past seasons
2022-23 SEASON
THE EARTH IS TIRED
Saturday, April 15, 2023
We concluded our 2022-23 season with The Earth Is Tired, a performed aimed at calming the climate anxiety we have all experienced in recent years and leaving audience members feeling empowered, aware, and hopeful. The program blended together rousing anthems, powerful music about climate-driven disasters, and songs of deep emotion and beauty. It also featured a guest speaker from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), as well as readings and texts, which spoke to how our individual worries can serve as a cornerstone for collective action.
WELCOME THE STRANGER
Sunday, November 20, 2022
We opened our 2022-23 season with Welcome the Stranger (at St. Joseph’s Church, a new location for us)! Featuring music about immigration and finding home, it included performances by the inspiring young people of the Ottawa Children’s Choir and took listeners on an uplifting and emotional journey, blending song with singers’ own stories.
2021-22 SEASON
KEMPTVILLE STREET PIANO CONCERT SERIES
Sunday, August 14, 2022
We had a wonderful time performing a free, creekside show outside the North Grenville Public Library in summer 2022. Thanks so much to the Kemptville Street Piano Concert Series for inviting us!
WHERE THE LIGHT BEGINS
Sunday, June 12, 2022
The second live concert in our 2021-22 season, Where The Light Begins offered an uplifting message of self-confidence and empowerment. Many of us had spent some portion of the last two years reflecting on our lives, our priorities, and our sense of self. With so many things in our life suddenly stripped away, who were we? Touching on themes of mental health, body image, and self-compassion, this concert described the journey of finding and accepting ourselves. We were also thrilled to invite the fabulous Hypatia’s Voice (www.hypatiasvoice.ca) to join us and sing a few pieces on this program.
VOICES REMAIN
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Almost two years after Ottawa’s first COVID-19 case, we welcomed audience members to a concert that paid tribute to the strength & resilience of choral communities during the pandemic — an incredibly difficult time for those of us who love the unique experience of hearing their voices join with others' to create something beautiful and powerful. The performance represented our members’ journeys through the hopeful and challenging emotions they had experienced since March 2020.
2020-21 Season
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aella continued to rehearse online and outdoors, producing new choral experiences.
2019-20 Season
MOSAIK 2020
Saturday, February 22, 2020
We had such an amazing time at Ottawa’s 2020 MosaiK Choral Festival. It was our second time participating, and for the second time we were totally swept up in the pure joy that results from a group of awesome community choirs coming together to sing and share music (and laughter!). We had a one hour workshop with the 2020 guest conductor, Carrie Tennant, and learned SO many new techniques to help us achieve our best sound.
JOINT CONCERT WITH CHŒUR DE CHAMBRE DU QUÉBEC
Saturday, February 8, 2020
We had a blast presenting a wide selection of contemporary, folk and pop repertoire during this collaborative concert with the Chœur de chambre du Québec, a fabulously impressive ensemble hailing from Sherbrooke. It was our first time collaborating with them, and we were particularly appreciative that they braved a snowstorm in order to make it to Ottawa for this event.
CAROLING WITH AELLA & FRIENDS - 2019
December 14 & 19, 2019
Aella had a great time caroling at the “Deck the Halls! Christmas Craft Show” in Westboro and at the National Gallery of Canada — in front of their spectacular tree! It was a great way to finish the first half of the 2019-20 season.
CAROLS & CAKE
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Aella presented its FIRST EVER Christmas concert, featuring gorgeous seasonal music, a Christmas carol request set (which was supported by an online advance poll that over 250 people voted in!), two carol sing-a-longs with the audience, and a post-concert cake reception!
“MUSICALLY SPEAKING” PRE-CONCERT RECITAL
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Aella was honoured to perform a selection of its favourite pieces from the 2019-20 and past seasons in a pre-concert recital at the National Arts Centre's Peter A. Herrndorf Place.
2018-19 Season
NOVA SCOTIA TOUR: AELLA ON THE COAST!
July 6 to July 12, 2019
On its first ever tour, Aella Choir performed some of its favourite works, curated from three years’ worth of performances. These included concerts that have explored women's stories and experiences, a memorable Kitchen Party show that featured singing as well as fiddling, and Aella’s very first program, which was a celebration of Canadian music. Aella visited Wolfville, Lunenburg, Halifax, Truro and Pictou, collaborating with the Saskatoon Children’s Choir for two of its shows. We had an absolute in Nova Scotia and can’t wait until the next tour!
LIGHT PERSISTS
June 2, 2019
Aella presented a concert of light and dark, life and death, hope and suffering. A mixture of readings and music, this concert’s hauntingly crafted program took audiences on a powerful emotional journey. The show featured Shawn Potter (organ) and Kelly Moorcroft (flute). This was a very special programme to us and we are so grateful to the enthusiastic and engaged audience who attended the show, the reception and who took the time to fill in our feedback form!
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY PRE-CONCERT RECITAL
March 8, 2019
Aella was honoured to perform a series of choral works written by women composers at the National Arts Centre's Peter A. Herrndorf Place for International Women’s Day.
MOSAIK 2019
February 23, 2019
We had such a great time at MosaiK Choral Festival 2019! Not only did we fulfill an Aella dream of working with this year’s guest conductor, Kathleen Allan, but we also had the opportunity to hear (and perform with!) several Ottawa community choirs: Atlantic Voices, Chorale de la Salle, Cross Town Youth Chorus, Cumberland Community Singers, Harmonia Choir of Ottawa and Tone Cluster - quite a queer choir.
WMN
February 3, 2019
In an Aella first, we performed an entire concert of choral works written by living women composers. WMN featured the story of a woman's revenge on her would-be captor in Maid on the Shore, Sungji Hong's haunting and challenging Ficus enim non florebit, a fabulously fun new arrangement of Madonna's True Blue, and much more.
CAROLING WITH AELLA & FRIENDS - 2018
December 15, 2018
Every winter, Aella gets together with friends to sing carols and raise money for a local charity. In 2018, we performed at the Lansdowne Christmas Market and raised over $150 for Minwaashin Lodge.
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday, November 18, 2018
3RD ANNUAL WALK-A-THON IN SUPPORT OF THE CENTRETOWN EMERGENCY FOOD CENTRE
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Aella headed over to City Hall before our regular Sunday rehearsal and sung for folks participating in the CCSAC's annual Walk-A-Thon, which supports the Centretown Emergency Food Centre. We performed some old favourites from past concerts — as well as a few new pieces from our July 2019 Nova Scotia Tour programme!
2017-18 season
DAYDREAMS & PRAYERS
June 9, 2018
Aella had a blast presenting this exciting mix of sacred and secular music, all written within the past 50 years. Highlights included the electric “Gloria Kajoniensis” by Hungarian composer Levente Gyöngyösi, a local arrangement of the Tragically Hip's "Little Bones" and the premiere of Aella alumna Adele Marsland's “All the daydreams must go.”
We also sang our farewell to founding Aella member Teri Slade, a close and generous friend, body mapping guru, flexible S2/A1 with master blending skills, and extraordinary baker of gluten- and dairy-free delicacies. Teri is moving on to continue her studies in Edmonton. We will miss you immensely, Teri!
INGLORIOUS WOMEN OF OTTAWA
June 3, 2018
Aella participated in one of four concerts that took place across Canada and the USA in response to the #metoo campaign. All proceeds were donated to the Cornerstone Women's Shelter. Aella was proud to contribute to this concert, along with some of Ottawa's most talented female musicians.
STORIES
March 3, 2018
Aella transported listeners to another word in STORIES, a concert that spun tales through song. We presented moving stories of love, loss, and diaspora in the Canadian arctic, Newfoundland, Finland, and Ireland. In addition, we were thrilled to give the premiere performance of Matthew C. Lane's 'When I was a Glacier', a poem by Emily Skillings set to music for treble voices, piano, and tubular bells.
The programme also featured the haunting tale of a selchie (seal person) and his changeling son from the Orkneys, an absurd French Canadian nursery song, and music inspired by classic stories such as Alice in Wonderland and the Odyssey. Shawn Potter was featured on piano, and Maria Nenoiu on violin.
CAROLING WITH AELLA & FRIENDS - 2017
December 2 and 23, 2017
Every winter, Aella gets together with friends to sing carols and raise money for a local charity. In 2017, we performed at the Lansdowne Christmas Market as well as at the Rideau Centre, and we raised over $300 for the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.
AELLA KITCHEN PARTY
November 19, 2017
Aella, along with amazing fiddlers Doug Dorward and Emilia Bartellas, hosted a (sold out) evening of great tunes, good food and fine company at OzKafe in the Byward Market! The evening saw three 3 sets of singing and fiddling, which featured traditional east coast folk songs, Irish aires and reels, and tunes composed by both Canadians and our friends from across the pond. Attendees were treated to amazing OzKafe canapés, and we all made great friends with our bartender John, who provided an immense selection of local craft beers and spirits throughout the evening. We had such an amazing time and can't wait to do it all again next year!
2016-17 Season
CANADA CELEBRATION 2017
June 25, 2017
On June 25, 2017 Aella performed a short showcase set during the final concert of the inaugural Sing Ottawa en choeur music festival. We sang three of our favourite pieces from the 2016-17 season: Queen Jane, Ahead by a Century and Überlebensgross. We were honoured to perform in this collaborative concert, which featured singers from Ottawa’s top choirs, including the Capital Chamber Choir, Cantata Singers of Ottawa, Ottawa Choral Society and Ewashko Singers, as well as a massed choir made up of over 90 singers and music enthusiasts from the Ottawa community.
HER VOICE
June 4, 2017
Aella was thrilled to present HER VOICE, a concert that showcased some of our most beloved repertoire for treble voices. This unique show wove the work of local poets Jennifer Baker and Natalie Hanna with a powerful and varied selection of music exploring women's experiences and stories, from witches to famine. Featuring beautiful solo work by individual members of the choir, the program also highlighted Canadian composers and musicians such as Kathleen Allan, Christine Donkin, Leonard Cohen, and the Wyrd Sisters. The evening was a celebration of the strength and beauty of women's voices through poetry and song and moved several audience members to tears.
Interviews with poets Natalie Hanna and Jennifer Baker were featured on our blog on May 24 and May 28, 2017.
SNOW ANGEL
February 11, 2017
In our first full-length concert, Aella presented the entirety of 'Snow Angel', a 5-movement work for choir, piano, percussion, narrators and cello written by Ontario composer Sarah Quartel. We premiered 'A Little Snow Was Here and There' — a beautiful new work written for Aella by Montreal-based composer Matthew C. Lane, which was featured on our blog on February 1, 2017 — and performed music written by Canadian composers Stephen Hatfield and David MacIntyre. This diverse program was rounded out with music from the Tragically Hip, as well as a selection of Bulgarian, South African and Japanese folk songs. Michael Bojesen's stunning 'Eternity' closed the concert, performed in a ring around the audience.
Aella is incredibly grateful to the wonderful audience who attended our first full-length concert.
LESSONS AND CAROLS
December 18, 2016
Aella performed excerpts from Sarah Quartel's "Snow Angel," as guest artists during the annual Lessons and Carols service hosted by the choirs of First Baptist Church. The service was a one-hour event mixing scripture readings with musical offerings.
CAROLING WITH AELLA & FRIENDS - 2016
December 11, 2016
Aella and friends got into the holiday spirit by performing some of our favourite carols at Lansdowne Christmas Market. Thanks to the generous support of the Ottawa community, Aella was able to raise $271.80 for the St Joe's Women's Centre!
UNTRAVELLED WORLDS
July 1, 2016
In our debut concert, Aella performed a 40-minute concert of Canadian music on Canada Day. This show included some of Canada's favourite choral composers such as Eleanor Daley, Paul Halley, and Sarah Quartel, as well as arrangements from popular and folk musicians such as the Rankins, the Wyrd Sisters, and Joni Mitchell.