ANNIE SILVESTER/Bullet News
Chorus Niagara’s 100 voices teamed up with the 52 piece Niagara Symphony at Brock University’s Sean O’Sullivan Theatre this weekend to present Home for the Holiday’s Pops 2 to packed houses for three shows.
Robert Cooper, one of Canada’s leading conductors of choral music, artistic director for Chorus Niagara and guest conductor for the production, sat down with Bullet News exclusively to talk a little bit about the journey that brought him to working in Niagara.
“Well before I came to St. Catharines and started to work with Chorus Niagara I was very involved in Toronto and working with lots of choirs….I also got involved with Opera conducting and youth groups, while at the time I was very involved with the CBC who were my main source of employment.
“But some friends down here said to me there’s a choir down here that are looking for a conductor…would you be interested and I thought well, I work with young people, I work with Opera, I work with soloists. I think I would like to venture forth into another kind of music making and actually work with a large body of singers, adults and get into the more core classical repertoire and that’s where we are today…25 years later.”
Cooper talked fondly of the original Chorus Niagara that was comprised of just 45 singers when he came on board that still did not have a very strong sense of itself.
“Over the years with the support of the community and the singers in the choir we’ve developed into an organization that I am very proud of. We’ve now built something that has a lot of musical strength, integrity, and has found its place in the community.”
The Niagara Chorus’ collaboration with the Symphony this year was something special for the Christmas season, although Cooper says they do work together on various projects on and off but it was the Symphony who approached the Chorus to join up in what was their annual and highly successful Christmas Pops Concerts.
Putting together a concert of this magnitude was no small feat though. Cooper started working on the project back in the spring commenting that contrary to popular belief this is one of the hardest concerts to put together because of the overwhelming amount of repertoire.
His inspiration for the Christmas spectacle came to him from an old Robert Herrick quote: “What sweeter music can we bring than a carol for to sing.”
When I thought of that it made me pause to think of what are some of the great songs you want to sing at Christmastime?”
Putting the program also involved Cooper working closely with the Symphony to try and maintain the proper balance with the Chorus and selecting the right arrangements.
It was also important to him to implement local composers into the program along with traditional fare.
“One thing I wanted to do was to try and explore all the various Niagara composers and it’s not a pot that is really large but there are some very good composers.”
Another highlight of the program was the addition of St. Catharines native Barbara Budd, well known for her work at Stratford as the narrator for John Rutter’s Christmas fable, Brother Heinrich’s Christmas.
All in all the blend of unique arrangements, traditional and new Christmas songs and lots of audience participation made for some great entertainment.
It is interesting to note that although Cooper still calls Toronto home he has high regard for the arts here.
“The music scene in Niagara is really fulsome. One would think a small community like this probably wouldn’t have the depth and richness of musical experience but it really does! You don’t have to go to Toronto you know.”
For more about Chorus Niagara visit www.chorusniagara.ca. For more information about the Niagara Symphony www.niagarasymphony.org.
