NDG Choir contributes to relief effort in Haiti

This year promises to be no different, and it all starts on January 30 with an evening of song pitched “In the Key of Dignity”. The Montreal-based organization Equitas - International Centre for Human Rights Education was originally identified to receive all proceeds from the concert. However, with news of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, Equitas has requested that 50% of the proceeds be given to Red Cross relief efforts there. “The choir is committed to community service,” says Brendan Mirotchnick, choir president. “We’re a registered charity that forms partnerships with like-minded groups, using our performances to raise funds for them and to showcase their work. Several of our members are involved with Equitas, and as we learned more about the organization, their ethos seemed a natural fit with our goals. Their offer to share the proceeds for relief in Haiti was snapped up by the choir.”

Equitas is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to advancing equality, social justice, and respect for human dignity at home and around the world through transformative education programs. Besides Canada and Haiti, Equitas is active in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Its initiatives equip organizations and the communities they serve to contribute towards building a global culture of human rights.

The choir’s program reflects that international focus, with musical selections taking up the themes of equality, social justice, and peace from a variety of world perspectives. At the centre of the program is a work by the choir’s accompanist,

Chad Linsley, specifically commissioned for the concert. Based on literary icon Maya Angelou’s stirring poem Still I Rise, about oppression, resilience, and the light of life that lies within us all, the work draws on the same musical language and pianistic artistry that earned Linsley recognition from the CBC as one of Montreal’s most talented emerging jazz musicians.

It is a work, choir director Dr. Eleanor Stubley notes, that “brims with life. Mama Afrika by Haitian-born

Sydney Guillaume is another highlight of the program. Like other works that we’re presenting—such as Simon and

Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water and Hannah Senesh’s Eli Eli—these pieces speak to the indefatigability of the human spirit and the courage that lies within us all.”

Adding to the international flavour of the evening will be the haunting celtic tones of internationally recognized oboist Catherine Lee and the sultry colours of Fadi Halawi’s oud, a Middle Eastern stringed instrument similar to the lute. The choir will also be joined by a string quartet from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. “In the beautifully resonant space of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church, the variety of colours will echo, merge, blend, and mix one with the other to literally create a world where hope has triumphed,” Dr. Stubley says.

For ticket purchases and more information about the concert, visit the choir’s Web site at www.yellowdoorchoir.com or

call 514-738-9052.

Date: January 30, 2010

Time: 8 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm)

Place: NDG Church, 5333 Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue (2 blocks south of Villa Maria Métro station)

Price: $20; students $15 (student ID required)

Tickets: Advance sales at www.yellowdoorchoir.com or by calling 514-738-9052; at the door on concert night