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(Posted Dec. 5, 2018)
Christmas
Choirfest raises $2,868 for local foodbanks
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
Each
year, church choirs from across Orléans gather together
at the Community Pentecostal Church to celebrate the holy
season in song and scripture while raising money for the
east end’s two local food banks.
As
in the past, this year’s Christmas Choirfest was kicked
off by a joint performance of Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing by the youth choruses.
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Members of the Queenswood United Church choir perform during the Orléans Choirfest on Sunday, Dec. 2.
Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The
youth choirs at this year’s event included the Sonshine
Singers, the Cross Town Youth Chorus and GleeCeptional.
The Sonshine Singers then delivered an emotional performance
of It’s Christmas under the direction of Cathy
Goddard. The chorus is made up of a talented group of
able-bodied and developmentally challenged youth who share
the joy of singing.
The
group was followed on stage by the Cross Town Youth Chorus
who sang Medieval Gloria, which served as one of
the highlights of the evening. The senior members of the
chorus then sang a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria.
GleeCeptional
took to the stage next to sing Let it Go, followed
by a whimsical performance I Want A Hippopotamus for
Christmas.
One
of the highlights of the Choirfest is the singing of Christmas
carols between each performance by members of the audience.
The first ensemble carol of the evening was What Child
is This. A passage from the Bible retelling the birth
of Jesus is also read between each performance.
After
the GleeCeptional performance, the audience joined together
to sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, during which
a freewill collection was taken up in support of the Gloucester
Emergency Food Cupboard and the Orléans-Cumberland Food
Bank.
After
the collection, the Queenswood United Church choir took
the stage to sing Rock-A-Bye Bethlehem Baby and
Calypso Rock.
The
audience then joined together in singing Il Est Né,
after which it was the Cumberland Community Singers turn
to take the stage. The talented ensemble provided one
of the other highlights of the evening with a beautiful
rendition of Lullaby for a King and Song for
a Winter’s Night.
The
St. Helen’s Anglican Church choir followed with a performance
of The Path to the Stable and So Wonderful.
The
next chorus to take the stage was the host Community Pentecostal
Church Choir which performed What a Glorious Night
and Hope for Everyone accompanied by the combined
members of the Community Pentecostal and Gloucester Community
bands.
The
final chorus to take the stage was the Orléans United
Church choir which sang Noel: Christmas Eve, 1917
and Born in the Fullness of Light.
The
highlight of the night, as it is every year, was the coming
together of all the choirs to sing Peace, Peace,
which traditionally brings the Choirfest to a close. A
total of $2,868 was raised at this year’s event which
will be split evenly between the two food banks.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support
of our local business partners.)
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