Daily News

Posted on March 18: Hamilton area foodbanks benefit from McMaster community

Here's some food for thought: how much food can fit into a school bus? Ask the four McMaster students who are organizing the Feed The Bus "foodraiser" for the answer, give or take a few thousand calories. From March 22 to 26, a school bus donated by Laidlaw and McMaster Parking and Transit Services will be parked in front of historic Hamilton Hall on McMaster's campus to collect non-perishable food items. According to Erin Smith, a co-organiser of Feed The Bus, "the goal is to fill the bus as much as possible with food that will go towards addressing the very real and growing problem of hunger in the Hamilton community via Mission Services, Good Shepherd Centres, and Neighbour to Neighbour."

Posted on March 17: McMaster’s oldest club presents piece in harmony

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.