[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/choir_opt.jpg” caption=”McMaster Choir”]At 90 voices strong, the McMaster University Choir is already the professional choir of choice for a number of musical performances, including concerts with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. This Saturday, they'll present a rarely attempted piece of choral orchestral music, Franz Schubert's Mass #6 in E flat, in the most ambitious performance the choir has ever initiated.

Maestro Philip Sarabura says the growth and improvement he's seen in the choir since he joined as its music director and conductor 15 years ago has given it a newfound reputation for quality within the classical music community.

“The choir has grown and matured in terms of mindset and confidence, particularly over the last several years,” he says. “This is not a community choir'. This group could sing with any major orchestra in the country.”

Of the 90 choir members, only a small number  about 10 per cent  are pursuing degrees in music. The rest hail from all facets of the McMaster community, including undergraduate and graduate students studying a variety of disciplines, as well as staff, faculty and alumni. Sarabura says members go through an audition process that's become much more selective over the past few years.

“Despite the decline in musical training in the public school system the quality of talent I see at auditions is quite considerable,” he says. “Occasionally at auditions I've been turning away people who have had substantial professional training”.

Members commit an average of four to five hours per week to rehearsals, and they perform two to three concerts each year. For the first time this year solos will also in the Schubert Mass will also be performed by choir members, in place of the professional singers who are usually hired to perform with the group.

“This was the right piece of music to introduce soloists in the choir,” says Sarabura. “It's a beautiful, romantic piece of music with wonderful harmonies, and tonal language that makes a lot of sense. It's truly one of the great pieces of choral orchestral writing.”

The March performance will feature Schubert's Mass in E flat, the last major work he wrote before his death in 1828. It was also said to be his most innovative work, often compared with the music that followed him decades later from other well-known composers including Bruckner and Brahms. Joining the choir for the performance will be the 35 members of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Although he tends to stick to classical choral music when selecting pieces, Sarabura says he often mixes up the repertoire with more modern selections, to give longer-term members a variety of types of work.

But whether members choose to stay with the choir for a number of years or join for just one season, Sarabura believes participation in the group does wonders for their confidence and appreciation of music.

“Performing this type of music, at the McMaster Universtiy Choir's level of excellence exposes people to a different emotional mindset,” he says. “Members get a tremendous sense of accomplishment because what they're doing has the highest demand, and that's very thrilling.”

The McMaster University Choir is the oldest club at the University, dating back to more than a century to its historical beginning as a Baptist College in Toronto.

The choir's last performance of the season is on Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m. at Westdale United Church in Hamilton. For ticket information phone 905-525-9140 ext. 26988 or visit http://www.geocities.com/mcmasterchoir/.

Photo caption: McMaster choir director Philip Sarabura, on piano, and choir members, from left, Laura Banducci, second-year history and classics student, Chris Patriquin, fourth-year bachelor of health sciences student and Catherine Bakker, second-year music student. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay