A lot can happen in two decades and for the Village Voices Choir it has been 20 years of growing and sharing beautiful music with the community.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Village Voices of Qualicum Beach, a community based choir whose members have grown from just a few in 1992, to 65.
To celebrate the rich history of the choir, a special concert is being held on Sunday, April 22 at the Christian Fellowship Centre in Qualicum Beach.
The choir has thrived, grown and undergone many personnel changes under a number of directors over the last two decades.
For the past five years the highly-qualified and accomplished Rosemary Lindsay has directed the choir. Under her tutelage, the Village Voices have continued to live up to their motto: To be the best that we can be and still have fun.
Lindsay said the choir has deep community roots and six of the original members are still involved.
“It is a fabulous group of people,” she said.
Lindsay said they have a young Ballenas high school student who loves to come out and sing and the choir really does span all generations.
“She fits right in.”
Since its inception, The Village Voices have made appearances at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo and many other varied locations on Vancouver Island during the concert series Voices of the Island. Traditionally, the choir has invited other choirs and musical groups to share their concerts. On this special occasion they will go it alone with a stunning program chosen by the singers themselves. Lindsay said the collection of their favorites is guaranteed to delight.
“Rather than picking the music myself, I asked members to send a list and I was able to include all of their suggestions. They are the ones they have fun singing and a lot of them are Canadian songs.”
In honour of the 20th anniversary the choristers have invited all previous singers to join them in their final song Those Were The Days.
Lindsay said one of the original directors contacted them and provided some anecdotes from the early days and their humble beginnings. He admitted that at first it was far fetched to believe the choir would get off the ground but there was enthusiasm in the community right from the start.
Lindsay said while it can be difficult to contact past members hopefully the word will get out and they will be able to join them for the concert which goes April 22 at 2:30 p.m. at the Christian Fellowship Centre on Village Way in Qualicum Beach.
