Youth choir flies to Verona

NEWS RELEASE

ALGOMA CONSERVATORY
OF MUSIC

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Sault youth take to world stage

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON. - Members of the Algoma Conservatory of Music Advanced Choir will be making a pre–dawn
departure Monday (April 9) on their way to Toronto and a flight to Verona, Italy where they will
participate in the Days of International Choir Music competition.

The choir is the only Canadian participant to attend this annual, invitational, international choral competition that brings together choristers from Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Australia, Croatia, United States and Canada for a week of competition and community concerts.

Over a period of five days, the choir will perform concerts in a variety of venues, including the Teatro Nuovo, local schools and culminate with the closing ceremony and a mass concert of over 2,000 voices in the incredible Arena in Verona - one of Europe’s few remaining intact Roman coliseums.

The 25 members of the choir traveling to Italy are Sault Ste. Marie and area high school and university students between the ages of 15 and 21.

"The competition is an excellent opportunity to showcase the outstanding talent of some of the Sault and area's most gifted young people and to act as ambassadors for the City of Sault Ste. Marie," says Choir Director Agnes
McCarthy.

In addition to their singing performances, the choir members will act as youth ambassadors for Sault Ste. Marie calling on the mayor of Verona to extend greetings from Sault mayor, John Rowswell and invite the Verona mayor to join in exploring new opportunities for cross cultural
exchange between Verona in northern Italy and naturally gifted Sault Ste. Marie in northern Ontario.

The choir members, many of whom are music students and looking forward to careers as professional musicians, have been preparing for this trip for over six months and are excited to be representing Sault Ste. Marie and Canada before the international panel of judges at the event.

The choir will depart Algoma University parking lot at 4 a.m. and be available for additional media contact between 1 and 2 p.m. at the Air France departure area of the
Toronto International Airport.

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