Members of the Naramata Community Choir wasted no time from the beginning of their season to prepare a concert for Remembrance Day.
“This is our first remembrance concert in a long time,” said vice president Karen Hanley. “Since we begin in September, sometimes it’s tough to get the music down for an early November concert, but we’ve worked really hard this year.”
The choir’s artistic director, Justin Glibbery, has arranged the poem In Flanders Field into a song.
“It’s arranged with thought of the poem and the feeling around that,” Hanley said. “It sounds really pretty, Though it’s also very somber, thoughtful in its remembrance of the people who have given their lives to keep us free.”
Hanley said the group feels passionate about celebrating Remembrance Day because “I think every choir member has relatives who have fought in the war,” she said, alluding to the service her father paid, which included the storming of Normandy Beaches on D-Day and disabling of U-boats amid the Battle of the Atlantic.
“For most of us it’s a feeling in our heart,” she said. “We want to ensure that the audience does enjoy the musicality of the concert, but also so people will connect with the songs that we sing.”
The 47-member group will now perform off of sheet music, where in years past the team has relied on memorization, which Hanley said allows members to learn the repertoire faster.
“A good ceremony is about coming from the heart, the sincerity of it,” she said. “You have to remember the sacrifices that people went through during the war – it was a lot of hardship and they did it so we could live in a free and democratic society.”
The choir will be performing A Shining Light at the Penticton United Church on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The duration of the performance will be shorter than most, Hanley said.
“The United Church has got a very good sound and it can hold about 300-350 people.”
Tickets cost $10 and are available at the door or through your favourite choir member.
Earlier in the day on Nov. 10., members of the Naramata Community Choir will be lending their voices to the Remembrance Day event happening at Penticton Secondary.