MHC Girls' Choir Newspaper Article!

MHC Girls' Choir sings loud and proud at Vimy Ridge
ZOE SZUCH
zszuch@medicinehatnews.com

A few dozen members of the Medicine Hat College Girls’ Choir recently returned from a two-week tour through France and Holland where they were invited participants of the 2009 Europa Cantat festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The group, along with their choral director Brad van Middlekoop, accompanist Constantine Shandro and several chaperones, traveled to Europe in mid-July to perform at notable locations including Euro Disney and Vimy Ridge.For first time Europe traveller Avery Taves, 17, the Euro Disney performance was her highlight.“It was all really exciting. It was a great opportunity for our choir, especially considering that it was our first year with our director Brad,” said the Medicine Hat High School student.“It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot.”The Medicine Hat group worked under the direction of Venezuelan vocal instructor Cristian Grases during the Europa Cantat festival to learn five performance pieces in five days — three of which were in foreign languages.Taves said she learned a lot while at the festival and thoroughly enjoyed performing with other choirs from around the globe.“It was a very neat festival,” said the second soprano.Crescent Heights High School student Meagan Thorson was hard pressed to pick a highlight from her trip to Europe but she managed to narrow it down to seeing Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, singing at the Europa Cantat festival or sightseeing in Paris. “It’s been my dream to go to Paris since I was four,” the 15-year-old said. “Yeah that was quite fun.”Both Taves and Thorson said they’d jump at the chance to perform in Europe again with the Medicine Hat College Girls’ Choir.“It was just a fantastic trip,” Thorson said.You can watch uploaded videos of the festival online at www.youtube.com by searching ‘2009 Europa Cantat.’