Events
OVC Presents "Winter Memories" and evening of songs and reflection
Join us for a cozy evening of beautiful winter songs with One Voice Chorus at "Winter Memories" on December 14, 2024! Concert Venue is St Stephen’s Anglican Church - 1121 14 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2R 0P3
Doors open at 6.30 pm. Concert begins at 7 pm.
OVC is excited to welcome you and your family to our evening of Winter Memories, songs of warmth and reflection!
There is limited street parking out in front of St Stephen's Anglican Church and additional parking available at Connaught School, 1121 12 Ave SW.
Join us after the concert for a reception downstairs where we the fun will continue! Beverages and sweets provided.
cor et mentem...
cor et mentem...A story about trauma recovery, written and arranged by Artistic Director, Cass Bessette.
“I survived because the fire that burned inside of me burned brighter than the fire around me.”
- Unknown
This will be a multidisciplinary show that tells the story of a young person as they recover from early childhood trauma. Through the captivating mediums of choral music and contemporary dance, audiences are drawn into the intricate narrative of "Cor" and "Mentem" – characters representing the fractured heart and mind of our protagonist – following a harrowing trauma. As the story unfolds, we witness the poignant struggle of these two characters as they navigate their alienation from one another, embarking on a courageous journey towards rediscovery.
Amidst the darkness, cor et mentem... beautifully illustrates the resilience of the human spirit. It is not only a story of survival, but one of triumph. In a world where stories that begin and end in tragedy often dominate, this show offers a refreshing perspective, highlighting the enduring power of healing and a transformative journey towards wholeness.
Featuring dancers: Lane Sayer & Jo Dickau-Duguay
Poetry by: Robert Lowell, Sara Teasdale, and Cass Bessette
THERE ARE TWO SHOW TIMES
For tickets click here.
Please note that one piece in this concert, "furore" (the 5th piece) depicts physical and/or sexual violence, and includes sounds such as grunting, gasping, crying, laughter, a scream, and other noises which may be triggering. OVC is committed to the safety of our audience members, performers and support individuals, and there will be an opportunity to leave for the duration of the piece and rejoin after.
About Jo Dickau-Duguay is an emerging artist from Mohkinstsis. They
are currently in their second year in the Bachelor of Fine Arts
program in dance at the University of Calgary. In their artistic
work, Jo has an interest in creating diverse emotional landscapes
through which they tell stories that many can find relation to.
About Lane Sayer is an emerging artist from Mohkinstsis, currently
pursuing a BA in English from the University of Calgary with a
minor in dance. His areas of interest include contemporary dance
and creative writing, and he hopes to continue exploring
interdisciplinary approaches to the arts.
Winter Sojourners: A Choral Odyssey Around the World
Join us for a captivating and culturally enriching event, Winter Sojourners, at St. Stephen's Anglican Church in Calgary, AB, Canada. This concert transcends borders and invites you to embark on a musical journey around the globe. Whether you're a local or just passing through, this gathering is a beautiful opportunity to explore the rich tapestry of world music and language. Immerse yourself in the diverse melodies and rhythms from different corners of the world as we come together to celebrate the global musical mosaic.
Join us for a warm reception with delicious goodies following the concert!
Get your tickets by clicking here.
Adults $25
Students/Seniors $20
Under 18 Free
Pay-what-you-can option available (Please email generalmanager@onevoicechorus.ca)
Mainstay
OVC has just returned home after participating in Unison Festival, a quadrennial weekend choral festival in Halifax featuring Canada’s 2SLGBTQIA+ choruses. This year's theme was "Open Harbour" and we programmed a diverse repertoire that highlights the importance of coming together and supporting one another, especially in challenging times.
With two concert times to choose from, we hope you can join us!
Date: Saturday, June 3, 2023
Time: 3:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Location: Rozsa Centre (206 University Ct NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4V8)
Get your tickets here!
Unison Festival
The Unison Festival is a quadrennial weekend choral festival featuring Canada’s 2SLGBTQIA+ choruses. The first festival was in Edmonton in 1998 and festivals have since been held in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Calgary. For more information, visit UnisonFestivalUnisson.ca.
ProArts@Noon Concert Series
ProArts Society hosts free concerts most Wednesdays, and on March 29th, 2023, One Voice Chorus will be performing! The concert starts at noon, and doors open at 11:30 am.
This season, OVC is headed to Halifax to participate in the Unison Festival, which is a quadrennial weekend choral festival featuring Canada’s 2SLGBTQIA+ choruses. The theme this year is “Open Harbour” and we’ve programmed a diverse array of repertoire that highlights the importance of coming together and supporting one another, especially in challenging times. This noon-hour presentation features a handful of works that we will be performing both in Halifax and here in Calgary at our concert, Mainstay, where we will be joined by co-hosts Calgary Men’s Chorus at the Rosza Centre on June 3, 2023. Come and celebrate the power of unity and community with us!
The concert takes place at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer – corner of 7th avenue & 1st street SE
The Great Clear Twilight
Our winter concert, titled The Great Clear Twilight, focuses on the tenacity of the human spirit in difficult times. Winter can be a time of struggle; it is the hour of darkness and death. But the continuous passing of the natural seasons reminds us that from death springs forth new life. As creatures of the earth, we too pass through our own seasons and find ourselves renewed.
We hope you can join us for this night of introspective magic.
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-great-clear-twilight-tickets-444857650207
---------------------------
Please wear a mask for the duration of the event. Masks will be provided at the door.
Winter Holiday Epic Sing Along
Come and make merry singing along to seasonal favourites with the whole audience!
For more information click here.
Spring Sing! An Evening of our Greatest Hits & Fan Favourites
Event Information
What: Spring Sing! An Evening of our Greatest Hits & Fan Favourites
When: 7:00 pm, Saturday, June 11th, 2022
Where: Nickel Theatre, Room V200, 4825 Mt Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB T3E 0A3
Description: Join One Voice Chorus and Mount Royal Artio as they share their greatest hits and fan favourites in a by donation concert for our fans
Facebook link:
*Please note, masks are strongly encouraged for all attendees. Tickets are not required but are encouraged to ensure your spot.
Directions:
If you are entering through the west gate entrance to Mount Royal University (MRU), the Nickel Theatre is located on the left hand side. There is hourly parking outside of the west entrance and street parking adjacent. A map of the campus is attached.
RSVP:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/spring-sing-an-evening-of-our-greatest-hits-fan-favourites-tickets-357593811717?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb
This is the Sound of One Voice Digital Concert
Hosted by the effervescent Tonia Bates, One Voice Chorus presents an evening of choral music and interviews with choristers and Board members about what it's been like to live the past 12 months online as a rainbow choir. There's never been a 10th-anniversary season quite like this!
OVC Talks: Pretty, Witty, and Gay: Queer Representation in Musical Theatre
Join us for two evenings with Joe Slabe, Forte Musical Theatre Guild's Artistic Director.
Monday May 24th at 7:30 pm Part I: Playing it Straight – Musicals Before 1980
Monday May 31st at 7:30 pm Part II: Out of the Closet – Musicals Since 1980
This two part talk takes you through one hundred years of queer representation in musical theatre through the lives of the writers and the shows they created. Why were musicals so loved by early gay audiences and what did it take for queer artists to finally tell their own stories based on their own experiences?
Followed by Q&A with Joe Slabe.
Joe is an internationally recognized writer, composer and musical director with a Masters Degree in musical theatre from Goldsmiths College of the University of London. Honours include a Calgary Critics' Award for Best Production of a Musical for Touch Me: Songs for a (dis)Connected Age, five awards from the New York Musical Festival for Crossing Swords, and four Betty Mitchell Awards for his musical direction. Joe is the founding artistic director of Forte Musical Theatre Guild and received the 2004 Greg Bond Award for outstanding contributions to musical theatre in Calgary. His last name rhymes with "The Bay".
Register at: https://fb.me/e/X9tpEVPJ
OVC Cheers Raffle - Online edition
Tickets available for sale online!
Click the following link to purchase tickets:
https://www2.rafflebox.ca/raffle/onevoice
OVC Cheers Raffle – 10 tickets – $20
OVC Cheers Raffle – 3 tickets – $10
OVC Cheers Raffle – 1 ticket – $5
Draw Date:
The raffle prizes will be drawn on Sunday June 6, 2021
Winners will be announced on our website immediately following the presentation of our online concert.
Winners will be notified by email and/or telephone.
Individual arrangements with prize winners for pickup or delivery of prizes will be made at that time.
We are unable to ship prizes.
AGLC Raffle License number: 574092
Total number of tickets printed: 1,800
Tickets may only be sold and purchased in Alberta.
OVC presents Canadian Mohawk Two Spirit singer-song writer Shawnee Kish in concert.
Canadian Mohawk Two Spirit singer/songwriter uses music as medicine. Sharing her struggle with self identity and discovering music as a healing power through her music is what drives Shawnee's creative spirit.
OVC Talks: A Rainbow of Ideas
An evening of conversation with Kevin Allen - April 19th at 7:30 pm
This is a conversational interview and history with members of Rocky Mountain Singers the precursor mixed voice queer choir that existed in the nineties.
This event is free to attend.
Be sure to RSVP to receive a zoom link to join on April 19th.
Kevin Allen is the Research Lead of the Calgary Gay History Project, author of 'Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary', and researcher for 'A Queer Map: A Guide to the LGBTQ+ History of Calgary.'
One Voice Chorus presents Rae Spoon in Concert
One Voice Chorus presents Canadian singer-songwriter and trans activist Rae Spoon in an online concert that will expand your horizons and fill up your heart!
Monday, November 30, 2020 @ 7:30 pm
The concert will be streamed via YouTube.
Sliding scale ticket prices - pay what you can!
$1, $5, $10 or $15
About our featured musician:
Rae Spoon is a non-binary musician, producer and author based on Lekwungen Territory (Victoria). Rae has published two books with Arsenal Pulp Press and a humorous booklet called How to (Hide) Be(hind) Your Songs. Their first book, First Spring Grass Fire, was nominated for a Lambda Literary award and the co-write Gender Failure has been translated into German and is on a fifth pressing. In spring 2014, Rae was awarded an Honour Of Distinction by the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, presented by the Writers' Trust Of Canada. They have released ten solo albums ranging from country, folk and bluegrass to indie rock, pop and electronic. Rae has toured internationally over the past twenty years and they have been nominated for two Polaris Prizes and a Western Canada Music award. In 2015, Rae founded Coax Records in the hopes of using their experience as an underrepresented artist to create more space in the music industry for others.
The Story Project (postponed)
The Story Project will culminate in a multi-media concert of stories and song on Saturday, June 13, 2020 at 7:30 pm at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. Some of the stories will be presented live onstage, and others of the stories will be presented as printed prose, poetry, or visual art and displayed on story boards on concert night.
Auditions
Are you a tenor with good to excellent sight-singing skills? Are you an alto looking for a rainbow choral home? Then consider auditioning for One Voice Chorus! Auditions will be held on Monday, January 20th.
Transformation
One Voice Chorus has commissioned Calgary Gay History Project’s Kevin Allen to start research on a topic that Kevin believes has been underrepresented --- the history of Calgary’s transgender community. Come and hear Kevin speak on Sat Jan 18 at 7:30 pm at the New Central Library, with live music from One Voice Chorus!
Stonewall: A 50th Anniversary in Story and Song
One Voice Chorus celebrates the auspicious spark that ignited the movement for gay rights and queer acceptance…with a healthy dose of dance music from the 1960s!
Silent Auction
Support One Voice Chorus by attending our first Silent Auction Fundraiser! Come and bid on a variety of delectable comestibles, beautiful artwork, and engaging experiences – and enjoy a short performance by OVC!
Risk Being Real
What risks do you have to take to be yourself? One Voice Chorus explores courage and character through song.
Rainbow Cabaret
OVC’s talented singers bring you a highly entertaining evening of solos, small-‐group numbers and full-‐choir singing. Cash bar, complimentary appetizers, and of course, rainbow glitter!
OVC at ProArts@Noon
OVC at ProArts@Noon, Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 12:10pm A co-‐presentation with the High Performance Rodeo Cathedral Church of the Redeemer – 601 1 Street SE OVC presents a rainbow-‐themed noon-‐hour concert in its first-‐ever appearance at Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo.
Sugar
Come and feast on sweet musical confections from One Voice Chorus! Music to lighten the heart, sweeten your evening, and make your heart (and your teeth!) sing. Guest ensemble: The BarberEllas!
Unison Festival Unisson
You can see One Voice Chorus in the opening concert for Unison on Friday, May 18, 2018!
Out Loud !
Singing Love, Community and Strength When the politics of the world become polarizing, it’s easy for us to name the things that we’re against. What would happen, though, if we spent more energy on naming the things that we support, and to state our support out loud? Might it be an antidote to division?
Bridges
How can non-Indigenous Canadians be good allies to their Indigenous neighbours? Members of One Voice Chorus have spent their rehearsals this fall exploring this question, ultimately discovering how much they have left to learn. But as the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, the longest journey begins with a single step. The choir invites its audience to take this first step with them with the concert Bridges.
Prairie Queer Companian
One Voice Chorus proudly presents “Prairie Queer Companion”, a concert featuring two musicians whose work explores what it’s like to grow up queer on the Canadian prairies.
March Forth: A Dinner Party
Throughout the evening, you'll be serenaded by some of the finest Italian musical acts this side of the ocean, including accordionist Penny Sanborn, The Calgary Renaissance Singers & Players, operatic soprano Anna Casurella and One Voice Chorus
Voice. Variety. Verve. Cabaret!
OVC’s Rainbow Cabaret fundraiser is back! You’re invited to an evening of cabaret-style entertainment, brought to you by the members of One Voice Chorus. Let us entertain you with a pinch of Broadway, a dash of jazz, and a shot of comedy to banish the winter blues.