The choir has been practising since not long after the Labour Day weekend and they’re getting ready to take stages on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
The 48th annual Celebration of Christmas Music by the Southeast and Northwest Choruses will be ready to go in a short time. The choir is made up of members from Canada and the United States.
“We don’t have as big a crowd but we still have 45 members,” said spokesperson Wilma Mantei of the Southeast Chorus Association. “In past years we’ve had up to 55 and 60. But it’s been going good.”
The group will be singing songs with a theme of Behold! A Saviour.
“It’s mostly sacred music,” Mantei said. “It will be a very nice concert. I think it’ll be very much a crowd pleaser.”
Even with that, it’ll be more contemporary, in contrast, with some of the heavy classical material they’ve done in the past.
The smaller group didn’t make it any easier to rehearse the material.
“We could have used a few more bass and a few more tenors or sopranos,” Mantei said. “Usually we have a good section of altos. In this case… it’s going to be very good. And there’s only two more practices until the concert.”
Choir directors are Shauna Meek of Estevan and Crosby’s Harlan Johnson. Estevan’s Danielle Evenson will accompany on the piano.
“(Meek and Johnson) have been practising with us, and they take turns,” Mantei said. “We have flute players, we have all kinds of percussion instruments and drums and it’s going to be good.”
The concerts will take place Dec. 1 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Estevan at 7 p.m. and the following day at 4 p.m. at Concordia Lutheran Church in Crosby. Tickets are going to be available at the door or through any choir member, Mantei said.
