Are you looking for a wholesome, Christian choir for you or your child in St. John’s? Help us launch the Spiritoso Singers!
We are launching a new family of Christian choirs. They're called the Spiritoso Singers. We’d like to encourage you to join, and to please help spread the word! They’re going to be fun and wholesome, with high quality instruction and performances!
The choirs will rehearse on Mondays, at Divine Mercy Parish, at 340A Newfoundland Drive. The rehearsal schedule is as follows:
3:30-4:25pm Spiritoso Training Singers (ages 4-6)
4:30-6:25pm Spiritoso Youth Singers (ages 7-17)
7:45-9:45pm Spiritoso Singers (adults, SATB)
Friendly and low-stress auditions will take place throughout September, in St. Johns' East End. You don’t have to prepare anything for auditions; it is just a way for you to meet us, and for us to test out your comfortable vocal range. And yes, you may join the choirs after the first rehearsal! We will be accepting new people until the beginning of October.
Rehearsals will run from September 14th to December 7th, excluding October 12th.
The Christmas concert will be on December 13th, and the tuition fee will be $300/term for the two older choirs, and $150/term for the training choir. Scholarships are available, as is a family fee for multiple children, if you need it. The tuition fee includes all sheet music, practice materials, rehearsal pianist, and tuition in musical concepts.
If you or someone you know would like to join a choir that is fun, high quality, and praises God, join us!
Sign up for an audition here; you should fill out a separate form for each person: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5jpqaGrlivIOFPyWVHkO1wTgNpg91M6ERqFaWQIQFl7wNOA/viewform?usp=publish-editor
We are in the exciting initial stages of this new choir. Please let us know if you are interested, and if you can help in any way. We believe this could be the start of something really wonderful for our community!
Let us know your interest, and/or how you can help!
Audition sign up form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5jpqaGrlivIOFPyWVHkO1wTgNpg91M6ERqFaWQIQFl7wNOA/viewform?usp=publish-editor
Questions:
Sarah at realcalmforcatholicmoms@gmail.com
The (adult) Spiritoso Singers’ first concert, in December, 2023. We were small, but mighty, and a good time was had by all!
Who is organizing these choirs?
Our artistic director, Sarah Templeton, teaches voice, acting, and movement, and is a classical soprano who has performed all over the place, including Vancouver, Germany, Italy, and New York City. Her training as a conductor included assisting Canadian composer and choral conductor, Mark Sirett, with the award-winning Cantabile Choirs of Kingston. Sarah was trained as an actor in New York City, has a Master’s in Music in Vocal Performance, sang in the chorus of Vancouver Opera for several years, has sung in many operas and musicals, and ran her own opera company in Vancouver. She was happy to move back to St. John’s a few years ago, after a 28-year hiatus! She started the Spiritoso Singers (an adult choir that she would love to restart soon!) in 2023-24, which enjoyed two terms and two concerts. She recently heard God’s call to join the Catholic church, which she did, this past Easter.
Here are some testimonials from adults who were members of our Spiritoso Singers, 2 years ago:
“I joined the choir in September, and what a positive experience it has been! Meeting old friends and making new ones. I have benefited very much from the Feldenkrais approach which Sarah uses for our warm ups! It has helped me reach those high notes again! A great group of people! You won’t be disappointed.”
-Debbie Courtney
“The Spiritoso Singers… what a great experience! From the moment I walked in for my audition, Sarah and Chris were amazing. Such great leadership and talent. It had been many years since I sang in a choir and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was way beyond my expectations! A challenging, yet very rewarding experience. I would highly recommend it. If you have been contemplating joining a choir, do it!”
-Marie Fitzpatrick
“I found my time with the choir to be a very positive experience. My love for singing was rekindled and I so appreciated Sarah’s professional leadership and guidance. Meeting people in the choir with the same interest was a definite plus. We had fun!”
-Patricia Rideout
“My Spiritoso choral experience was amazing, from the initial audition to our grand finale, performing in a beautiful Christmas concert. Sarah is an awesome choral director and Chris is an outstanding accompanist. Sarah's professionalism and warm personality provide a very comfortable learning environment which encouraged a strong bond among our like-minded group. Sarah gave us the best choral tutelage, including proper posture, warm-up exercises and sectional sessions, as well as posting pieces online for practice. She went above and beyond, opening her home studio to us for several extra rehearsals to set us up for success.”
-Jo-Ann Clarke
“When I first saw the ad to join a new choir, the Spiritoso Singers, I was intrigued. I could not wait to meet with Sarah for an audition. I attended all practices prior to the concert. Sarah was diligent in posting information for the songs online. She provided all materials needed and was always there to help out and answer questions. With her experience and guidance, we had fun learning new music together and sang in a wonderful concert for our family and friends.”
-Florence Simon
“At first glance of Sarah’s advertisement to join this choir, I was immediately interested. I love music and enjoy singing. I have not been in a choir for many years so the doubts kept popping into my head and I felt that I wasn’t good enough to be in a choir. Then I met Sarah and she showed so much professionalism in her approach to this choir that I dispelled all doubts and jumped to the challenge. I am so thankful to Sarah and the other members of the choir for giving me this memorable experience. I look forward to many more experiences under the direction of Sarah.”
-Miriam Hornell
“I really enjoyed the fall session with the Spiritoso Choir. It had been almost 10 years since I sang with a choir and I responded to a Facebook post. Sarah and her husband Chris were wonderful - always positive and patient with us. Sarah selected very beautiful pieces - most I hadn't heard before! They were challenging but I really enjoyed learning them. Sarah provided recordings of our parts so it was easy to practise on my own. I also met some very nice people. Everyone was encouraging and tried to help each other. I will definitely join again.”
-Regina Clarke
Here are a few possibilities of songs we might sing this year!
Our vision is that we will do songs like these:
