Ensembles

Note – Due to the pandemic, not all ensembles are consistently running.

At Eastview, we have a large orchestra, a large concert choir, and several smaller ensembles.  All grade 10-12 students registered in a music course at Eastview are eligible to audition for the ensembles.  Auditions take place in June for the following year.  Grade 9 students may join the concert choir, and grade 9 orchestra students are given various opportunities to perform on their instruments throughout the year.

Audio and video clips of our ensembles can be found here.

Choral Ensembles

Concert Choir

The non-auditioned concert choir is open to all music students and consists of 60-80 members in grades 9-12.  Rehearsals are Wednesdays from 2:45-4:00, with some additional time scheduled for sectional rehearsals or optional repertoire.  The ensemble is directed by Mr. Stewart and has five main performances a year:

  • Remembrance Day – One selection is performed at our school Remembrance Day assembly.
  • Feeder Schools Tour – Each year, our ensembles tour a set of our feeder schools to allow students to share what they have been working on with their younger peers.
  • Christmas – A selection of Christmas repertoire is performed at our annual Christmas concert at Collier Street United Church.
  • Ontario Vocal Festival – The choir performs three pieces of traditional choral repertoire for adjudication.  This festival determines eligibility for Musicfest Nationals. Alternatively, in some years the concert choir competes in the Barrie Music Festival.
  • Gala – To close the season, all of our vocal ensembles, as well as selected soloists and small groups, put on a final Gala performance.  This gives students the opportunity to perform more contemporary genres of repertoire, such as jazz, pop, and Broadway selections.  These performances involve choreography, costuming, and accompaniment from a full rhythm section.

In recent years, additional performance opportunities for the concert choir have included the “First Light” festival at Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, and the Barrie “Senior’s Serenade” concert series.

Chamber Choirs

Each year, we put together mixed and/or treble auditioned chamber choirs, each of which consists of 15-30 students. Chamber Choir members are chosen from students in the concert choir who demonstrate an outstanding vocal tone, musical ear, and ability to sight sing.  The chamber choirs perform many a cappella works that are more challenging than the music sung in the concert choir.  Rehearsals are Tuesdays from 2:45-4:00, and students are expected to also be able to work on their parts independently.  The ensemble is directed by Mr. Stewart.  It performs at all concert choir events except for Remembrance day, and is often given the opportunity to take part in other events in the community. In recent years, the Chamber Choir has performed with the Huronia Symphony Orchestra and Orillia’s Cellar Singers.

Senior Vocal Ensemble

This ensemble consists of roughly ten grade 11 and 12 students.  They rehearse independently and sing mostly a cappella music.  In 2016, the Senior Vocal Ensemble was awarded the highest standard of Gold at Musicfest Canada, an honour reserved for only a handful of high school choirs in Canada each year.

Instrumental Ensembles

Orchestra

Our orchestra consists of students from grades 10-12, and is also open to grade nine students entering Eastview with some experience on their instruments.  Rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45-4:00.  The ensemble is directed by Mrs. Kowalchuk and has four main performances a year:

  • Feeder Schools Tour – Each year, our ensembles tour a set of our feeder schools to allow students to share what they have been working on with their younger peers.
  • Christmas – A selection of Christmas repertoire is performed at our annual Christmas concert at Collier Street United Church.
  • Music Alive Festival – At this festival based in York Region, our orchestra performs 2-3 pieces of repertoire for adjudication.  This festival determines eligibility for Musicfest Nationals.
  • Coda Concert – To close the season, all instrumental ensembles and classes participate in a final themed concert at Eastview.

String Ensemble

The string ensemble consists of a set of violin, viola, cello and double bass players from the orchestra.  They rehearse on Tuesdays from 4:00-4:30pm.