The One Day Choir faced an unexpected challenge on Saturday, but still pulled together for a strong performance.
The choir was originally billed to perform at the Prince Albert Street Fair, but the event was cancelled due to weather a few hours before it was supposed to start. Despite the late change, the choir still performed at the Margo Fournier Arts Centre. The list of songs included the hit pop single ‘Here comes the Sun’.
“Honestly, when I picked that song I pictured us singing outside in the sunshine,” Prince Albert Arts Board member and choir director Kayleigh Skomorowski said with a laugh.
“We picked something a little bit simpler this time just because we had an hour and a half unlike last time that we had three hours,” she added. “That presented a challenge.
The choir also performed “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen with an arrangement by Jeff Buckley.
“I was just trying to think of accessible music,” Skomorowski said. “Most people have heard the Jeff Bukley’s ‘Halleluja’ version from Shrek, and a lot of people like to sing that song, so I kind of started there, thinking of those people who are coming out who maybe haven’t had a chance to sing in a choir before. Here comes the sun’, again, I was just trying to think of a pop song that people know, but I also stumbled on that arrangement, which is just a beautiful arrangement of that piece.”
Skomorowksi said she hopes to keep organizing one day choirs throughout the year. That includes another one in the fall, and possibly one next spring.
“As long as people keep singing,” she said.
The Parts for the Arts: One Day Choir with Kayleigh Skomorowski and Brock Skomorowski attempted to create a choir for a day. The event was in the Margo Fournier Arts Centre and also paid tribute to the building’s namesake and the founder of the Prince Albert Boys’ Choir.
–with files from Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald
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