North Island Choral Society

History

History of North Island Choral Society


In the Fall 2014 NICS celebrated its 30th anniversary. Now NICS is looking forward to celebrating a 40th year anniversary in 2024.

The choir’s beginnings were in the mid 1980s with individuals wanting to stage Handel’s Messiah. Christine Purvis organized the first community choir. The first year the choir sang Handel’s Messiah, followed with Vivaldi’s Gloria and Bach’s Magnificat. Richard Walker took over as conductor a few years later followed by Vincent Dupius for a short time

In 1989 its Exec sought BC Registered Society Status.

Between 1989 and 1995 there were several artistic directors: Marcia Haley conducted for 3 years. Jane Gilchrist for one spring season. Our current accompanist, Elvera Penner joined for a short time in 1992 but took a break until 1995 when she became accompanist in the Fall of 1995 when Paul Colthorpe was hired as artistic director. NICS is fortunate to have them continue. Elvera retired in the spring of 2024 after many years of excellent work.

In 2014 NICS became a charitable organization, reporting to the Charities Branch of the Canada Revenue Agency.

Article written for the COMOX RECORD (November 12, 2024) by Roger Goodman

North Island Choral Society – 40 Years Young.
It is time to celebrate! North Island Choral Society (NICS) has reached a major milestone – presenting classical music for 40 years in the Comox Valley. At its birth few expected a choir specializing in classical music to survive in a smaller community. We did not just survive but we thrived. At its inception the choir had about 35 singers and today we have 75. We are still growing and attracting audiences of over 350 people to our concerts.

The choir was the original brainwave of Christine Purvis. She was the choir’s first artistic director in late 1983. Her first performance was the ever popular Messiah by George Frideric Handel, an oratorio that the choir has sung many times over the years. After a couple of years Christine passed the baton to her husband Richard Walker due to new family commitments. Other conductors would come and go for a decade until the choir achieved stability with the appointment of a new artistic director – Paul Colthorpe and new accompanist Elvera Penner in 1995. A partnership that lasted over 29 years until Elvera’s retirement in 2024.

The choir owes a large debt to the excellence of its long term artistic director Paul Colthorpe who has raised the standard of the choir, tackled increasingly difficult musical repertoire, all with a non-auditioned choir. Paul believes this choir is open for all who share an interest in classical fare. In the early days of the choir the music was more mixed with concerts featuring Celtic music, Scottish music, spirituals, opera and Canadian folk songs. A notable event for the choir was in 1998 when it performed with the celebrity Canadian pianist Frank Mills at the Sid Williams Theatre as part of his final Canadian tour.

Paul has brought an increased focus on the major classical oratorios and in recent years has brought audiences increasingly challenging repertoire. These include works such as Beethoven’s famous Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Creation. Over the years we have been lucky to have an array of music professionals in the Valley to serve as our soloists. We have benefitted from the glorious voice of Megan Skidmore (2000-2017), the rich baritone of Dr. Chris Bellamy (2005-2023), the high tenor of David Brown from Nanaimo (2006-2017), and expressive mezzo-sopranos Carol Anne Parkinson (1997, and 2015-2024) and Lisa Deith (2007-2022). We have also benefitted immensely over the years from a small volunteer orchestra including many top-notch professional musicians that add so much to our performances.

To celebrate our 40 years we have two upcoming concerts at Christmas and another next April. The Christmas concert is a potpourris of some excerpts of our greatest hits over the past 40 years. This includes music spanning the centuries from Bach to Britten, including selections from the Messiah. For our April 2025 concert we tackle the infamous Carmina Burana by the German composer Carl Orff which will involve the additional resources of a larger orchestra and a Youth Choir. This will be a fitting tribute to 40 years of success for our choir. This unusual, stellar work is based on medieval poems. It is a secular cantata with forceful multi-faceted music. Not our typical oratorio fare! Orff’s music is eclectic, stunning and memorable – a feast for both performers and audiences.

To learn more check out our website at www.northislandchoral.ca