Show off your pipes at Messiah Sing-Along

The Choral Advocacy Network (CAN) is Edmonton’s lynchpin, bringing together all choral groups and choristers in the area. And this afternoon at St. Andrews United Church, CAN is hosting a Messiah Sing-Along for choristers and members of the public.

Established in 2008 by David Garber, Eva Borstrand and St. Albert’s Trent Worthington, CAN has a citywide list of 79 choirs and 800 choristers. Its main functions are to inform the choral community of different events, conduct workshops, assist choirs connect with conductors, musicians and soloists and provide concert promotion.

But unlike most concerts where choirs stand on the stage and sing, the audience sitting in church pews will be the main choir with Garber conducting at the front.

“People don’t have to feel they have to be experts. The most important part is that singers sing, be uplifted and fulfilled. There is no pressure in performing. It’s an activity of people coming together to make music. It’s like getting together for an impromptu game of street hockey,” Garber explains.

Leading this spiritual sing is tenor Brian Lawrence, sopranos Elle Salvalaggio and Nola Shantz, alto Meaghan Symon, and bass singer Jordan Van Biert.

Accompanying the two-hour sing, which also includes the world famous Hallelujah chorus, are Edmonton’s finest — the Stringbeans Quartet, trumpeter Russell Whitehead and pianist Jeremy Spurgeon. “Russell is one of the best trumpet players in the city and Jeremy is, bar none, one of Canada’s finest accompanists.”

In trying to explain, the reverential popularity of Georg Friederich Handel’s Messiah, Garber says, “Handel is in the upper echelon with Brahms, Bach and Beethoven. He was a genius who knew how to craft music, beautiful lines and stirring harmonies.

“This is a gift to the people allowing them to do something fun and fulfilling.”