Southminster Concert was the perfect start to my Christmas season!

Our first Xmas concert in 3 years was about to happen! I was a bit concerned about the look of the masks with our cheerful Christmassy cloaks, but no worries we were still cute as buttons ( cloak buttons that is) .

The sound was not affected either by the masks, according to our MC (former bass, but forever Stairweller, Keith). Thanks for being a great MC! We love you!

Keith Bailey, MC

Warmup time! Pete runs us though the beginnings of all the songs before we go on and hums the first note of the first carol to us all the way till we enter.

Pierre warms up the Stairwell Carollers before Dec 10th 22 Southminster concert

What a great beginning to a new chapter! Southminster was a resounding success! A lovely, warm and generous audience (even some in the choir loft!) and our new members shone!

Anita and Annika take a moment to relax before going on stage

Denyse said it best ” I don’t know how long I’ve been in the choir, it’s many years, but this is a brand new choir! And all the new people are Stairwell Carollers just like me! This is your choir”.

Denyse welcomes Dante, a new bass, to the Stairwell

Panorama of the Stairwell Carollers in the “green room” before the concert

I just realized our green caroling cloaks are 24 years old!

I made them 24 years ago!!! Oh… my… goodness…

Maggie and Michaela relax just before the concert

Well, not ALL of them. Some were made through the years as the group grew larger, but they have weathered very well, and still look fresh and festive. Vogue patterns are the BEST!

Oh, and you may have noticed, the men are in much newer black cloaks – about ten years ago we needed more and surprise – the green fleece was NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

I was freaking out at that point. We made an executive decision – I think it was Pete who said we could just use black for the guys – luckily the red fleece was still available.

Here is a link to a blog post I did about making the cloaks

But, I digress…

More thanks are in order!

Richard, new tenor, learns about lighting

Thanks to David Ayer (bass) and his crew for lighting and tech setup!

No pics of the concert yet, but we have video “in the can” thanks to Michèle Auger, with closeups by Drew. Combined with professional audio recorded by our old friend Tom Barnes, Pierre will create YouTube videos to upload for next Christmas. I’ll try to pull some stills to post from the video if no photos were taken.

Matthieu and Drew at the CD table

And, many many thanks to our CD table and front of house people, headed by Matthieu Brennan.

Looking forward to our final concert of 2022 – this Wednesday at 7:30, St. Columba church 24 Sandridge Rd. Ottawa.

Online is almost SOLD OUT !

LAST CHANCE Tickets at the door $25 – NO RESERVED SEATING, doors open at 7:00pm.

See you there!

Auditions – Join us!

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs.

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CDs, Digital Downloads and Streaming sales. Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.