The Choristers was a Canadian

chamber choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

based in Winnipeg that gave weekly nationally broadcast programs on CBC Radio from 1942 through 1969. According to '' The Canadian Encyclopedia'', the choir achieved "a national reputation for their fine choral blend and sense of style". The group was sometimes referred to as the "Sunday Chorale", after the name of the weekly CBC Radio program on which the choir was featured from 1952 to 1969. Notable members of the chorus included Evelyne Anderson, Devina Bailey,

Lorne Betts Lorne Matheson Betts (August 2, 1918 – August 5, 1985) was a Canadian composer, conductor, organist, and music critic. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, many of his original scores and wri ...

, Kathleen Morrison Brown, Reginald Hugo, May Lawson, Joan Maxwell, Phyllis Cooke Thomson, and Gladys Whitehead.

History

Founded under the name the Oriana Singers in 1936 by composer and conductor W.H. Anderson, The Choristers initially consisted of 14 singers and specialized in performing madrigals,

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s, folksong arrangements, and sacred and secular partsongs. Pianist Gordon Kushner notably served as the group's first accompanist. In 1942 the choir changed its name to The Choristers and expanded to 20 singers. This expansion was done in order to meet the new recording needs of the group as they began giving weekly national broadcasts for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on 2 June 1942. The group occasionally performed with orchestras for their CBC broadcasts, often working with conductors Geoffrey Waddington and

Eric Wild Eric Wild (6 November 1914 – 10 August 1991) was Bishop of Reading from 1972 to 1982. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1938. His first post was as a Curate at ''St Anne, Stanley, Liverpool''. ...

for these performances. In 1952, the group's weekly broadcast was retitled ''Sunday Chorale'' at which time the repertoire of the program changed to one consisting entirely of sacred choral music. Many of the works were accompanied, first by organist

H. Hugh Bancroft Henry Hugh Bancroft (29 February 1904 – 11 September 1988) was a British organist, choirmaster, and composer who was organist of five cathedrals. He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and studied music with E. P. Guthrie and J. S. Robinson ...

, and later by organists Herbert Sadler and

Filmer Hubble Filmer Edwin Hubble (12 January 1904 – 25 November 1969) was a Canadian organist, choir conductor, adjudicator, and music educator of English birth. Life and career Born in Dulwich, he immigrated to Canada in 1921 at the age of 17. He settled in ...

. In 1955 Anderson stepped down as The Choristers director just a few months prior to his death. Hubble, who had been his pupil as well as serving as the choir's organist, took over as the choir's director. He led the group until his death in 1969 when Herbert Belyea, another Anderson pupil and a tenor in the choir, assumed the role of director. Belyea conducted the choir until it was dis-established in 1974. After Anderson's death, the group ceased to perform weekly broadcasts but did appear intermittently on CBC Radio during the 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choristers, The Canadian choirs Musical groups established in 1936 Musical groups disestablished in 1974