Coming up this summer in Sandy Hill

Songs to Touch the Heart in support of St. Joe’s Supper Table

Sunday, August 19 at 3:00 pm. at St. Joseph’s Church, 174 Wilbrod St. —  a benefit concert in support of St. Joe’s Supper Table featuring internationally acclaimed bass baritone Douglas Renfroe along with local talents soprano, Allison Kennedy, and The Baladears is back by popular demand.

“The concert was a wonderful success last year. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the quality of the music and the joy and love of singing was palpable. People are still talking about how much they loved it”, said Caroline Midgley, volunteer coordinator for the concert.

The program is varied and will again inspire and delight the audience with music from Bach-Gounod’s Ave Maria, to songs from Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof, Les Miserables, and more.

Douglas Renfroe, who made his debut in Ottawa last year, is in demand as a soloist in the United States and Canada including performances at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and concert halls in the US and Europe. He is artistic director and soloist with the choral ensemble Voices of Naples, Florida who performed in May 2017 in Florence, Venice and Rome with a special concert at the Vatican. He served as Artist-in-Residence for the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City since 2011-2018, creating in the process, the International Chamber Organ and Choral Festival.

Allison Kennedy is a soprano who has been active in the Ottawa choral and opera music community for the last 20 years.  She is a chorister and soloist with the music ministry at St. Joseph’s Church and Ewashko Singers and a member of the Baladears.   She has sung as a chorus member for Opera Lyra and the Canadian Opera Company. She will perform duets with Douglas Renfroe and join the Baladears, a female ensemble of singers founded by Mary Zborowski who will be joining Maureen Brannan also from the Ensemble in a duet. Special guests include students Liam Kennedy-MacDonald and Kathryn Stevenson in the Vocal Program at Canterbury High School.

Accompanying the singers are Director of Music, St Joseph’s Parish, Jamie Loback, piano and Tom Fagan, organ. Jamie Loback is also Music Director of the Ottawa Children’s Choir (Chamber ensemble and Boy’s Choir). Tom Fagan was director of liturgy and music at St. Brigid’s Parish in Ottawa and is organist at St. Joseph’s Parish.

Entrance is a free will donation in support of St. Joe’s Supper Table.

Celebrating 40 years of serving the Sandy Hill Community, St. Joe’s Supper Table runs a meal program and dinner service, a food bank, and a community garden. The Supper Table operates with over 60 volunteers a week and the generosity of many community partners. Together they provide a nutritious, hot meal to more than 100 people every night. They serve culturally diverse meals to guests from different religious backgrounds including men, women, children, the elderly, working poor and the disabled. Food for the heart comes from the company of others.