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Scholarships
The Salt Spring Singers support vocal music education in the community by collecting donations at our concerts and online to fund two scholarships annually:
- One, with a value of $1500, goes to a graduating student from Gulf Island Secondary School. The award for a graduating GISS student is announced at the graduation ceremony. Information on the GISS award is available through the school’s web site.
- Another, with a value of $500, goes to a Salt Spring Island community member wishing to pursue music studies and who demonstrates promise, commitment and an enthusiastic attitude. Consideration will be given to community involvement in musical activities such as performances, concerts and training. Preference will be given to candidates intending to study voice and/or who are members of a community or school choir.
An applicant may receive only one of the Salt Spring Singers awards in any one year. Each spring, invitations to apply for the community awards are advertised in the Gulf Islands Driftwood and on Salt Spring Exchange
Click here to download an application package.
Donations to the scholarship fund
The Salt Spring Singers are grateful to our many supporters for their donations to our Scholarship Fund. Over the years, you have helped us maintain our scholarships through our concert fundraising efforts.
If you can help, please make a donation online at CanadaHelps.org. Search for “Salt Spring Singers” on the Find a Charity page. Click on Salt Spring Singers. In the Donate to this Charity page choose the Scholarship Fund (it is the default) in the “Apply donation to a fund set up by this charity.” CanadaHelps will issue a tax receipt.
Thank you for helping us give the gift of music education to fellow islanders.
Join Us – Fall and Winter 2024
On this page you can find out what the Salt Spring Singers have to offer to people like you who love to sing. We have two seasons: in January, we start up to work towards our Spring concert in May. Then, after a summer break, we meet again in September to start rehearsing for our Winter concert.
Our Spring concert is held on one of the first three weekends of May and registration for the season is scheduled for the first or second Tuesday of January, between 6:15 and 7 p.m.
Our Winter concert is held on the first or second weekend of December and registration for that season is scheduled for the first or second Tuesday of September, between 6:15 and 7 p.m.
Our next session starts Tuesday, September 3, 2024. Choir members will receive details by email. If you are new to the choir, please contact the President for details. Click on this link to Register online, or download the registration form and bring it to the first rehearsal.
The registration fee of $150 can be paid by cash, cheque (payable to Salt Spring Singers), or Interac E-Transfer. The recipient email address for Interac e-transfers is treasurersssingers@gmail.com. The Singers’ e-transfer account is set up for autodeposit so no security question and answer are needed. And if you wish to save up to $20, you can register and pay for the Winter 2024 and/or Spring 2025 Sessions before August 15 2024, and you will pay only $140 per session!
Rehearsals for the full choir are held from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday evening. On Mondays the soprano and alto sections rehearse from 5 to 6 pm and the tenor and bass sections rehearse from 6 to 7 pm. Choir rehearsals are held at the Salt Spring Baptist Church, 520 Lower Ganges Road. There is plenty of parking in the front and also in the back of the church.
The choir welcomes singers in all registers: soprano, alto, tenor, bass, but we are always especially in need of tenors, baritones and basses.
You don’t need to audition to join the choir and, while being able to read music is undoubtedly an asset, it is not essential to being a member. Being able to carry a tune and sing on pitch is a requirement. You’ll be able to master your parts with the help of music files, provided on this website.
Contact
Inquiries about the choir should be directed to the President.
Email: presidentssisingers@gmail.com
Inquiries about payments, donations, charitable tax receipts should be directed to the Treasurer.
Email: treasurersssingers@gmail.com
The mailing address for the Salt Spring Singers Choral Society is:
301 Canvasback Place, Salt Spring Island V8K 2W5
History
Under construction
Board
The Salt Spring Singers Choral Society was incorporated in 2007.
The Society is governed by a Board of Directors, who are elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Board members elected at the May 9, 2023 AGM
President: Jean Brouard
Secretary: Kate Merry
Treasurer: Ron Dyck
Directors at large: Lisa Black, Susan Bull, Carole Eyles, Greg Slakov and Joe Schuldhaus
Accompanist
James Yi
Born in Songtan, South Korea, and raised in the Lower Mainland, James began studying piano at the age of 16 with late Edward Parker, and at age 18, took up clarinet with Trisha Buehler. He received his BA in performance for clarinet under the guidance of Patricia Kostek, and studied piano with Arthur Rowe at UVic. He currently lives in Victoria, BC, continuing to be a part of the musical community in the city.
James specializes in teaching, with more than a decade of experience, his students’ age ranges from anywhere from 5 to 50.
As an accompanist, he has worked with Fear No Opera, GNS choirs, Salt Spring Singers, and various solo instrumentalists and students in many different genres.
He has worked as summertime music leader at the Cordova Bay United Church, and he is currently the music director at St. Paul’s United Church in Sidney.
Director
Don Conley has been the choral director of the Salt Spring Singers since 2012. The choir has benefited from Don’s professional experience as pianist, teacher, vocal coach. Under his leadership the choir has performed a wide variety of music, ranging from choral classics to contemporary compositions.
About the Salt Spring Singers
Fifty years ago a phone call and an ad in the Driftwood inspired by the joy of singing led to the establishment of the Salt Spring Singers. Twenty-seven charter members, under the direction of Ruth Barker, gave their first concert in the spring of 1974.
And this year, the Singers celebrated their 50th anniversary with a spring concert called Broadway Gold, an exciting review of musicals ranging from a Gershwin medley, through selections from Lerner and Lowe, West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz and many well-loved individual songs.
Another way that the choir gives back to Salt Spring is through the scholarship program. Each year a graduating GISS student can apply for a scholarship and each year a community music award is also available. For more information visit the Singers’ Scholarship webpage.
The choir that has an extensive music library has performed in at least 8 European languages as well as Latin, Hebrew, Chinese and Swahili. And the styles have ranged from Renaissance madrigals to John Rutter’s newly arranged “Hymn to Ukraine”. Other highlights are two performances of Carmina Burana (and the solo by the late director Mitch Howard of the roasting goose may still be viewed on You Tube), folk songs from across Canada, a simplified version of A Christmas Carol, and even some opera selections. They have also sung 2 compositions especially created for them!
And this has not been done alone. They have also performed concerts with the GISS Honour Choir, Bandemonium/Swing Shift, Centus, Angelicus String Ensemble, Island Brass Players, Luann Katz, Alan Moberg, Bill Henderson, and A Joyful Noise (who came from Edmonton to join the Singers). Other accomplished singers and musicians have helped the Singers share the joy of music.
While that joy of singing is a large reason the choir continuing singing, current president Jean Brouard notes that the “big thing is the role in the community. Membership, directors and singers have changed over the years, affecting many people on Salt Spring”. There is also the concept of a cooperative effort—everyone working together to create one beautiful sound. Pre-covid the Singers performed in December at Greenwoods and went caroling through Ganges as well as participating in Remembrance Day events.
The social aspect of working together to create something beautiful cannot be overlooked. Long time member Connie Holmes joined the choir upon moving to Salt Spring and fit it into her busy schedule as a nurse. She has many friends who currently sing in the choir and or are former members. She particularly enjoyed the way different directors have brought their individual focus to the choir and the fact that membership and the program can appeal to all ages.