Cambridge St. United Church Choir Fondly Recounts Singing at Carnegie Hall

COURTNEY McCLUREThe Standard

KAWARTHA LAKES: In late May 2024, the Cambridge Street Singers participated in a mass choir at Carnegie Hall in New York City (NYC).

“I didn’t have singing at Carnegie Hall on my bucket list,” said Cambridge St. United Church choir member Cathy Puffer, “but I think it was definitely a bucket list item a lot of us got to check off.”

Ms. Puffer has been singing in the Cambridge Singers for about 25 years and was overjoyed by her experience of singing at Carnegie Hall.

The mass choir was made up of many singers from across North America, namely the United States and Canada. The Cambridge Singers are local, from Lindsay, Ontario, and there was another Canadian choir group from Alberta.

The mass choir consisted of about 27 choir groups in total. And 14 of the members were from the Cambridge Singers.

According to Ms. Puffer, some of the groups were very small, consisting of only one or two people.

The Cambridge Singers were granted this opportunity after an audition tape of the choir group singing was sent to the respective members at Carnegie Hall. Eventually, they heard back and were invited to join the mass choir performance.

Before the choir group flew to NYC, they had to make sure they were prepared. So, they made sure they were familiar with the cantata they would be singing.

Ms. Puffer describes a “cantata” as a “group of works which are tied together.”

The cantata the group was requested to sing was titled “Our Father” by Pepper Choplin. The cantata consisted of nine songs, which were written based on the Lord’s prayers.  

“Performing at Carnegie Hall with the actual composer of the cantata... that was very, very special,” said Ms. Puffer. She said everyone involved in the choir knew the music because they had ample time to learn it, unlike when you are performing with a weekly choir.

The composer did an amazing job “raising” the choir to “another level,” according to Ms. Puffer. She was also impressed by how organized the preparation for the performance was.

Once Ms. Puffer and the group arrived, they, along with the other choirs, had multiple rehearsals with the composer. Other preparations for the performance included practising alongside an orchestra and then the final performance. Cambridge Street United Church has organized a Christmas cantata of its own and will perform it on December 15th. The cantata is called Invitation to a Miracle and will have over 50 performers participating. They would like to invite anyone who is interested to attend.

To learn more about the Cambridge Street United Church, please visit their website at theunitedchurch.com.