The April governmental restrictions put us back into another state of isolation, but we came prepared! With the online experience solidly under our belts from the Spring 2020 and Post-Christmas 2021 lockdowns, we gave choristers a two week break from rehearsals while we solidified our scheduling changes, and aligned our restart with the week back from the public schools’ spring break.
With great chorister engagement, we rotate Tuesday gatherings with Soprano-Alto sectionals one week and Tenor-Bass the next. Although divided, this rehearsal process has proved very manageable for the online format, and also incredibly helpful, with the benefits of dedicated part-work noted after the previous restrictions had us follow a similar schedule.
Other activities choristers engage in together includes the long-standing ORYC discord server and Minecraft world, a “Netflix Teleparty” planned for this weekend (comparable to the “Sunday at the Opera” zoom watch parties hosted earlier in the year), and an online Virtual Game Night planned for the future, final details TBD. Our wonderful Artistic and Management teams pair together to ensure the community and friendships are sustained between the choristers with all of these extramusical activities.
Other recent developments include the decision to extend the current ORYC 2020-2021 season into the summer, at no additional cost to choristers. Should new choristers wish to join as a possible sort of “trial-run” before committing to a longer period of time, this would be a wonderful time to reach out and hop in on our activities! Please contact info@oryc.ca for more details. The extension of the season into the summer will ensure that we can enjoy more time music-making together, hopefully in-person; with optimism that restrictions may lift in a few weeks to join together in some capacity. Should that be an available opportunity, ideas are bouncing around to have some outdoors “flashmob”-like events, and also a type of online sharing of pre-recorded selections the choir has collaborated on, much like the Virtual Coffeehouse or Musica Festum, as previously produced.
For now, we will continue to embrace the continuation of our season in an online format, but really look forward to being able to be together again soon. Thank you for your continued support, and please check back here for any further updates.