Mulgrave Sings!
UBC Med Choir
Collage
and Choralation A Cappella
Natassja By; Mulgrave Sings!
What got you into choral singing?
I first sang in a children’s choir in my hometown of Regina when I was in elementary school. We got to sing with the Symphony once and since then, I have been hooked!
How did the group come up with the name?
We are the Chamber Choir from Mulgrave School, made up of singers in Grade 10-12. Mulgrave Sings seems to fit pretty well.
What brought you into Yule Duel?
Singing together in our wider community for a great cause. Mulgrave sang in the first Yule Duel, this is year 3 in a row! The students love the aspect of spreading holiday cheer with song.
What is the musical style of the repertoire?
Traditional and contemporary choral repertoire from around the world.
What do you think your odds are of winning?
We aren’t here to win! (We’d be delighted of course), but it isn’t our reason for participating.
Are you going to have a unique spin this year to give you an edge?
Our energy! Or, our global take on the holiday. We’ll be singing in 4 languages. Maybe that will be our edge! Our school is also handing out hot chocolate in support of the event, and May’s Place, so be sure to pop by and grab a cuppa!
Who’s your biggest competition?
I see that Collingwood is bringing an ensemble. We have a friendly West Vancouver rivalry with them, so we’ll be cheering them on from across Water St.
What are you listening to right now?
Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas; Ella Fitzgerald
So how can people see Mulgrave Sings! outside of Yule Duel?
Our holiday concert is December 19th, at West Vancouver United Church @7pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome!
Rebecca Spouge; UBC Med Choir
What got you into choral singing?
Choral singing is a great way to bring people together in a relaxing and friendly environment. UBC Med choir includes members from all backgrounds; for some, choral music has been a consistent part of growing up and for others it’s a completely new experience. Regardless, the inclusive nature of the group and joy of singing has brought us together.
How did the group come up with the name?
Well as you can tell the name follows the ‘keep it simple’ principle. We are all med students from UBC, across all four years of our training that have come together to sing!
What brought you into Yule Duel?
We heard about Yule duel from a fellow classmate. It is the first year that UBC med choir has entered the duel and it’s been a great way for us to practice some carols and solidify the sound of our group.
What is the musical style of the repertoire?
For the current duel we are harnessing our core love of Christmas Carols, focusing on those holiday classics!
What do you think your odds are of winning?
We entered the battle as a fun way to practice and sing together as a group. Our intentions and goals for this battle are not to win but to bring some festive cheer to the streets of Vancouver while raising money and awareness for May’s Place Hospice; a cause we are all very passionate about.
Are you going to have a unique spin to give you an edge?
A unique spin?! Well…we do have some pretty fun costumes planned!
Who’s your biggest competition?
Well looking at the lineup of choirs for this year, it seems like there is some fierce competition! As it is our first year, we are going in with the goal of having fun and singing our hearts out in the spirit of the winter holidays!
What are we listening to right now?
Well as many of us are in the thick of studying for finals, we have been listening to all types of music. Anything from Ludovico Einaudi to AC/DC; the variety keeps things interesting.
So how can people see UBC Med choir outside of Yule Duel?
We are performing at the UBC Medicine Gala which is a big event at the Chan Centre at UBC in early March 2018. There will be a number of groups and performers showing off their talents; definitely an event to check out!
Connie Pelke; Collage
What got you into choral singing?
Just over 20 years ago, I saw an ad in the local newspaper saying that there was a non-audition, adult community choir starting in the local high school…. so I went and I have been singing in a choir ever since.
How did the group come up with the name?
The group I’m singing with, Collage, has actually been around long before I joined them – about 10 years now. I believe the name represents the people in the group. A collage of sorts.
What brought you into Yule Duel?
I hadn’t heard of Yule Duel until a friend at work had told me about it. I thought this would be something fun that Collage would really like to be part of. As soon as I could, I signed us up!
Hear Collage sing:
What is the musical style of the repertoire?
Our style is anything from Manhattan Transfer to doo wop…. anything we like, actually.
What do you think your odds are of winning?
I have no idea what our odds would be. I have listened to some of the groups from their web pages. I just know that we have been rehearsing Christmas music since August and have been working really hard to polish our repertoire!
Are you going to have a unique spin this year to give you an edge?
I don’t know that we have a “unique spin” other than we may be a little older than most of the groups!
Who’s your biggest competition?
I don’t really know.
What are you listening to right now?
I have the TV on to Kelly and Ryan. Hey, I’m retired!
So how can people see Collage outside of Yule Duel?
We have several gigs this Christmas. Our next public performance will be at the West Coast Express Station in Port Coquitlam on December 17th when the CP Holiday Train rolls through Poco.
Jennifer Balfour; Choralation A Cappella
What got you into choral singing?
I’ve been involved with music for most of my life, having completed a BMus at UVic in 1999 and singing with the UVic Chorus and Prima Youth Choir. When I was studying and working at UBC I met a group of fellow students who were keen to form an a cappella ensemble. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance!
How did the group come up with the name?
Choralation was founded primary by a group of grad students from UBC, including several Physics and Astronomy students. It took us a while to come up with a name, but we landed on “Choralation” as a play on “correlation” in keeping with tradition of having puns in a cappella group names, and combining our interest in science with the idea of bringing our voices together to reach our common musical goals.
What brought you into Yule Duel?
I’d heard of this event from other people in the Vancouver choral community and it sounded like a lot of fun! We invited some of our former Choralation members as well as some singers from Vancouver’s High Spirits Choir to join us at the Yule Duel to have some extra voices.
What is the musical style of the repertoire?
All of our repertoire is a cappella, which means we have no accompaniment. Our selections for Yule Duel 2017 include a mix of standard traditional Christmas carols as well as some more modern popular holiday songs.
What do you think your odds are of winning?
Honestly we’re not here to try to win – our goal is to raise money for May’s Place and bring some wonderful music to Vancouver’s downtown area to brighten the holiday season. Then again, you never know! I’m sure the competition will be fierce.
Are you going to have a unique spin this year to give you an edge?
We’re hoping that our experience in a cappella singing will work to our benefit at this event. We’ve had a lot of fun preparing all our repertoire and we can’t wait to share it with the audience.
Who’s your biggest competition?
There are some incredible groups participating this year. I’m sure that Sweet Scarlet will put on a great performance, and I’m also keen to hear what Quayside Voices brings to the event.
What are you listening to right now?
I’ve got a 400+ song Christmas A Cappella Spotify playlist on shuffle a lot of the time these days, and all of us at Choralation are listening to a wide variety of non-holiday music in preparation for choosing new repertoire for our 2018 season.
So how can people see Choralation A Cappella outside of Yule Duel?
Choralation holds performances throughout the year to raise money for local charities. We have both full-length concerts twice a year as well as shorter open mic night and coffee shop performances. You can find out more at https://www.choralation.com
