International Festival of
Collective Singing Traditions

Dear wonderful colleagues
I know you must be inundated with messages of gratitude, and this is one of them. Your service to our field is of incalculable worth. So many lives have been changed, so many lifelong memories have been created. Your selfless service is an act of great generosity, and I have benefited from it. The atmosphere of this festival was charged with love, compassion, musical magic, and wonderful collegiality. I thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart.
With best wishes and appreciation,
André

What an amazing day we had at the Harbour Voices Festival today! 6 of us from my ladies choir are taking part in various events over the next 6 days. Today was the opening ceremonies, 2 workshops and a massed choir rehearsal of 1400 singers. 44 choirs, 21 of which are from outside of Newfoundland. Pretty incredible. What a great experience this is going to be

We had the best time at HarbourVOICES!! Congratulations to all the organizers, staff and participants! What an incredible and inspirational festival to be a part of!!

What an incredible evening! We’re so proud to have shared a slice of ourselves with such a warm and welcoming audience. And to have the opportunity to sing with the The Nathaniel Dett Chorale under the baton of Brainerd Blydon-Taylor was a thrill! Thank you HarbourVOICES for making it all happen 

That was amazing! What fabulous singers! They surely do our province proud! Keep up the fabulous work Shallaway!

We had the honor to perform Andrew Balfour’s piece “Four Directions” together with Ullugiâgatsuk Youth Choir, an auditioned choir with singers from the Nunatsiavut communities. This was such a special encounter for us, and it will always remain in our hearts.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for these performances. The Basilica was packed, and it was beautiful to share music with all of you!

HarbourVOICES! What an unforgettable experience. I am so grateful to and for the brilliant organizers, the musicians I performed with, and the inspiring composers, directors, and choirs in the various sessions I hosted. And the concerts were INCREDIBLE! Uplifting, provoking, and moving beyond words. Not to mention… the amazing JACOB COLLIER! I’m still processing everything I heard and witnessed.

We kicked off the closing of HarbourVOICES with a huge concert outside on Water Street.  Phenomenal!!! What a great evening of music and sharing!

It was such a beautiful concert! Thank-you for your musical storytelling!

It was such a fantastic time at the @harbourvoices_ festival! We loved every minute of it! 💙 We are so grateful to everyone involved in making this happen. 🫶🏼 Great place, beautiful people, kindest hearts all united by music. 💙

Thank you to HarbourVOICES for inviting me to conduct Sydney Guillaume’s ‘Nou La’ with a choir of 1,400 singers, and sharing the stage with Jacob Collier
There are no words to share the experience of sharing the stage with Frédéricka Petit-Homme to perform Sydney’s incredible powerful work that Phoenix Chamber Choir commissioned during the pandemic. Sydney said it perfectly –  “Our hope is that “Nou La” compels the listener to confront and wrestle with their own political, cultural, historical, and social stances, particularly when we do not agree or understand one another. We also hope that this work encourages listeners to passionately confront inhumanity as they cultivate empathy and compassion, inspiring the listener to examine their own relationship and actions towards marginalized communities.”

Oh Canada!
I am so fortunate to sing with this magical choir and these singers again!
I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to perform with the World Youth Choir again in St John’s, Newfoundland!
additional, having the chance to sing and be conducted by Jacob Collier
Thanks to everyone from the World Youth Choir and HarbourVOICES for this fantastic experience!

Is it really over?! I had the time of my life this week volunteering with the Harbour Voices Festival. 🎶 So great to reconnect with old friends in the St. John’s music scene, meet new friends from visiting choirs, sing our hearts out with @jacobcollier (including a rousing rendition of O Canada!), and show off our fine city to our friends from away. Biggest thank you and congratulations to the directors and organizers and a special thanks to my rockstar transportation team. 🥰 Until we meet again… 🩵

My heart is overflowing with gratitude and love! Saskatoon Children’s Choir week at Harbour Voices was one for the memory book. Thank you all!!!

Harbour Voices was a truly transformative experience on many levels. Thank you to all who helped make this wonderful event happen!! Y’all are awesome!!

Still thinking so much about the incredible time at HarbourVOICES. This theme song by Leslee Heys was a joy to sing at the end of each concert…. Just one of 1000 beautiful moments in a week of learning, connection, and so many moving concerts and activities. I wish I could relive it over again…

It was an epic week. I will remember for the rest of my life. It brought light to my spirit to witness. Chi Miigwetch Ki and Harbourvoices.

Saying goodbye to Newfoundland and @harbourvoices_ has been so hard. It is a rare thing to experience such a feeling of community in our travels, and this Festival has it in spades. We hope to return one day – thank you everyone for being so kind and welcoming to us.

Had an amazing experience!! Outstanding choirs, venues, commissioned works, new friends and Jacob Collier!!

Thank you to everyone who worked to make HarbourVOICES such a wonderful festival! Maybe we can do it again sometime!

It was an amazing,wonderful festival, thankyou to all involved with, and in the preparation, organization,
Planning, etc, etc, etc ! Never to be forgotten!,

I felt so privileged to be able to be ‘taught’ in rehearsal by the wonderful, brilliant Jacob Collier. What a privilege.

We had a blast @cantandochoir! Thanks @harbourvoices_ for the hospitality and the earworms.

Hey there! Just had the most incredible time at @harbourvoices_ joining a session with the one and only @jacobcollier ! Picture this: a thousand voices filling the room with pure magic. 🎶✨ Feeling inspired beyond words! Wish I could sing like them! 🎤💚 I’m excited for tomorrow!

It was profoundly powerful, real, raw, sad and beautiful, provoking all necessary of human emotions and thought in taking further- meaningful-steps to change. The power in that moment to feel an embrace of allyship and togetherness as we pull our shoulders back, wipe our tears and step back onto the path. The path to equity, access, inclusion, realization of rights. Brilliant performance. I am still processing, and, still crying... Thank you to everyone involved in creating this moment, and beckoning others to join the movement.

I do not have enough superlatives! It was fabulous. Bravo to everyone involved in making this happen. Crossing my fingers for another edition.

What an incredible gathering of voices from around the world! It looks like a wonderful time had by all. I can imagine the time and effort the organizing committee put into this event of such proportion. Such a happy time of meeting new friends and experiencing the joy of singing. I do hope I will be able to attend this event if another one should take place. Looks like a rousing success! Congratulations to all those who were involved! ❤️😊🎉

The most magical week with the most incredible humans from all over the planet. I am still processing all of the beautiful, inspiring, challenging, and hopeful moments. Thanks to the whole HV team, to our local and international singers, conductors, collaborative pianists, instrumentalists, and composers for sharing space with us at the festival! ……