July 13 - Washington

Camerata outside the Canadian Embassy










Ambassador Michael Wilson speaking to chorsiters




















Camerata on the roof of the Canadian Embassy with the Capitol Building in the background.

July 12 - Washington, DC

The Smithsonian Holocaust Museum



















The Hard Rock Cafe for Supper














The Chorister Council saying thank you to everyone who helped















By Emilie Power, Luke Redmond and Stephen Chaytor

We left the church this morning at 9:15 am to go to the Tyson Corner Centre to shop and what not. On the bus ride we had a nice singalong to “Barbie Girl” and other various hits of the 90s until we finally reached the mall. After spending our college funds, it was back to the bus to go to the Holocaust Museum. All the exhibits were thought-provoking and memorable. Then t’was back to the bus to head over to the Hard Rock Café where we were to have supper. After our lovely dinner at the café we reloaded the bus to return to the billets for our final night of the tour. The Ann and Seamus opera tour was an experience we will never forget, filled with great times, along with some challenges to be overcome. T’was fun.

Til Denmark!

July 11 - Washington, DC

The Kennedy Centre, Washington, DC














From the Kennedy Centre Performance















Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History















By: Stephanie Cranford

We all met at 8:15am at the Metropolitan Church and travelled to the Smithsonian Museum. We were there 45 minutes before the museum opened, so we split off into groups and went to Starbucks! When the museum opened we got to see things like dinosaurs, insects, meteors and even the Hope Diamond!

Mnay choristers got trapped outside during a huge thunder and lightning storm and we all got very wet. We then ate our bagged lunches on the bus and travelled to the Kennedy Centre.

At the Centre, we had our last sound and lighting check for the tour and we all had Subway for supper! The show started at 6pm and it was our best one yet. Everyone did a great job and our billet families loved it. For the 13 graduates from the Choir, this was our last performance of the Opera with Shallaway. We were all really happy with how the show went, and will miss it a lot. The show was webcast on the internet so many people watched it when they got home to their billet houses.

July 10 - Washington DC

Shallaway at the White House

By: Colleen McCarthy

Today was exhausting! We woke up at 4:30 this morning so Group One could leave the hotel at 6:00am. I was in Group Two, which left the hotel at 8:00am. We took the bus ot the airport, checked in, and went through security and customs, which took a long time. I was charged $40, due to my excessive shopping in Toronto.

Our flight left at 11:30, and we arrived at 1pm. We retrieved our luggage, met Group One, and walked out to our bus to find it was pouring rain. We were taken on a guided tour of Washington DC, where we stopped to take pictures of the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. The rain stopped for us so we did not get completely soaked. Besides the rain, Washington is beautiful.

After our tour, our bus took us to the Metropolitan Memorial United Church, where we met our host families. Most of us went home, settled in and rested up/we needed it for our last performance!

Vietnam War Memorial

July 9 - Toronto

By Lucia Westin

This morning we got up early, but for a good cause. By 9:45am, having said goodbye to our billets, we were all gathered and on our way to Canada’s Wonderland. The choices of rides were all different, but during our 7/8 hour visit a lot of people enjoyed: the huge roller coasters (including ones in which you sit, others in which you stand, and even some in which you lie down), relaxing swings, kiddy rides, drop tower and some thrill rides which flip you every possible way. The favourite part of our hot, hot sunny day at Wonderland was probably the water park. This section of the theme park contained a play set, squirting water everywhere (it even filled up a giant yellow bucket with water and mechanically dumped it on the waiting people), giant water slides for 1, 2or more, a lazy river and a wave pool. At 6:30pm all the warm, wet, slightly tired and some majorly burnt choristers got back on our bus to travel to our Super 8motel. A lot of us quickly found the pool after leaving our luggage in our rooms. Then, at 9:30, pizza was brought in for all of us to eat. Now we have to sleep and get ready for our plane ride to Washington DC tomorrow morning. See you all soon.

July 8 - Toronto

"We Will Rock You"
By….

After along day yesterday we were given a much deserved break. We relaxed with our billets until 1:30pm. I don’t know everything that happened this morning, but I heard about some of the activities people did. Some took the time to sleep in, go shopping in downtown Toronto, or go swimming in their billets’ pools. I also heard that Luke and Stephen went out on their billet’s yacht for the morning. I guess the thunder and lightning storm and heavy rain didn’t bother us because by 1:30/2 –ish we arrived safe and sound for the show, We Will Rock You. It was amazing. Everything about it was so detailed and well put together. The lighting, acting, singing, costumes, playing and everything was so wonderful. Also, the pop culture references and witty dialogue made the show even more enjoyable.

After it was over we walked to the Harbourfront Centre. Once we got there we were given money to buy our supper. Most people, including me, went to Quiznos, but many other restaurants were nearby. By now the rain had stopped so some of us ate outside.

By 6:30-7pm we began to get ready for our second show in Toronto. After a lot of French braiding and applying make-up (well, at least for the girls) we went for a quick warm-up. Also the grade 12sgot a group photo together because it was their last time in Camerata outfits. Finally the show began. It went very well and afterwards there was a reception in the lobby. The food looked good but I didn’t take any because I didn’t think I was allowed to but I was told it was good. Then after another long day we met up with our billets and went home to sleep.


Gordon Pinsent, a special guestatthe July 8 performance.

July 7 - St.Catharine's to Toronto

Shopping at the Eaton's Centre


By: Simone Savard-Walsh

We got on the coach bus for Toronto early in the AM. I slept the whole way, and we were dropped off at the Eaton Centre. Nothing like a bit of shopping to kick-start your day, unless it's lunchtime in Toronto on a SATURDAY. What madness, I tells ya. So shopping was shopping; we arrived back to the bus laden down with bags from stores we're still waiting to get back home.

We bussed our way to the Harbourfront Centre, luggage and all. That was all very fine until we found out we had to lug our luggage up 2 flights of stairs and manage to fit about 60 pieces of luggage into a dressing room designed for no more than 4 people. Then poor Mark and Sharon had to address a very cranky choir to break the news about a very small dressing room for 55 choirsters. Wuwu.

After the dress rehearsal for both the opera and choral prelude, we were set free for dinner for a few hours. A good bunch of us went to Pizza Pizza and Starbucks.

The concert went very well, and afterwards we met our billets for the first time; Emma and I were received by a very sweet Haitian family living outside Toronto. We went to bed, excited to sleep in the next day for the first time!!!!

Rehearsing before the performance














The Choral Prelude















Taking a bow.

July 6 - St. Catharine's

Niagara Falls















The Sky Screamer at Marineland














Marine life at Marineland







by Garry Dart, Nathan Wilson and Aria Birmingham

Today we had lots of fun. We left the hotel gathering point for a not-so-short trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, and then headed for the Falls. Once there, we, along with a few other choristers, rode the Maid of the Mist to tour Niagara Falls. It was great fun and we had good spots up front, but it was VERY wet. It felt almost like a bucket of water being poured over your head. We were glad to have our ponchos!

Afterwards we travelled to Marineland. Many people were disappointed because, although the name implies it, there are NO WATER RIDES AT MARINELAND! We ended up having an amazing time, mostly because of a roller coaster named Sky Screamer. Dragon Mountain was amazing because it had the most loop-de-loops I've ever seen. Sky Screaner was a "Tower of Terror" type ride but had an amazing view. Unfortunately Garry was reluctant to go on it so he stayed on the ground taking pictures.

This was one of the best days we've had so far and we can't wait for tomorrow.

July 5 - St.Catharine's

Main Building, Brock Univeristy














by Allison Malone (Hairyman, woof woof)

Our plan had been to take a walking tour of a park, but when this was foiled by rain we proceeded again to the nearest mall, although for us Newfoundlanders a little warm Ontario rain was not troubling.

After wandering the mall for a while and giving a scheduled "impromptu" performance in the middle of the mall food court, we pushed on to the theatre on the Brock University campus and a...um..."interesting" dress rehearsal for close to 100 people, we were released to sustain ourselves on meals of McDonald's and Mr.Sub (Hello McFlurry!).

With the unforgettable rehearsal in our ears, our determination was fuelled and transformed into the best performance we've ever given according to Jill, but the choral jury is still deciding between this one and the NAC. Not to brag (much), but we rocked.

July 4 - Ottawa to St. Catharines

Leaving Ottawa from Trinity Church, the rehearsal location for the host choir, Cantiamo Girls Choir. Thanks to Jackie Hawley and the whole choir family.


(1) By Patricia

Leaving Ottawa was really sad. It was awesome there. But the bus ride was,well, long. It started off pretty slow. A lot of people dozed and slept, myself included.

After we made our lunch stop and everyone was awake things started to get on the go. Closer to the back some of us started to sing some older choir songs, or ones we didn't do this year at least.

Soon after the choir sing-along there was a rowsing(r-ow-sing)singing of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen) and then some spice girls was sang. For 8 hours it wasn't that bad.


(2) Emily and Erin

0800 Hours we boarded the bus. We had been informed that this bus ride was to be eight hours long! That meant only one thing,sleep.

Most of us spent the ride, along with catching up on our zzz's, watching movies, reading books and listening to our iPods.

At around 12:30 we looked out our wondows to see mine and Erin's two favourite words: Tim Horton's! After stocking up on feeds we hit the road again and arrived in St. Catharine's with two hours to spare. Always in tune with our wants and needs, fearless leader Mrs.Chaytor lead us to the nearest mall. Many dollars later (time to put some cash into the bank account Mum!) we made our way back to the hotel to meet our new billet families.

The general consensus seems to be that wallets are shrinking, suitcases are bulging and everyone is having a great time!

Thompson and Heys.......Out!

July 3 - Ottawa

By Julie Chaytor

It was a beautiful hot, sunny day today in the capital city!

We all met outside the Parliament Buildings at around 9:30am. From there most of us went on a tour of Parliament, while a dozen or so of us, who had already seen the tour, stayed to watch the Changing of the Guard and then proceeded onto the War Museum.

For those who toured Parliament, we experienced the House of Commons, the Senate, the Library, the Peace Tower and la Salle de la Francophonie. For those who visited the War Museum we were deeply moved by many personal letters and stories of Canadian soldiers serving during the two world wars and by the history of the many armed conflicts that have affected and shaped our country throughout history.

In the afternoon we all met up at a shopping district in downtown Ottawa where we could shop at the Rideau Centre or the quaint, outdoor Byward Market. When we were finished shopping we all went “home” to spend our last evening here in Ottawa with our wonderful host families!

July 2 - Ottawa

By Anna Sharpe

This morning was excellent because we all got a well deserved sleep-in. I think that the excitement of last night drained us all – choristers and chaperons. At our wonderful billets’ house we spent the morning lazing and eating. It was a fantastic way to begin what turned out to be a very busy and exciting day.

When it was time to meet at the NAC to rehearse, somehow Stephen, Luke, Sonicka and I ended up in completely the wrong spot. The security guards found us wandering the backstage corridors and directed us into rehearsal room A. WE were joined shortly by a few others (who all looked as lost and confused as we felt) and we waited for about 15 minutes. It turns out that the rest of the choir had met in the main lobby - we had somehow missed these instructions – and were listening to reviews of the opera from home.

After all members of the choir had been located and brought to the correct place we all trooped off to the Byward Market. This turned out to be quite fun and most of the choir girls came out with earrings, scarves, sarongs and bracelets – and all for $20.

When rehearsal began again, everyone began to feel drained of energy yet again. The level of concentration needed to fix each mistake is incredible. We ran our choral prelude, and went over parts of the opera before we were called to the stage for the “cue to cue.” This seemed to take forever, as always, but those who had books were quite happy.

We were finally dismissed from stage, and a majority of choristers sprinted down to rehearsal room A where there were stacks and stacks of wonderful hot sticky pizzas. Mark had different feelings about supper and made sure none of us had our opera costumes on while we wolfed it down.






Southam Hall Lobby in the National Arts Centre












Soon we were all stuffed and ready to perform. The curtains opened and there was an immediate lift in our spirits. The house was much fuller than we had anticipated. When we began the choral set the energy within the choir was fantastic right from the start. There were a few small mishaps, for example my microphone not being turned on until the last bar of my scat solo, but on the whole it felt like a great show.

The opera was on a totally different level. Everyone who I have spoken to, whether performer or audience, has seemed very enthusiastic and proud. It was certainly a night to remember.

As we made our bows and the curtain dropped, the choir, buzzing with excitement, all ran into the wings in the direction of the chaperons. The audience however was not quite finished with us. They were clapping and cheering and the curtain rose again to reveal the cast running back on the stage to take a final bow. If it hadn’t been for Andrew Dale calling “Guys! Come Back”, the audience would have found themselves cheering for an almost empty stage.

There was a reception after the show and around 20 cast members, myself included, attended along with the billets. I found three or four people that I knew including the substitute chemistry teacher and my mum’s friend’s son. It was lovely seeing them and listening to what they thought of this project into which we have all put so much work.

(The following review was in the Ottawa Citizen on July 3, about the July 2 performance.)

Engaging performance deserved larger audience
Richard Todd, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Mounting an opera is a very expensive proposition. Thus composers and producers have experimented with what they call "chamber opera." The best-known product of this endeavour is Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, an undoubted masterpiece. But for the most part, the genre has failed to make an impression on the opera-going public.

The National Arts Centre's Southam Hall is more likely to be mistaken for a hangar than a chamber, albeit an acoustically congenial one. It wasn't the ideal venue for mounting Ann and Seamus, a chamber opera from Newfoundland. For one thing, the whole effort had to be heavily amplified. Worse, there was little effort given to publicity and last night's audience, to be generous, may have amounted to 400 souls, about a fifth of the room's capacity.

The producing organization was Shallaway Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Chorus. Its founder and director is Susan Knight, described in the program as "a socio-cultural entrepreneur working in choral music." There are more than 100 singers altogether from which a cast of about 30, most of them girls, were on stage for the opera and the brief choral concert that preceded it. They sing well, all things considered, and with considerable poise.

The story is based on an incident from Newfoundland's history in which some determined villagers rescued 168 shipwrecked people. The libretto and score, commissioned by Shallaway, are by Stephen Hatfield, a Canadian musician from the West Coast who now makes his home in St. John's.

It's well crafted, deliberately naive and reminiscent of Newfoundland and Irish folk music. In addition to its historical interest, it's also a love story and deals with life and death upon the sea and the question young people must face as to whether they should stay on the Rock, or build new lives elsewhere.

It was composed with consideration for the performers' limits, but it pushes those limits vigorously.

Kathleen Allan and Andrew Dale sang Ann and Seamus respectively. Their portrayals were sensitive and engaging. Jillian Keiley's staging was outstanding as was the aplomb with which the young singers executed it.

It's a good work and was decently rendered last night. It deserved a much larger audience.

Review of St. John's Performance

The following review was received by Susan Knight yesterday from a reviewer who is attending Festival 500 in St.John's and attended the June 30 performance.



Tell All Your Friends (July 7/8 in Toronto -- tonight in Ottawa)

St. John's, Newfoundland
Alan Gasser

[This review is written as if for a newspaper, with apologies to Echo
Women's Choir list members; I intend it to be both a record for history,
and immediately useful, and ... in a post-newspaper age, with the Star
and Globe and all on National vacation, it seemed better to finish
something, and share practical information, in a timely fashion.]

The opera Ann and Seamus, performed in St. John's on Friday night, is
infused with strong vision and clear purpose. Like Stravinsky's ritual
ballet Rite of Spring, which it resembles in its legendary grandeur, the
chamber opera might be said to arise primarily from the vision of its
impresario, Susan Knight.

Unlike Stravinsky's opera, Ann and Seamus has no scandalous aura, just
the primal, and true story of a young woman's heroic courage and
strength, set to music by composer Steven Hatfield, and performed by
Shallaway, a company of singer/actors, average age 15. The libretto is
adapted by the composer from Kevin Major's recent narrative poem of the
same name.

Susan Knight's prophetic vision becomes both visible and audible,
embodied as it is in the youth (more girls than boys) of Newfoundland.
The story began in July, 1828, when a 17-year-old girl, Ann Harvey (with
her family, including its dog), rowed the survivors of a shipwreck to
safety -- 168 people, in all! The story's elements are almost
magical-realism: Ann Harvey's arduous and heroic efforts, the
hospitality of the impoverished family (extended to Irish immigrants)
and the miraculous survival of so many "refugees," the endless rowing
back and forth in a 12-foot boat. Even the place names add flavour:
Isle aux Morts, the island where the Harveys lived (as well as the
treacherous reefs 4 miles away, on a stormy sea) and Port aux Basques,
where the survivors had to be rowed eventually.

This geography, and the local culture, have been extended to the mythic
and the ritualistic. Jillian Keiley's direction gives it all an
"incarnation" in the young singers and actors. With the assistance of a
few boxes, to change the height of some dramatic tableaux, the entire
spectacle is created on the bodies of the young people, dressed in
fluid, solid-coloured costumes. The colour palette -- in Keiley's notes
-- is homage to Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt, and the
"diaphanous" costumes are based on David Blackwood's illustrations from
the recent publication of the narrative poem.

There's a rowboat, reaching with a rope towards the sailors stranded on
a reef ... a house with a family in it ... the rockiness of the Island
above the sea ... the storm at sea ... a dance with visiting sailors,
and ... the opera's most distinctive character, the family's
Newfoundland dog, Hairy Man (played by Allison Malone), who swims a
rescue-rope to the reef, echoing the long-ago events.

This is the most brilliant thing, that the young people are given the
responsibility, not only of learning the Island's culture, but of
carrying its musical and rhetorical skills forward, even its troubled,
breathtaking Outports geography. They are granted the privilege of
creating the living drama, up to and including the musical direction, by
Alanna Fitzpatrick, a Shallaway alum.

With the addition of a couple of local young men, the tenor and baritone
who play the father and love interest -- oh ... as well as the on-stage
violin, bass, accordion, and flute (doubling on whistle) -- the whole
show, scenery, costumes and props and all, is just a bunch of teenagers
and their beautiful, well-trained singing voices. The characters tend
to blend together, because of their uniform heights, and their costumes,
except for the dog and the love interests of the title, brilliantly lit,
in shining white.

The composition is idiomatically fitting, as Hatfield is a
widely-published and oft-performed choral composer and arranger.
Shallaway, the new name for the Newfoundland Youth Symphony Choir, is
the most obvious indication that Susan Knight's prophetic vision has
expanded from choir director to what she calls herself now, a
"socio-cultural entrepreneur, working in choral music." The storm at
sea and the dramatic rowing of the rescue give us more dramatic value
than the seemingly tacked-on love story between the young girl and an
attractive sailor. (Even Wagner's Valkyrie Ride is slightly more
stirring than his love scene, for heaven's sake, spoiled as we are by
the artificial "realism" of the movies.)

Ann and Seamus is much shorter and more digestible than Wagner or
Stravinsky, for example, but it's not so small and child-centred as the
children's operas of Menotti, thank heavens, nor even of Britten, with
which Hatfield's music has both "geographical" and musical resonances.
The work itself -- billed as a love story -- is a chamber opera, not
because it has a small number of singers, but, I suppose, because it's
brief, and uses modest instrumental accompaniment, the more easily
tourable.

The company goes immediately on tour, to Canada's capital cities
(Toronto and Ottawa), to St. Catharine's, ON, and to Washington, DC,
just to give you some idea of the visionary scale, and the purposeful
industry behind the project. Newfoundland is a small place, lightly
peopled, but its cultural vision has long been a viable force within
(and next to) Canada, and Susan Knight's prophetic voice commands you to
pay attention.

July 1 - Canada Day

By Meaghan Aylward

Today was, as I'm sure you all know, JULY 1st, which here meant a very exciting Canada Day. We started the day when our billets dropped us off to the bus which took us to Unisong, which is a festival featuring about a billion (a very rough estimate) choristers from a variety of choirs across Canada - including a choir from Carbonear (needless to say, we cheered very loudly). After the concert, which was swell, we headed over to the war memorial, as while we're proud canadians in the capital city, we couldn't forget that in Newfoundland it was Memorial Day for Beaumont Hamel, so we dedicated a moment to this and sang the Ode. We then trotted along to Major's Hill Park. We ate our lunch and then spent a few hours enjoying fresh lemonade and FREE Starbucks samples, Pizza Pizza, INTENSE facepainting by a Quebec group called Kromatik and of course live entertainment of BLUEGRASS music... and other music on the main stage. We then walked to the Museum of Civilization where many of us enjoyed an IMAX movie (and by 'enjoy' I of course mean 'fell asleep in') or just roamed the new exhibits on Ancient China and Afghanistan. Mrs. Harvey also fell asleep on a leather couch in the museum. After spreading the word a bit outside the museum of the upcoming Ann & Seamus with a plethora of flyers and some impromptu performances we walked to Parliament Hill to celebrate the day further. This featured a huge crowd, poutine, and live entertainment including Gregory Charles, Eva Avila (Canadian Idol for last year), Feist and our own Shaye! Most notable of the evening was definitely the fireworks, which were absolutely spectacular - they made any fireworks I've ever seen seem like someone just throwing a match in the air. After the fireworks we faced a rather ... obnoxious crowd to our bus, and then went our separate ways to our billets' house.















Fireworks on Parliament Hill

















"Unisong" at National Arts Centre.
















Shallaway's impromptu concert at Majors Hill Park

June 30 - Arrival in Ottawa

Today was a long day for the choir. We were split up into two groups, leaving an hour apart from St. John's airport, heading to Toronto before getting on another plane to Ottawa. We were all very hungry when we got off the plane in Toronto, but there was no hot food to be found in the terminal we were in! It was quite disappointing, but we managed on Tim Horton's until we got in Ottawa and home to our billet families. After arriving in Ottawa, we took a coach to the church where we met our billets. Everyone is getting along really well in their billets' homes, and everyone is having a great time so far!

Lisa, Alison, and Kelly Nicole

















In Toronto Airport, June 30





Chorister text to be inserted tomorrow.