[From the Ontario District's newsletter, The Trillium, issue 59-04, October - December, 2005 , Waldo Redekop, editor.]

A Vocal Celebration

By Ron Dodge

The Toronto Northern Lights and Etobicoke-Mississauga’s Inclination Quartet joined soloists Corinne Lynch, Laura Schatz, Bernie Lynch and special guest soloist Mark DuBois for an eclectic evening of vocal music on October 1 at St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto.

The concert, produced by Etobicoke-Mississauga chorus director and St. Anne’s soloist Bernie Lynch, raised funds to help upgrade St. Anne’s eighty-two-year-old pipe organ affectionately known to church regulars as “the old girl.”

Nearly a hundred years old, St. Anne’s is a designated national historic site known for its Byzantine-style wall paintings executed in 1923 by ten Toronto artists including Franklin Carmichael, J.E.H.MacDonald and Frederick Varley of the Group of Seven.

The superb acoustics of the church enhanced the artistry and intimacy of the soloists, the vibrant precision of The Northern Lights, and the magnificent thunder of “the old girl” herself when she and organist Peter Orme concluded the concert with the Toccata from Boellman’s “Suite Gothique.”

Inclination’s performance included an arrangement of “The Wiffenpoof Song” by former Etobicoke Chapter chorus director Harry Mays.

Two of many vocal highlights in the concert were duets. One was a lively performance by Corinne Lynch and Laura Schatz of Rossini’s “A Comic Duet for Two Cats.”

The other, the vocal finale by the four soloists and the Toronto Northern Lights, was “The Prayer” by Canadians David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager, and arranged for barbershop performance by TNL director Steve Armstrong, which earned a standing ovation.     k