Collaborations

It is a wonderful problem to have when so many arts organizations are requesting the opportunity to perform with Guelph Youth Singers. We always need to be sure that the material is appropriate for our season. We must balance our rehearsal time between the combined repertoire and the demands our own projects require. We want the social experience to be one that is exciting to our choristers, and we always aspire to accept opportunities to perform music that perhaps we couldn’t manage on our own. It is truly an honour when a group asks to collaborate with our talented, young artists.

Our 2017/18 Season is quickly taking shape, and collaborations are a large part of this programming. Members of GYS will be celebrating Gerald Neufeld’s final season in a collaboration with the Guelph Chamber Choir at the River Run. We will be the hosts of two festivals, the Senior Treble Festival featuring Choir III and the trebles from SATB, and our Guelph Schools Festival, called Guelph Sings! This event will highlight the younger choirs in the GYS family. SATB will be combining with Markus’ professional choir, LA MOVIDA and the Guelph Symphony Orchestra singing the incredibly beautiful Faure Requiem at the Basilica. Finally, our exciting trip to Vancouver and Whistler is highlighted by our participation in the Cantando Festival with choirs from across Canada (see below). An exciting opportunity for the spring of 2019 is already being explored for our touring choir.

We are always so proud of the work that we accomplish when GYS choirs are highlighted in performance, but these thrilling collaborations afford us artistic challenges and mentorship, new friendships, and exposure to audiences that may not know the incredibly high standard of singing that we bring to the greater Guelph arts community.

Elora Festival

On July 16th, members of Choir III will be performing at the prestigious Elora Festival, singing an incredibly challenging choral work, Benjamin Britten’s St. Nicholas Cantata. As the invited children’s chorus, GYS will collaborate with the Elora Festival Singers and orchestra, and a professional tenor in this master work. As a treat, our singers will perform a piece of our own with members of the Elora Festival Singers soprano and altos. Ticket sales have been strong, and the concert has been moved from St John’s Church to the impressive concert space in Gambrel Barn. This invitation is quite an honour, and I am so proud of our singers who have stepped up to take on this challenging music.

Please keep eyes open for an email from Cathy with exact details.
Dress Rehearsal: 4:30pm, Saturday, July 15th, Gambrel Barn (*This time and location is to be confirmed)
Concert Call: 3:00pm, Sunday July 16th, Gambrel Barn (*This time and location to be confirmed)

Choir Line Up for Next Year

We would like to take this opportunity to notify parents that one of our choral groups will not be available for registration next year. At our June board meeting, it was decided that we will suspend offering Performance Troupe at this time. This is due in part to difficulty we had this past year in achieving some goals for Troupe and that perhaps this is not the right time to bring Performance Troupe to GYS. We are considering a single performance opportunity in the Fall for the current Troupe members but will not offer a new program in the 2017/18 season. We have a very busy year ahead with a tour to the West coast and hosting the senior treble festival. For these reasons we will suspend Performance Troupe and may revisit it again in the future. We will also consider how the first year of Troupe went, and may make some changes to the structure in the future.

Ticket Sales Year End Concert

As mentioned, we had a very successful year end concert and have received positive feedback from many in attendance about the performance. It was noted that the ticket sales for this concert was lower than in previous years. The board has speculated on several reasons why but we are most interested in hearing your feedback as to why. We recognize that the majority of attendees at a GYS concert are the parents and relatives/friends of the choristers so if you have any thoughts as to why you think attendance was down (e.g. New venue? Late concert date? Etc) we would like to hear from you. Please fill out this very short survey monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BBHHN7W

Registration for FUN

Do you know any youth who love to sing? Our theme for 2017/18 is FUN! and our goal is to increase membership to 100 choristers. Help us by referring new choristers for auditions and earn a $50 discount on your family’s GYS fees with the successful enrolment of each new chorister listing your family as the reason for auditioning.

Check your email for your registration packages and proposed 2017/18 schedule which will be sent out in mid-July.

News

Summer vocal lessons and theory help
If anyone is interested in voice lessons over the summer, or is eager to book times for the fall season, Markus is encouraging you to reach out to Marion and Angela Monkhouse to keep your instruments in shape. Please call Cathy if you do not have contact information for these wonderful voice pedagogues. Plans are underway for another Theory Party this summer, so keep eyes open for further news.

GYS Tour 2018
Next year will be an exciting one at GYS and a huge part of the excitement is our 2018 Tour to Whistler and Vancouver! Both Choir 3 and SATB will be headed to the Cantando Festival in Whistler, B.C. and then travel on to Vancouver to finish our trip. The Tour will take place April 26 – May 1, 2018. We will experience world class workshops and will have many opportunities to showcase our GYS talents. Look for more information to come about our 2018 Tour in your registration package and get ready for the experience of a lifetime with GYS!

Recruiting new Members
Guelph Youth Singers is always looking for new members to join our choirs. Something that is often misunderstood is that we are truly a better organization with greater numbers. Our younger singers vocalize better with the support and confidence of larger numbers. Choir II is better able to explore singing in multiple parts , and this is easiest when each vocal section has healthy membership. Senior choirs can perform more challenging and varied repertoire when numbers don’t become a limitation to artistic decisions. Our goal is to add at least 10 members each to Choirs I and II, and older singers are always welcome in our senior groups. Greater membership means greater ticket sales, greater publicity and marketing to the community, and an easier distribution when it comes to volunteerism. Your child’s voice will never be lost as our choir grows.
Our Recruiting Incentive may be appealing to families who know of potential future members of GYS, while looking for ways to offset our reasonable fees. For every child that you refer to the choir, who successfully auditions and enrolls in GYS, you will receive a $50 deduction in your chorister’s yearly costs. Multiple referrals means accumulative savings. Please continue to spread the word about Guelph Youth Singers. Every child deserves the chance to sing in such a special organization.

Promoting GYS

As we know from our family survey, word of mouth is the most important way of promoting GYS. This infographic reviews some of the interesting statistics about word of mouth marketing. Although this refers to products, recommendations to activities works similarly. Now is a crucial time of year for the recruitment of new choir members for the coming year so please mention the choir to your friends, relatives, neighbours, music teachers etc. Schools don’t need to worry about GYS detracting from their musical endeavours as GYS choristers invariably provide the backbone of other musical activities. Talk up GYS on social media and share, share, share – don’t be shy! Singing is one of the top social activities and THE most popular way for people to be involved in music their whole lives. GYS is an incredible seed ground for acquiring great musical skills and social connectedness. Don’t you want to share that love and inspiration? Thank you for your help in spreading the word.