FERGUS – In the hopes of connecting and building community, the Elora Singers are among those set to participate in an off-season free online event, titled July in January.
“July in January is an online video chamber music festival born out of the desire to connect to audiences outside of the summer festival season,” detailed a Jan. 24 press release.
The initiative is being presented by Classical Music Festivals of Canada (CMFC), a collaboration with 11 Ontario festivals.
The online event will feature live music shared by each organization.
Having not been able to offer live festivals for two summers, Laura Adlers, executive director of the Elora Festival, said all participating organizations are currently planning for live festivals this summer.
“We saw this as a neat opportunity to cross promote each other and hopefully raise some funds for our organizations through donations leading up to the reopening of our festivals this summer,” she said of the initiative.
“We’re very grateful that we have this community that is so supportive of the festival community but also we’ve really missed presenting the festival in Elora and in this region.”
Throughout the pandemic, artists and organizations have been embracing online media to stay in touch with audiences.
Adlers noted the Elora Singers have been presenting online throughout the pandemic and are offering one of their previously presented concerts as part of this festival.
“So this is just a great opportunity for us to sort of reintroduce the idea of having a live festival again this summer and also present the Elora Singers.”
As part of the event, the Elora Singers will be performing a program titled On Love, which they presented in November and December.
“This is an opportunity for all of the festivals to promote the other festivals to their communities so it’s offering Ontario residents the whole range of classical music festivals that they’ll be able to enjoy this summer when they all go live again,” Adlers said.
“It’s been so great how the arts community has really pulled together throughout the pandemic and supported each other and found ways to cross promote each other throughout the last two years.”
July in January launches Jan. 28 alongside www.classicalmusicfestivals.ca, and features performances shared by 11 festival organizations, plus conversations between Studio ‘S’ Series artistic director and host Eric Friesen.
The Elora Festival Singers, joined by artistic director Mark Vuorinen, will be participating in the event with:
- Festival of the Sound;
- Collingwood Summer Music Festival;
- Music Niagara Festival;
- Ottawa Chamberfest;
- Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival;
- Stratford Summer Music;
- Studio ‘S’ Series;
- Sweetwater Music Festival;
- Toronto Summer Music; and
- Westben.
CMFC’s inaugural July in January is a free event open to anyone, anywhere. Viewers are encouraged to support the participating arts organizations by donating through links on the website.
“What our audiences may not realize is that this is really the crucial stage in the pandemic for the cultural community,” Adlers explained.
“Government support is not as readily available and there’s donor fatigue and this is really the very telling time for these organizations. So we really need everyone’s support more than ever.”
Visit classicalmusicfestivals.ca on Jan. 28 for all concerts and information. Concerts will be available for viewing until Feb. 28.
