Lions Gate has had a very busy fall and winter so far, with a move to a new rehearsal space, multiple community performances, a livestream performance with several more to come, coaching, and of course, preparations for Louisville well under-way!

The multiple dumps of snow, inevitably on a Tuesday (why???), while postponing a couple of rehearsals and our holiday party, has done nothing to dampen our enthusiasm for this wonderful passion of ours, and the injection of 32 new members since international in NOLA in 2019 has brought new life and energy to our ranks. 

Our Development Fund Coordinator, Melissa Bomben, secured about two dozen community performances for the chorus during the festive season and around fifty dedicated chorus members performed in many parts of the city spreading holiday cheer. One of the favourite spots was at the Fairmont’s Hotel Vancouver downtown where we sang in front of our own tree, decorated in spirit colours (lime green and turquoise), at the Festival of Trees event. Melissa also instituted a donor-match program and found a generous patron who was willing to donate up to $20,000 to match any donations that come in before April 30, 2023. We are well on the way to reaching that goal! As part of our fund-raising efforts, our first livestream mini performance occurred on a Tuesday evening in December, and we will be offering them several more times between now and Louisville. Check out our website for the dates and details – www.lionsgatechorus.ca

Our main focus, of course, is preparation for the International contest in Louisville KY at the end of October/beginning of November. We have lots of new music to learn (a new ballad for the semi-finals, new up-tune for the finals plus highly-anticipated musical shenanigans for the package), new costumes to be made for the finals, coaching with Erin Howden, Marcia Pinvidic and Jim Arns, with repeat visits by Justin Miller and our uniquely talented choreographer Jan Alexandersson from Sweden. We will reveal all at our Sneak Preview on October 14th at the Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby! Until then, the chorus has been sworn to secrecy about our plans for the finals! 

While the chorus is unable as a whole to be in Saskatoon in April as out-going champions, we do have two Lions Gate-affiliated quartets competing – our current regional champions, Bewitched, and Copper Moon from Lions Gate, Peace Arch and Westcoast Harmony Choruses. We wish them the best of luck as they take the stage!

All in all, a busy and productive time for the chorus and in the lead-up to Louisville, a steep learning curve for our new members – well, all of us really – but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Cammi MacKinlay for Lions Gate