A choir truly is a community-building venture. Something happens to people when they sing together. They bond, becoming part of something bigger than themselves. Menno Singers, a part of the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., choral community since 1955, experienced and recognized that earlier this year upon the death of one of our long-time members.
On Jan. 15, Mary Martin passed away after a journey with cancer. Mary was a friend of many, and was well loved and appreciated wherever she went. One of her significant communities was Menno Singers, where she sang in the choir for more than 40 years, and her strong, deep voice anchored the alto section. She is deeply missed and often mentioned.
Her husband Ken sang with her in the choir for those years as well, and he and son Justin continue to sing in the bass section. Singing in the choir was simply a regular part of life and community building. It was a true honour for Menno Singers to be invited to sing at Mary’s funeral at Breslau Mennonite Church, her home congregation.
As a choir, we have wondered how best to honour and remember Mary. This past spring, we commissioned Mennonite composer Stephanie Martin to compose a piece dedicated to Mary. Stephanie is conductor of Pax Christi Chorale in Toronto and associate professor of music at York University, Toronto. She is also daughter of Abner Martin, the founding director of Menno Singers.
The Martin family gave input as Stephanie chose a text from a Tennyson poem, “In Memoriam.” Her composition, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” will be premiered by Menno Singers at our Christmas concert, to be held at 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Kitchener. Singing together will become a way of remembering, mourning and honouring.
The Christmas concert also points to the community building that happens within a whole family of choirs. InterMennonite Children’s Choir, directed by Carolyn Neumann VanderBurgh, and Menno Youth Singers, with new conductor Janna Lynn Cressman, will join Menno Singers. There is a long tradition of this “three choirs at Christmas” concert, where children, youth and adults all sing together. The concert is entitled “Navigating North,” part of our 2013-14 “Explorations” season.
As artistic director Peter Nikiforuk writes, “Each concert will feature a point on the compass and explore music that embodies the idea of that direction.”
The whole Menno Singers season is about community building and collaboration with other musicians. Our first concert, “Wandering West,” on Oct. 26, featured saxophonist Willem Moolenbeek.
The March 22, 2014, concert, “Exploring East,” will involve collaboration with skakuhachi flute master and conductor Gerard Yun and members of the Dark Horse Ensemble. The concert will embark into an exotic sound world of Asian music, choral improvisation and the intersection of cultures.
The final concert on May 10, 2014, “Surveying South,” will explore global song from South America, Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia together with conductor Debbie Lou Ludolph and the global music group Inshallah. The concert will feature “Missa Criolla” by Argentinean composer Ariel Ramirez.
In all these concerts, community is formed as we collaborate with others, and then expanded as we go beyond our comfort zones and into music from around the world in a true community-building venture.
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