Rings Through Water Official Roster

After a month of auditions and deliberation, I’m pleased to announce the Ensemble Roster for Xara’s forthcoming production of Rings Through Water.

As you know, forming an ensemble that meets a wide array of criteria is not always easy. My selection process was based on vocal range and colour, composite blend in each section, musicianship, choral theatre and/or acting and movement experience, past engagement with reconciliation-based projects, past Xara Pro experience, ensuring sufficient new singers are being brought into the organization, and overall group dynamics. 

These are difficult decisions to make and, in a world of unlimited funds, stage space, and rehearsal time I would like to be able to hire everyone. As it more common with theatre companies but is certainly the case for Xara in our new model, our broader community of performers are very much a part of our family but each individual show only has space for so many. If you were not selected for this project, it does not mean, in any way, that you will not be invited to participate in future projects! If anyone wants to discuss any aspect of the decision making process or what you can do to continue to prepare for future work with Xara, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Section assignments for singers are initially based on a four part split but I will be moving some people around depending on the needs of each piece of music. 

Soprano 1:

Rachael Delano

Claire MacIsaac

Shila LeBlanc 

Emily Pratt 

Swing (S1 or S2):

Hayley Giles 

Soprano 2:

Kallie White

Chloe Matamoros 

Colleen MacIsaac 

Gabrielle Greener 

Swing (S2/A1):

Kathryn Wagner

Alto 1:

Mackenzie Hepditch 

Maiti McGrath 

Raquel Poley 

Anna Shepard 

Alto 2:

Katelyn Barker 

Megan Johnson 

Cecelia White 

Camila Das Gupta 

Rianna Robinson 

Warmly,

Christina 

Xara's New Project-based Model

It is still hard to believe that we celebrated our tenth anniversary in 2018!  Each of you have played a part in helping us reach this milestone. Xara has experienced many developments and changes in the last couple of years and, after taking a step back to reflect on our artistic innovation and process, we will be moving forward into the next 10 years with a new model for our work and future projects. We'd like to invite alumnae and recent singers alike to consider being part of our next chapter!

  

We now have the amazing honour of being designated Atlantic Canada’s only fully professional choir. Therefore, from now on Xara will be using a project-based model, rather than a semester-based one. This is partly due to the new way our government funding is structured and partly to allow us to do more touring. This doesn’t mean that we're changing what we look for in our singers - we want to continue to build this amazing community and support emerging performers in building their skills! However, we are shifting the way our work is scheduled and the pace at which we will prepare. Rather than signing up to sing for a year or semester, Xaras will now be part of the professional Xara Pool of singers and performers who are paid for their contributions. 

What's the difference? When we have shorter-term, higher intensity preparation and performance periods, not every singer will be available for every project. So, we need a pool of excellent performers that's larger than we'd need for any given show. Each time we begin a new project, the pool will be polled for their availability and, from there, Christina will build a balanced ensemble.

Being part of the Xara pool requires three steps: 

FIRST, all singers interested in being considered for future Xara projects must fill out this Google Form. New auditionees will have a separate form to express interest in joining.

SECOND, all those interested will be evaluated based on their skill and their capacity to undertake shorter term, intensive projects. This can be determined by your previous involvement with Xara or by an audition to provide a fresh take on where you are with your skills these days.

THIRD, as soon an opening comes up that matches your voice type, you'll be invited to take part in your first/probationary project. As long as you are successful with your first professional show, you will officially be a part of the Xara Pool from there forward.

Local projects will always include spots for probationary singers, above and beyond the paid positions in the roster so people do not have to wait too long to do a probationary project. If a probationary singer's first project is a tour, they will be paid a fee to compensate for lost wages while away from home.

If you have any questions about this new model and how it works, please reach out! You can email Christina at conductor@xara.ca.

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