Choir! Choir! Choir!

Lisa invited me to join her for Monday’s Choir! Choir! Choir! performance at Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Choir! Choir! Choir! is a roving “you’re not the audience, you’re the performers!” event run by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman (Nobu is a de facto Islander, having summered in West Keppoch with his family for as long as forever; his  last appearance in this space was in 2007, when we spotted him at the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market).

In recent years I’ve become way, way more comfortable than I ever was (“ever was” = “not at all”) singing in public, thanks to a combination of Lucy Farrell, performing improv, and Lisa’s influence. This was a chance to really take my new lack-of-inhibitions out for a ride, and I seized it, singing, relatively speaking, at the top of my lungs for the entire evening. I even threw in with the call to hand actions.

Nobu and Daveed have the form locked in: they are very good at it, and the whole night was a hoot.

I was especially impressed by their stage presence when the Confederation Centre’s projection infrastructure melted down before our very eyes: the entire operation relied on we gathered being able to read the words for what we were about to sing, and without the words, well…

This was eventually figured out, but it was frustrating for everyone; Nobu and Daveed handled it all with aplomb.

(The Centre itself offered an emailed apology for the schmazzle itself: “The ‘magic of live events’ was a little more mystery than magic last night and we really appreciate your patience and understanding.” Bravo!)

The heart of the night was singing a lovely arrangement of What a Wonderful World, and you can watch a video of what we came up with.

If Choir! Choir! Choir! comes to your city, I highly recommend joining in. They are on tour through 2026, and are hitting everywhere from Campbell River to Fairbanks to Berlin.