Andrew Gilpin Crowns Georgetown Choral Society Concert
December 12th 2011
Andrew Gilpin, Lisa (Tass) Jackson, A. Dale Wood. Photographed by Laurent Thibault.
Have you heard of Andrew Gilpin? A full house at The Georgetown Choral Society’s (GCS) Christmas concert on Dec. 10 was treated to Gilpin’s magnificent composition to the Latin Gloria, the ancient prayer of the mass of the Christian church.
Gilpin is a Wunderkind, a young man who was entirely home schooled and a completely self-taught musician. His Gloria is difficult and technically demanding in parts, with a solo part in the high soprano range, yet it has memorable or “catchy” melodic elements that had some audience members humming afterward.
The soloist was Lisa (Tass) Jackson, an accomplished internationally trained singer who is also a member of GCS. During the Gloria, she easily stepped in and out of the solo part, lending support to the soprano section while planted in the middle of the central tenor section. She was also nine months pregnant!
The Gloria filled the second half of the concert, which featured Shawn Grenke as accompanist, and began with a gorgeous arrangement of O Come, Emmanuel, moved through some fun and unusual carols, and included an audience sing-along ruthlessly conducted by the controlling and entertaining GCS tenor Jack Morrison. The first half ended with a big musical flourish that featured a solo by GCS soprano Maria Stevens.
But it is Andrew Gilpin who crowned the evening. He and his parents attended the concert and he said this was the first time he had heard his work performed without him playing it, and he thanked conductor Dale Wood for that.
World-class musical talent is on offer in Georgetown near the Niagara Escarpment! Have you heard or performed Gilpin’s work?
Customer Appreciation Day by Escarpment Views
September 22nd 2011Escarpment Views will host a Customer Appreciation Day for advertisers and subscribers on Sat. Oct. 1 at Orchard House near the Niagara Escarpment in the country north of Georgetown. Weather permitting, we will lead a short hike or walk through part of the nearby Niagara Escarpment, followed by a buffet supper.
If you are an advertiser or subscriber, we invite you to contact us for directions and time details. We look forward to welcoming you to Orchard House!
Georgetown Choral Society on the Niagara Escarpment
July 09th 2011
Georgetown Choral Society gathering on the Niagara Escarpment
“If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise.”
This line from the song “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” – correct me if I’m wrong – went through my head as Mike and I took a short stretch of The Bruce Trail at Limehouse recently to meet members of the Georgetown Choral Society (GCS). I should mention that Escarpment Views has been a patron of GCS for a few years, and that I, Gloria, am a former member. I sang alto, or at least tried to keep up.
Choir members waiting for the photographer
As promised, there they were waiting for us, about half the 100-member choir, all in red choir T-shirts, waiting patiently among the rocks of the Niagara Escarpment for Mike to photograph them.
Climbing through Escarpment rocks toward the choir
Even long-time (35 years this year) choral director A. Dale Wood played along. He’s in the front of the rather formal photos. Dale also directs the Achill Choral Society, another Escarpment-area group, in addition to five Georgetown choruses for children and youth.
Choir director A. Dale Wood with the beard, Laurent Thibault at his shoulder
Casual hikers might have wondered at the sound of “Oh Canada” echoing through the forest when the choir began singing. There’s no avoiding songs when choir members assemble. Anyone who came upon the choir members would have been astonished by the army of red shirts.
Another view of the Escarpment, with only half of the total GCS members!
The occasion was the 40th anniversary of the GCS which is being celebrated all this year. The photograph was choir member Laurent Thibault’s idea. He thought that our readers would enjoy seeing the choir posed among the rock and moss of the Niagara Escarpment. A different photo than the ones posted here, will be in our Autumn issue, available around Sept. 1.
The next GCS concert will be “40 Years – Let’s Celebrate!” on Oct. 21 & 22 at the Georgetown Christian Reformed Church featuring guest soloists Mark Dubois and Alana Bridgewater.
Oh, the choir members, Mike and I went on to a member’s house with a fantastic view from the Niagara Escarpment, to have a BBQ, not a teddy bear’s picnic.
Like what you see here? Like what you hear when they sing?
Take a Coffee Break® & Help Fight Alzheimer’s
September 14th 2010Coffee Break® supports programs for half a million Canadians with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
One in 11 Canadians over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
Coffee Break® is the Alzheimer Society’s major nationwide annual fundraiser where friends, co-workers and customers gather in communities across Canada to raise funds for local Alzheimer Societies. Foodstuffs in Downtown Georgetown will be hosting a Coffee Break from September 16 to 25. [I think a cafe on Mill St. in Creemore is also participating in this.]
Participants at these events make a donation in exchange for a cup of coffee. The money raised stays in the province or community to help support local programs and services.
Even if you’ve already picked up your “usual” from one of Georgetown’s many great restaurants and coffee shops, you can still support our local Alzheimer Society by stopping in at Foodstuffs to “buy” a coffee cut-out or by visiting the Foodstuffs.ca home page for a link to the on-line Virtual Coffee Break.
The Coffee Break at Foodstuffs will feature local Ultimate Bean coffees brewed fresh for sampling. Every day there will be a draw for fresh-baked treats, coffees and accessories, and all participants will receive a special-edition newsletter filled with recipes, puzzles, coffee lore and nutritional information. Drop by Foodstuffs at 89 Main Street South in Downtown Georgetown any time from September 16 to 25 to join the in-store Coffee Break for our local Alzheimer Society. You’ll be helping someone you know.
For more about the great specialty store Foodstuffs, see this “Worth the Visit.”
Escarpment Views’ Office Clear-Out Yard Sale
August 23rd 2010Escarpment Views is NOT closing down. But we ARE cleaning out! As we approach the end of our third year of publication, we find that we have too much stuff! It’s good stuff, but there’s a limit to everything. Also, I’d like to live with less clutter, so I’m saying bye-bye to my poo-poo and making room to breathe and move.
What we have a lot of is books. Good books. Literature. Non-fiction. Hardcovers. First editions. Some brand new, just published, that I received for review but don’t have room to keep forever. The super brand new are priced at three for $20. Older titles are a steal at $1 each.
Christmas is not that far away, so this is a good time to scoop up gifts for your bibliophile friends and relatives!
While we’re clearing out, we’re getting rid of some small tables and a bookcase, and some big wood lawn chairs. Also golf clubs and various other treasures like kitchen stuff and office supplies.
As well, we’ll be set up to give out free back issues of Escarpment Views, plus take subscriptions for you or as your gifts for others. We have a special deal for multiple subscriptions: two for $42, three for $63 and four for $84! As a friend of the magazine says, it makes a great stocking stuffer. Some notecards will be available, and you can even talk to Mike about ordering prints of any of his great photos. Remember Christmas and Hannukah and Kwanza and the winter solstice are coming!
This Sat. Aug. 28, rain or shine, from 8 a.m., our great stuff will be available at 50 Ann St. in the north end of Georgetown. Signs will be at the big curve on Hwy 7 at the Moore Park end of town.
Come and say hello, get some free copies of the magazine, and pick up some gifts and treasures for yourself or others. And help us clear out our offices!
The day after this was posted, I received a complaint about our offer of selling old review copies. The person wrote that publishers would object to us making a profit from the books and that the money raised should be donated to “something worthwhile.”
I replied with a long note about how selling review copies is a common practice among all the media outlets I have experience with, that used bookstores get good inventory this way, and that “profit” is an interesting question. I know of non profits that pay annual salaries of $300,000!
But really, the only point I needed to make is that this person doesn’t object to selling review copies as such. She’s annoyed that the money isn’t going to “something worthwhile,” presumably a charity or non-profit group of her choice.
At Escarpment Views we have to be thrifty to survive. We’re also committed to the practice of reuse as much as possible. Any money we make goes toward the magazine’s survival. Extra money will go toward paying our staff, contributing writers and photographers, better rates.
I guess the main point of this person’ complaint is her impression that we’re making piles of profit, and that Escarpment Views is not something that’s worthwhile.
There’s good news as well as bad in her impression. It’s disturbing that she doesn’t think our environmental, pro-world biosphere reserve mandate is important. But I guess it’s great that the magazine seems highly successful and profitable. It’s only by becoming financially viable that we’ll be able to do all the good work we have as goals for the magazine.
Remembering Terry Fox
July 19th 2010Below is a request from the Terry Fox Foundation, for your memories of his historic run.
I’ll share mine here. My parents were hosting some of our relatives from Germany at their house in the country north of Georgetown. I was driving to my parents house, on the stretch of Highway 7 between Georgetown and Acton, when I saw flashing lights approaching me, people running on the shoulder on the other side of the road, carrying buckets to hold cash contributions, and I knew that something special was going on. I pulled over to the side of the road and then I saw him. Terry Fox in white T shirt and shorts, running with that unmistakable hopeful hop, swinging his artificial leg. Of course I burst into tears. When his procession passed, I drove slowly to my parents’ house.
“What’s the matter?” asked my ever-observant mother.
“I just saw Terry Fox,” I said, and the tears ran again.
“Who is that?” asked my German aunt and uncle. And my parents explained who Terry Fox was, and my relatives later went back to Germany with the knowledge of him and the impact he had on Canadians and perhaps the rest of the world.
And the tears are flowing even now as I write this, a few decades later.
Here’s what the Terry Fox Foundation wants:
It does not seem possible that the story of Terry Fox is now 30 years old, nor that we are all 30 years older since we first heard it. In preparation for the 30th Anniversary of The Marathon of Hope, the Ontario Office of The Terry Fox Foundation is asking individuals who met or saw Terry during his visit to your community to share their stories with us. Terry touched the lives of many people across the country in the summer of 1980. We would love to hear these stories and share them with the rest of Canada on our website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.
Please email or write your “I Remember Terry” (500 words or less) and fax it to the attention of Jessica at 416-924-6597 or email it to ontario2@terryfoxrun.org. We look forward to creating a narrative that reflects Canadians’ relationship with Terry Fox.
The 30th Annual Terry Fox Run is Sunday September 19th. Please join us as we work together to outrun cancer.
Are you going to share your memories? Is there someone else whose challenge with illness has moved you?
