2018

In the first week of June each year all of the students of Lester B Pearson School for the Arts gather to present what we call, "Choral Celebration". These concert have been going on for as long as Pearson has been an arts school. They are a highlight of the school year, and truly show the musical progression of the students as they move from grade 4 to grade 8. We hope that you enjoy the music that we have prepared for you!

You can go to the playlist or choose individual songs below.

• Choral Celebration 2018

Pearson Singers

Pearson Singers have had a very successful year! Their most recent concert was with Fanshawe Chorus London, preforming Ramirez Misa Creola and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. This evening they start out Choral Celebration with a magical selection! Recorded by Enya for the first movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Fellowship of the Ring, this is “May It Be”. Soloists our Fiona Sinclair, Eden Reshef, and John Latosinsky. Please enjoy “May It Be”.

Our second selection this evening was the title song of Simon and Garfunkel’s final album together in 1970. It topped the adult contemporary chart for six weeks and was a five - time Grammy winner. The meaningful lyrics speak to us of the importance of friendships in our lives. The lyrics talk about providing comfort and being a true friend when the other person needs to be lifted up, away from their troubles. Please enjoy Kirby Shaw’s arrangement of Bridge Over Troubled Water, featuring soloists Michelle Smail and Evelyn Gadsdon.

Grade 4's

The grade 4 class of Mr. DaSilva and Mr. VanPelt are excited to be a part of their first Choral Celebration. Their first song this evening, entitled The Stories of My Life, celebrates the role of literature in children’s lives. This imaginative text weaves together the titles of over 20 favourite children's books and invites us to come along on the journey and turn the page. Tonight’s performance includes a solo by Yolanda Jiang.

Their second song is Turn The World Around. When Harry Belafonte (bell a fahn teh) was the guest star on The Muppet Show in 1979, he explained the inspiration for this next song before he performed it with various Muppets. Belafonte said: "I discovered that song in Africa. I was in a country called Guinea. I went deep into the interior of the country, and in a little village, I met with a storyteller. That storyteller went way back in African tradition and began to tell this story about the fire, the sun, the water and the Earth. He pointed out that there really isn't any difference in any of us, and if we take time out to understand each other, then together we can turn the world around.” Special thanks to Hannah Luo, Jessica Wong and Horatio Burneo for adding their rhythmic stylings on the claves and djembe.

Grade 5's

The grade 5 classes of Mrs. Bailey and Ms. Bird are next on our program this evening. The first song by the grade 5 classes has an uplifting text that includes a great message about staying true and continuing to be your best self through life's ups and downs. "Whatever comes your way … Sing on!"

Before introducing the grade five’s second song title tonight, we are going to ask for a little audience participation. We have five musical words for you which were used to describe music of a specific era. See if you can determine which time period of music history these terms are from? Hep – cat, canary, killer-diller, jam session, in the groove

How did you make out? A hep-cat was a popular swing musician and a canary was a female vocalist. Killer-diller referred to a hot musical number and a jam session was improvised music making. If you answered these correctly then you were in-the-groove and had a flawless performance in the swing era of the 1930s and 1940’s.

Here are the grade 5 classes with their performance of Swing Song, an original jazz suite by Mac Huff.

Grade 6's

The grade 6 classes of Miss Chesnut and Mrs. Sedig will now join forces to present their musical selections. The first song is called Glorious. It was written by Stephanie Mabey and produced exclusively for a documentary entitled Meet the Mormons. David Archuleta (arch you let a), the second place winner of American Idol in 2008, was asked to perform this song for the documentary and he actually recorded while he was volunteering at a full-time mission in Chile. Tonight’s performance of Glorious features soloists Maddie Min, Victoria Weber, Michaela Rickman, Eily Levson and MacKenzie Trudgeon.

Their second selection, by Jacob Narverud, (nah vah rude) is a rhythmic celebratory composition that delivers a theme of unity through the Swahili phrase Sisi ni Moja. (see see nee mo yah) The song celebrates solidarity and community through all cultures and reminds us that We Are One.

Grade 7's

Miss Montanaro’s and Mr. Morrow’s classes are now ready to perform for us. This year the grade 7’s started a new adventure as what we might call Pearson Ambassadors. Our Pearson community gets the chance to see sharing assemblies each month so that the students can show what is happening in each of the arts areas. In October the grade 7’s took a sharing assembly on the road, and visited four different schools to perform, and show what we do here at the school. Later in the year the grade 7’s were the leaders when selections occurred with the grade 3 students, again acting as ambassadors for the school. The grade 7’s will see those same grade 3 students when they come for a day to visit at the end of June. As well, next year they will have a leadership opportunity with grade 8, grade 4 buddies. This year the grade 7’s have lived up to their leadership opportunities as school ambassadors! They would like to perform one of the pieces that was sung for the travelling sharing assembly. It captures the essence of what we do at Peterson. This is ”Why We Sing”.

The grade 7’s second selection is one that everyone in the audience should know. From the classic 1939 film, the Wizard of Oz, this is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, with soloists Leah Gliddon, and Audrey Tanaka.

Grade 8's

Mr. Malik‘s and Mr. Cairns‘ classes have had a very good year. They just finished a very successful grade 8 original show called Who? Can’t Stop the Beat. In their show the featured songs from the Broadway musical, Hairspray. They are going to perform a medley of those songs now, featuring “Nicest Kids in Town”, “Good Morning Baltimore”, “I Can Hear the Bells”, and “You Can’t Stop the Beat. Please enjoy!

Twelve

Twelve's medley focuses on popular songs from 2013 to 2018. This period encompasses the time from when they first went through the "Selections" process in grade 3 to enter Pearson right up to their graduation!

Whole School

We are pleased to have all of our students now ready to perform for you! The beginning of this school year marked the 50th anniversary of a song which has remained popular from the time of its writing right up until the present. First sung by Louis Armstrong it has been re-recorded numerous times, But his original version is the one that most people know. We would now like to present for you our performance of, “What a Wonderful World”.

Our final selection tonight includes all the students of Pearson in a joyful song that was written to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Weber created the song together and then travelled throughout the Commonwealth looking for musicians and singers. They visited remote villages and countries from across the Caribbean, Africa, the Pacific Islands and Australia to find singers to perform in front of the Queen for her special 80th birthday celebrations. From the uplifting experience of the percussionists playing on homemade instruments in the slums of Africa, to Jamaica where the composers encountered the locals dancing and singing in the market place, to a remote school in the Royal Solomon Islands where a choir of children sang, the ideas, emotions and feelings expressed in the music were shared across many cultures.

Music is a language we all speak, and no matter where we are and how we live, it is something that connects us all.

This performance includes solos by Isabella Santarella, Paige McDermid, Regan Crowther, Oliver Stanton, Kieran Prouty, Chris Paolini, Ben Miller Alex Frenette, Raina Wen and Neela Noble. Special thanks to our guest instrumentalist, former principal of Pearson, Rick Wood, who joins us on the bagpipes!

Please enjoy our final selection this evening as all the Pearson voices join together for Sing.