Youth choral concert at Cambridge Street United

Local residents will have a rare chance to hear more than 50 young people raising their voices in joyful song at the Youth Choral Extravaganza concert at Cambridge Street United Church on Saturday, May 26.

The church’s own Voices of Victory choir will be joined by the young singers of the New Amsterdam Boys and Girls Choir from East Harlem in New York City, and Lindsay’s Central Senior Choir.

The Voices of Victory travelled to New York in 2016, singing at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Convent Avenue Baptist Church and the Church of St. Edward the Martyr. They were joined in the latter concert by the New Amsterdam Boys and Girls Choir under the direction of James Backman.

Now the choristers have a chance to meet again, this time at Cambridge Street United, where members of all three choirs will participate in a choral workshop in the afternoon on May 26, and then perform for the public at the 7 pm concert. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and admission is by donation.

“This is going to be a very special weekend,” says Erwin Stroobach, Cambridge Street’s director of music and founding conductor of the Voices of Victory.

“Any time kids who love to sing get together, there’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”

The Voices of Victory have just returned from a long-weekend tour of Ontario’s near north, where they performed concerts at Christ Anglican Church in North Bay and St. Andrew’s United Church in Sudbury. They also presented their musical The Rockslinger and his Greatest Hit, based on the Biblical story of David and Goliath at, Tobermory United Church during Sunday morning worship.

The Voices of Victory and their guests from New York will sing at Cambridge Street’s Sunday morning worship service on May 27. The service will be followed by a barbecue lunch for the choristers, with food available for purchase by others who wish to participate.