“It was a tremendous collaborative experience, both musically and socially.”
Jill Anderson, co-conductor with Cricket Handler of Canzona Women’s Ensemble, says members of the group felt very welcomed during their recent choral tour to eastern Canada. They joined two other women’s choral ensembles in June to present two concerts.
The group teamed up with members of the Cantiamo Women’s Choir at Dominion College in Ottawa and the Chorale du Gesu at Oscar Peterson Hall in Montreal.
Each choir presented a 20-minute segment of its own repertoire, then all 80 singers combined to present four large group pieces. Canzona presented its complete tour repertoire to a local audience during its spring concert in March.
“We enjoyed being ambassadors for our community in eastern Canada,” Handler says, “And are happy that we raised their awareness of the Central Coast of California.”
Given the success of the tour, Anderson says Canzona may complete another collaborative tour in the future, perhaps to the Canadian province of Alberta. The choir’s last trip was to the Tapestry Festival in Vancouver in 2015.
Canzona’s next local concert, “Songs of the Americas,” is scheduled November 3 at the United Methodist Church in San Luis Obispo.