St John’s is welcoming a new homegrown festival, which is bound to attract voices from across the country and maybe even around the world.
HarbourVoices International Festival of Collective Singing Traditions is set to start June 29 and run through July 4. As many as 1,400 people, from as far away as the Philippines, are expected to attend.
Susan Quinn, director of the Quintessential Vocal Ensemble, described the new festival as “the Olympics” of group singing.
“Newfoundland and Labrador are on the world map and HarbourVoices reaffirms that,” she said.
The six-day festival includes performances in non-traditional settings, workshops, presentations and collaborations.
There will be pop-up concerts by 24 guest groups and 12 invited participating groups from around the world and across Canada, as well as a grand finale which is the culmination of everyone who participated in the festival.
For Jen Buley, who is a member of the choral community, she says
“This is a remarkable opportunity,” said Jen Buley, a member of the choral community. “This is going to be an exhilarating extravaganza of choral gatherings.”
Newfoundland and Labrador, which has a rich history with choral singing, has hosted international choral festivals in the past. Festival 500 was first held in 1997, and was repeated several times thereafter. Similar to HabourVoices, it also hosted various international choirs and workshops.
HabourVoices is getting provincial government support as part of the one of the musical projects in the Year of the Arts initiative.
The festival’s grand finale will be held at Mary Brown’s Centre in downtown St. John’s on July 4.
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