I wrote down a few things that really stand out in my memory from ECC:
I was new in Toronto and thought a choir would be a good way to get to know some people, and it was! What really struck me at the first rehearsal was a part that did not go well, so you asked someone to sing it and the guy was so good, I thought “wow, the quality of this choir is extremely high!”. What I did not know that for every group there actually was a professional (from the conservatory), so this was not the average quality of the singers! But I really liked it that there was such a dedication to quality that these students were hired, I have never heard of such a thing in the Netherlands.
It does cost extra money though, leading to my second memory: the continuous initiatives to get extra money. In my memory every other month there was a raffle, bakesale, or we had to buy cheese, chocolate or flower bulbs (now buy your squirrel fodder, I remember you said ). Also this is very uncommon in the Netherlands.
The highlight of the concerts for me was the Mikado: there was some panic the weeks before the concert when it turned out we really had to know everything by heart and do some choreography using a folding fan. I loved the concert though, together with the group of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society (?). Gilbert and Sullivan are not very well known In the Netherlands, but as I liked it so much, I searched hard and managed to find a project singing Patience.
By: August Langhout
