thomas
Sobaz Benjamin and the iNSpiRe Djembe Circle
Darshini Shah of ViBeat Dance
Rebecca Thomas
Sobaz Benjamin and the iNSpiRe Djembe Circle