| Britain, The Royals, The Kingdom Choir, Huron Waves…
That reference to the BBC prompts me to keep a focus on Britain for a moment (…forgive the leap, please). One might wonder how the controversies arising from Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke & Duchess of  Sussex could even remotely touch us at Huron Waves. But they do, because of our interest in The Kingdom Choir. It seems that the Choir’s founder/conductor, Karen Gibson, has come to the defence of Prince Charles, whom many see as the source of the racial comments about the Sussexes’ child, Archie. Ms. Gibson says that the heir to the throne has been a long-time supporter of her ensemble; in fact, it’s been reported that it was Prince Charles who personally suggested The Kingdom Choir for the royal wedding.
The rest, of course, is history because around the world – with two billion people watching their performance of Stand By Me – calls mounted for the singers to tour in live performances.
Our turn to enjoy these amazing choristers at Huron Waves is hopefully just a year away when The Kingdom Choir’s North American tour, cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 epidemic, is to be rescheduled for May, 2022. Fingers crossed! |
90 days into 2021, still with plenty of concerns and questions about what’s ahead. All we can do is get vaccinated, be patient and, as Easter approaches, take comfort from great music such as Handel’s Messiah which has proclaimed hope and new beginnings through difficult eras since its première 279 years ago. Personally, I can never get enough Messiah(…notice that it’s not titled The Messiah) so here are two interpretations I’m watching and recommending this month.
adaptation filmed in the London Coliseum’s gorgeous auditorium (without an audience in these virus sensitive times) but with the famous solos sung by double the number of singers we usually hear; this, we are told, is how Messiah was sung in London in 1742.
I’m glad that last month’s focus was of great interest and that it reminded many of their own visits to see A Crack in Everything at Le MAC in Montreal. Recently I’ve learned of a new film about L.C., a project to which he gave his blessing before his death in 2016. Taking its title from another Cohen song, Death of a Ladies’ Man, the film is now available on iTunes and other video-on-demand platforms. Watch the trailer 
pivot once again into a video production of the style and quality we created with FauxPop Media last December. This new program I’ve tentatively titled Celebrate Summer with Huron Waves. On May 1, I’ll write more about how you can help the music festival with this and other projects but for now I’d welcome your suggestions about sites around the County where we could film interesting musical segments. Just as we set the last segments at Iceculture, under Goderich’s holiday lights and on the shores of the Lake, my current search is to identify locales for this video. Suggestions? You can be in touch via my email address below.
