What a joy it was to participate in the Vernon Rotary Carol Festival!  It's always a joy to perform, but this had the added benefit of allowing us to hear some of the other performing groups that are available in the North Okanagan.  It was a real joy to hear performances from both the Vernon Community Singers and the Aura Chamber Choir.

The Aura Chamber Choir, with about 40 singers, performed the Candlelight Carol and For Unto Us from Handel's Messiah, and put out a wonderfully tight and dynamic sound that was full of meaning and substance.  The Vernon Community Singers, with more than 130 members, performed Where Are You Christmas (from The Grinch) and Long Ago On A Winter's Morning, and also did a very good job of putting out a unified sound that conveyed the meaning behind the words well.

We were blessed to have participated in this worthwhile event, both for what it allowed us to give back to the community, but also in that it opened our eyes a little wider to the wonderful music that is being produced in our valley.  We've always known that Vernon has some great musicians; now we know where more of them can be found!

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!

The temperatures are dropping, and so are we... into a number of different venues this season.  We're pleased to be invited to be a part of the Downtown Vernon Business Association's Light Up For Christmas event, as well as the Vernon Rotary's Carol Festival and the O'Keefe Ranch's Victorian Christmas.  This will be the busiest winter season yet our quartet has experienced, and we're excited!

We've been practicing our list of Christmas tunes now for what feels like a very long time (although I know it's only been a couple of months) and we're eager to start performing these tunes, for your listening pleasure!  Dan has even (finally) gotten past the shudders he was getting when singing Christmas carols in the fall.  Maybe the colder temperatures have made it a little more "Christmassy".

Stay tuned to our main page, where we'll be keeping our singing schedule posted, as opportunities arise.  Also, be sure to check out the web pages for the Carol Festival (http://www.vernoncarolfestival.com) and O'Keefe Ranch (http://www.okeeferanch.ca) for more details on tickets.  The Licht Up For Christmas event is free to attend.