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Cool Choir to debut at New Horizon Mall

The Outer Calgary North branch of Cool Choir is gearing up for its first public performance, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. March 16 at New Horizon Mall.
Warming Up
Tyler Fitzgerald leads the Outer Calgary North branch of Cool Choir in rehearsal as the singers prepare for their debut performance at New Horizon Mall March 16.

The Outer Calgary North branch of Cool Choir is gearing up for its first public performance, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. March 16 at New Horizon Mall. “If you want to be entertained, if you want to be uplifted and if you want to be drawn into a cool community musical feeling, come check us out,” said Choir Director Tyler Fitzgerald. In the choir’s debut performance, he said, approximately 45 to 50 singers will perform a half hour set of around six pop and rock songs. The singers are excited about the upcoming performance, according to Fitzgerald, and have been eagerly rehearsing since Jan. 14 to learn a repertoire of eight songs. As the choir prepares for the performance, he added, the knowledge that an audience will be watching has contributed to an increased alertness from the singers at rehearsals. “As soon as you put that challenge in front of them, immediately, in rehearsal, their backs start to tilt up a little bit and they start listening a little bit more,” Fitzgerald said. The Cool Choir is specifically aimed at individuals without a musical background, according to Fitzgerald. It is a non-audition choir, meaning anyone interested is welcome to join, regardless of musical ability – there is no expectation to read music. “It’s a very low-pressure situation,” he said. “The scenario is, we do pop songs, we do rock songs, so it’s really accessible to a wide range of people. It doesn’t have that traditional, stuffy choir feeling.” The Outer Calgary North branch is comprised of singers from outside the city – including residents of Airdrie and Cochrane, where the choir holds weekly rehearsals. For that reason, the performance at New Horizon Mall provides a convenient venue to accommodate their friends and family members. Fitzgerald said he hopes the performance will attract new members – whether it’s someone who sees their sister singing, or a shopper who happens to pass by the performance and stops to take it in. “We love to perform, but the more people we can have in these rehearsals, the bigger the concerts we can do [and] the cooler songs we can do,” he said. After the show at New Horizon Mall, the choir is scheduled to perform in May, singing at the finish line of the Calgary Marathon. Additionally, Fitzgerald said, the Cool Choir plans to put on several informal concerts in the coming months.

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