The Amabile Choirs of London, Canada is a nonprofit organization with the purpose of bringing together young singers from London, Ontario and surrounding areas. This family of choirs began in 1985 with John Barron and Brenda Zadorsky founding the Amabile Youth Singers, and has since grown to eight choirs under the direction of seven conductors. The Junior Amabile Singers followed in 1989, and the Amabile Boys Choirs were established in 1990.
Overview
Amabile for Girls and Women
There are five levels of choirs for girls and women within the Amabile organization. The Amabile Da Capo Choir is a training choir welcoming girls aged 8 to 11. The aim of Da Capo is to provide a choral venue for young choristers and serve as a training choir for the Junior Amabile Singers. Da Capo performs as guests of the more senior Amabile Choirs throughout the season under the direction of Jacquelyn Norman and Wendy Landon. The Junior Amabile Singers is an all-female choir for singers aged 9 to 14. The JAS are under the direction of Jacquelyn Norman and Wendy Landon. The Amabile Youth Singers is an all-female choir featuring singers who range in age from 13 to 22. Both the AYS and the Women's Ensemble are under the direction of Brenda Zadorsky. Prima is the women's choir, open to adult women, who have highly experienced vocal skills and wish to work on advanced repertoire. On occasion, the AYS and Prima will perform together as the Amabile Young Women's Ensemble.
There are five levels of choirs for boys and men within the Amabile organization. The boys' and men's choirs are under the artistic direction of Dr. Carol Beynon and Ken Fleet, with the assistance of Don Sills and Jeff Beynon who work with the TTC and the TCC. The Treble Training Choir is a training choir welcoming boys ages 8 and up. For many younger boys who audition, this is their first experience with choral singing. The Treble Concert Choir is an all-boy choir for unchanged voices. Boys aged 8 and above with experience singing may audition for this choir but most become part of the training choir first, for one or two years, before joining this group. The Amabile Young Men's Ensemble is an all-male choir for changed voices, made up primarily of young men of high school age. Primus is the men's ensemble and is made up of adult men with advanced vocal skills. Primus is pronounced PREE-moose. Quite often, the Young Men and Primus perform together as the Amabile Young Men's Ensemble.
Achievements
The Junior Amabile Singers competed in the 2012 Golden Gate International Children's and Youth Choirs Festival in Berkeley California. They were awarded first place in the Children's Folk Music Category and second in the Children's Historical Music Class. The choir previously earned gold medals in the 1stChoir Olympics, Linz Austria and 3rd Choir Olympics, Bremen Germany.
