Many of Saskatchewan’s most talented young vocalists were in Estevan on Feb. 9, thanks to a performance by the Saskatchewan Youth Choir.
And for the first time, one of those gifted young singers was from the Estevan area.
The choir brought their Choral Kaleidoscope tour to the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) and St. Paul’s United Church. The 27 young singers showcased their talents by singing a wide repertoire of music,
Torquay’s Levi Stepp, who is a Grade 12 student at ECS, was among the singers, and called the youth choir “the best experience” of his life.
“I have learned so much as a person but as a singer doing this experience with them,” Stepp told Lifestyles. “Being able to sing with people at your own level, or even higher, you learn so much from them. It’s been an amazing, life-changing experience.”
With the youth choir, they listen to each other, which allows them to have a strong balance, and sing like they have one voice, he said.
The youth choir had a busy day for their appearance in Estevan. Prior to the concert at St. Paul’s, the choir sang at ECS. The youth choir started, and then the ECS choir sang. The two choirs then joined together for selections.
Since Stepp is also involved with the ECS choir, he was singing with both.
The Youth Choir also gave their ECS counterparts some advice on how they can improve their singing.
Performing in Estevan was a great time, he said. So many people he knows were at St. Paul’s to see him and cheer for him, and he was thrilled to be a part of a choir that worked so hard to come together in a relatively short period of time.
Stepp has also made a lot of friends through the choir, and is looking forward to staying in contact with them now that the youth choir has wrapped up its season.
“You make friends who have the same interests as you,” he said. “We are all choir nerds, and we all love doing it, so we will always have that in common with each other.”
A Grade 12 student at Estevan Comprehensive School, Stepp is looking forward to taking what he learned with the youth choir and using it in his post-secondary studies. He hopes to go to school in Toronto, and have a career in musical theatre.
Sheryl Neher, the executive director for the Saskatchewan Choral Federation, said Stepp came to their attention through Marcia McLean, the current director of the youth choir who served as one of the adjudicators at last year’s Estevan and District Music Festival.
Stepp was interested in participating, and Neher said they were happy to have him.
“We’re hoping that with us coming here today (Feb. 9), and working at the school, and the kids interacting and getting to meet some other (singers), and with Levi’s excitement for the involvement, that maybe we’ll have one or two more kids come on board with us,” said Meher.
It’s also always nice to have a few kids from the one region, because they can travel together for rehearsals and performances.
Thirteen different communities from across the province are represented in the choir. Neher said the choir wants to have singers from other communities besides Saskatoon and Regina.
Discussions for the youth choir started in 2012, and the first choir assembled in the fall of 2014. Each year the choir runs in the fall and winter. The choir changes directors every two years; McLean is in her first year at the helm.
The singers range in age from 15-21, and they do have some members who are in university.
“A number of the singers that we have in the choir don’t have choirs in their schools and in their local communities, and so they don’t have an opportunity to sing in a choir,” said Neher.
Out of the 27 signers in the choir, about 10 don’t have choirs in their local communities.
“It gives them an opportunity to come and sing with like-minded people. They’re also singing music that’s a little higher calibre,” she said. “It’s a little more difficult than what some of the local schools might be doing.”
As they’re learning and developing, they’re also gaining leadership skills through different activities that they do in the choir, which they can take back to their schools and communities.
Rehearsals are held during three weekends each year. Neher said they’re very intense sessions. And they have a number of concerts at various locations in the province.
Meher pointed out that McLean has done a great job of selecting a repertoire of music that showcases the talents of the youths and the beauty of the music, as a couple of times each concert, Meher will be moved to tears.
