Emily Bowen
ebowen@midwesternnewspapers.com
FORMOSA – A children’s choir from Formosa is gaining recognition after a strong performance at the Walkerton Rotary Music Festival, and are advancing to the provincial level.
The Formosa Children’s Choir, made up of about 30 singers aged three to 16, recently took part in the long-running local festival, performing two classical sacred pieces. Founded four years ago by Noelle Schnurr and Elaine Coffin, this was the group’s second time entering the music festival, and they managed to thoroughly impress the judges with their performance.
“We prepared both pieces well in advance: an Easter round, Surrexit Dominus Vere by J. Berthier and Panis Angelicus by C. Franck,” said Schnurr. “We focused on tuning, timing, vowels and dynamics for each piece and when the time came to perform at the festival, all our choristers were well prepared and delivered an amazing performance, with perfect harmonies and a beautiful sound.”
The group recorded the same two selections on May 10 at their church for submission to the provincial competition and is awaiting adjudication.
The choir rehearses weekly for an hour and sings at Mass twice a month, focusing on sacred music drawn from well-known composers such as Mozart, Bach, Palestrina, Schubert and Handel. Schnurr described the festival experience as positive for the young singers, noting the supportive environment and feedback from adjudicators.
“The adjudicator was great at pointing out what we did well and where we could improve while establishing an amazing rapport with all the children,” said Schnurr. “We have worked with children of various musical backgrounds and continually find it amazing how they grow and develop from tentative singers to confident soloists.”
