Contributed photo
Amabile Choirs of London are celebrating another feather in its choral caps as well as a big win at the National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs in St. John’s, N.L., for Carol Beynon, acting vice provost of the School of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and Faculty of Education professor.
Primus, the Amabile men’s choir, conducted by Beynon, won first place in the Equal-Voice Men’s Choirs category.
The Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC) National Competition for Canadian Amateur Choirs is presented in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC Music and Festival 500: Sharing the Voices. Held annually, it provides a national stage for choirs of all types. The competition encourages the creation and performance of Canadian works, and is open to all Canadian amateur choirs.
BEYNON
The winners are selected by a five-member jury of renowned choral experts and will be heard on CBC’s Radio 2 Choral Concert programs later this month.
Western, as well as the London/Middlesex region, fared well in the overall competition.
Western’s premiere choir from the Don Wright Faculty of Music, directed by Victoria Meredith, was named as a finalist in the university category, as were secondary school choirs conducted by Western alumni Don Sills (Catholic Central High School Men’s Choir) and Kathy McNaughton and Jeff Beynon (Medway High School Chamber Choir). Western alumna Debra Cairns’ Chamber Choir I Coristi, from the University of Alberta, also took home first place for Adult Mixed-Voice Chamber Choirs.
“This is indeed an honour to receive such recognition of our work in choral development in the midst of my choral peers,” Beynon said. “Our London community and the university have such a significant presence in both the national and international choral world. It is wonderful to have Western be recognized so prominently and regarded so highly across the country.
“I am so proud of the men who sing in this ensemble; they come from all walks of life from graduate students to Western faculty members and many alumni.”
