Loomer Workshop Day

After another morning of intensive rehearsal, Dona Nobis Pacem is getting a lot nearer to being performance ready. Once again our conductor, Fred Sjoberg, did a great job getting us to perfect several passages with his usual good humour. He obviously enjoys rehearsals and confessed to us this morning that he is known as a "rehearsalholic".

Our lunch stop followed. This involved getting to the lobby of the Arts and Cultural Centre to pick up our brown bags that had been prepared by the Festival people. Our EnChor caterers, Sandra and Elaine, did another excellent job handing out the lunches and getting the bags prepared for those with special dietary requirements to the right people.


The EnChor workshop came next. The attendance was rather disappointing, probably because it was scheduled over the usual lunch hour. However, those who did attend were treated to an another excellent talk by Diane who spoke about the challenges and benefits of starting a seniors' choir and how to maintain it.



Our final concert took us to Mary Queen of Peace Church, a brand new venue. We sang to a small but responsive audience and debuted Chilcott's "The Lily and the Rose." Our performance earned us a standing ovation, which is always nice.

We boarded the bus to return to the University, but convinced the driver to take us to our group dinner downtown instead. Arriving well ahead of our reservation time, several of us took the opportunity to be "screeched" at Trader John's, a local pub. This is a time-honoured ritual used to induct mainlanders into the Newfoundland culture. The central features of the ceremony require the rapid downing of a shot of "screech" (40 proof rum), followed by kissing of the cod. Given that this was Trapper John's (and not Fisherman John's) and that cod are scarce in these parts a stuffed puffin took its place. Those who took part in the ceremony were given a special certificate attesting to this rite of passage.







Dinner at the K-Cafe was another highlight. We booked the entire restaurant for the group and enjoyed a menu featuring mainly seafood, including fresh lobster. The staff did an amazing job feeding all 50 of us in time for our departure for the evening's concert. In return we serenaded them with "Fogarty's Cove", "Sarah" and "The Royal Hudson."







Tomorrow is our (well-deserved) "breakout day" when we will have no Festival-related activities. However, most of us have tickets for the evening's concert featuring Rajaton and the Indonesian Children's Choir.

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Location:St. John's