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St. Michael’s Choir School May Newsletter

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CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS May, 2015

Our Most Gracious Advocate

May is the month of Mary, hence the cover photo for this newsletter of the statue of Our Lady which stands overlooking the school’s main entrance with open arms to greet all who pass through the doors. In addition to turning to the aid of St Michael the Archangel, we look to the example of Mary as an in-strument of Grace and invoke her intercession on our behalf. We are grateful to the Knights of Columbus, Toronto Council 1388, for generously donating this statue to our school. Since Holy Week, our choristers have been keeping busy with a number of ex-

tra liturgical services and performances while preparing repertoire for the Spring Concert and Newfoundland tour. With tour taking place later in the spring than usual, students and teachers are also working at getting through a good deal of curriculum before the end of the school year. Through it all, our boys have kept up their studies and various extra-curricular activities – vol-leyball, basketball, soccer, public speaking, W5H, etc. While such a schedule is demanding, the experiences the boys have here at the Choir School help to develop character, contributing to a formation that will shape them for the rest of their lives. It was wonderful to gather as a community in April for the elegant Dinner Dance, to celebrate

together while raising funds for the tour. We look forward to seeing all of you again at our

Spring Concert on Friday May 15 at St Paul’s Basilica, when everyone will have a chance to hear

the specially prepared concert repertoire before the Junior and Senior Choirs head east to New-

foundland on the 19th!

Sincerely yours

Mr. B. White Principal

.


SMCS NEWSLETTER PAGE 2



I probably don’t need to tell you that it’s been a busy month here at St. Michael’s Choir School,

and the past week has hit a real fever pitch of exciting activities. Last Tuesday, Dr. Cichocki and the Senior Select Choir were at the opening of GO Transit’s new York Concourse, bringing music to the morning commute of many hundreds of passengers exploring the new section of Union Station. Later that day, they appeared at the WSIB National Day of Mourning, an event which honours workers who have lost their lives or sustained injuries in the course of their work. Prem-ier Kathleen Wynne was in attendance at the WSIB event, and expressed her very positive im-pression of the Choir School’s work. Over this past weekend, our elementary students were also very busy. On Saturday evening, the Junior Choir sang at the High Notes for Mental Health Gala, and got to meet Canadian comedy legend Luba Goy. On Sunday, the Elementary Choir took on an extra Mass duty so that their Jun-

ior Choir colleagues to rest up from the previous night’s excitement. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, a handful of Junior Choir members performed at Koerner Hall with the Pax Christi Chorus in their performance of Sir Hu-bert Parry’s oratorio Judith, which retells the biblical epic of Judith and Hol-ofernes. This performance was the North American premier of the little-known oratorio by one of the greats of Victorian composition, but more than that, it was an extraordinary opportunity for a group of St. Michael’s Choir School students to work with professional musicians in one of Toronto’s best performance venues. Congratulations to Daniel, Michael, Liam, and Tristan on their hard work and excellent performance. We’re very proud of you! I would also like to thank Colin, Nicholas, Alexander and Timothy who under-studied the children’s roles and were ready to step in at a moment’s notice!. The Choirs will perform another of Parry’s works, Ode to Newfoundland (in a new arrangement by Paul Halley), during our upcoming tour. And speaking of tour, there are only two weeks to go! We are all very excited for the Nefoundland tour, and the host parishes of St. John’s, Torbay, Bay Bulls and Placentia are already selling tickets and preparing for our arrival.

Parents, please watch your email for final notices, and boys, keep up the good work in rehearsal. You’re sounding great! As I write this, the Tenor Bass Choir is returning from their Music Monday performance at Havergal College. This event was both an exciting collaboration with the Havergal Choir and SMCS alumnus Andrew Craig, but also a chance for the Choir School to join in a national conversation about music education. Across the country, musicians and choirs took part in this event and explored the ways in which music education speaks to young people. As part of the event, an an-them was chosen from among a number of contest entries, and the winner was Connor Ross of Bolton ON. Connor came here to SMCS last Wednesday to hear the TBs and Havergal rehearse with Andrew Craig and it was a real honour to have him here. The month of April also featured a notable series of piano and string recitals. I continue to be impressed by the dedica-tion and hard work of our POST staff and their students and, as RCM and House exam time draws closer, I know they continue to put lots of time and effort into developing their skills. After a busy month that started with Easter services and barely slowed down, I look forward to May and our upcoming

Newfoundland tour. As the weather improves and we leave this frigid winter behind, please don’t forget that it’s a good

time to make sure uniforms are in good shape and that students get a haircut ahead of the tour – and before next Fri-

day’s Spring Concert at St. Paul’s Basilica! I hope to see you there.

Sincerely

Stephen Handrigan Director



On Monday, May 4th, the Tenor Bass Choir joined forces with the choir of Havergal College to participate in Music Monday, singing the 2015 an-them We Are One. The song was composed by a high school student from Bolton ON, Connor Ross, who attended a rehearsal here at SMCS on Wednesday, April 29th. The rehearsal, which was held in the auditori-um, also featured SMCS alumnus Andrew Craig (Class of 1988), who conducted the two choirs in their collaboration at Havergal and created a unique arrangement of the anthem for the combined choirs. When asked about Craig’s special arrangement of his piece, Ross told the Toronto Star “It’s a totally different vibe, I love it.” Read more about Mu-sic Monday at http://goo.gl/tASWMA

http://goo.gl/tASWMA



Brian Cheong Grade 09 2nd, 3rd

Evan Buzdon Grade 10 1st, 2nd

Andrew Buzdon Grade 9 2nd

Xavier Hollot-Lo Grade 6 3rd

Gabriel Codina Grade 7 2nd , 2nd

Matthew Huynh Grade 5 3rd

The following students from Mrs. Morris piano class competed at Davenport Music Festival in month of April.

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Joan Hopperton and Kathleen Mann

In the early days of St. Michael’s Choir School, Monsignor Ronan was assisted by a small but dedicated staff. Among them were Joan Hop-perton and Kathleen Mann (pictured left in the Cathedral garden sometime in the late 1940s). Along with Harold Armstrong, these staff members were a part of the very fabric of the Choir School, having worked with Mon-signor Ronan since his appointment as Director of the Sanctuary Choir at the Cathedral in 1926. Kathleen and Joan were the first classroom teachers at St. Michael’s Choir School, and Kathleen’s duties also included preparation of the Junior Choir. These two women were so central to the devel-opment of St. Michael’s Choir School that we have now named two of our houses after them, with the other two rightly being named for Mon-signor Ronan and Harold Armstrong. The Choir School community has always recognized these four as pillars; in this picture, we see Kathleen and Joan as friends as well. This picture was donated to the SMCS Archives by our own Mrs. Chevrier, who is the niece of Joan Hopperton.

Thanks, Mrs. Chevrier!



May is upon us and the frigid and icy conditions on Bond Street are being replaced with pleasant warmth and green buds. St. Paul talks about a different kind of renewal—but one that metaphori-cally resonates with the change of seasons—in several of his letters. In Colossians he writes “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who creat-ed him.” (Colossians 3:9-10) The concept of a “true knowledge in the image of God” is contrasted here to life prior to encountering God. Though a person may have life, his or her life may not al-ways be together, complete, or happy. All people experience brokenness mixed in with goodness in this current life, but the life to come, in contrast, will be much fuller and clearer. A dead win-ter will give way to spring life, only not in a seasonal sense, but in the sense of our very souls. C.S. Lewis, in his book The Last Battle, allegorically depicts what it must be like to enter such a state of being:

Then Aslan turned to them and said: “You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be.” Lucy said, “We’re afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.” “No fear of that,” said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?....you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream, is ended: this is the morning.” -766, The Last Battle C.S. Lewis (From The Chronicles of Narnia: Signature Edition)

In contrast to how good Aslan’s home an (An allegory for heaven), life on earth is but a shadow or dream: murky and unclear. The change of seasons is a good reminder to us of the great change that God intends for us. To go from this life with all its ups and downs, to an existence so com-plete and happy that it’s beyond human vocabulary. It is precisely because of how good this exist-ence God has for us is, that we call the message of Jesus (about this future existence) the Good News (or Gospel in Latin).

Mr. Hume

Chaplain

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W5H JUNIOR

O n April 13th, the Intermediate W5H Team had their Divisional Tournament at Saint Michael’s Elementary. The team gave it their all and without any

breaks or substitutions, pulled off a 4th place victory. I would like to thank Lucas Ben, Jonathan Pitino, and Liam Wright for their efforts and dedication to the team! Finally, a big thank you to Ms. Ferreira who coached us and gave up her own time to ensure that we have the chance to experience a W5H Tournament! By: Michael Mochocki - Grade 7



CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS May ,2015


Saturday April 28th, members of our school community participated in the 25th annual WWF CN Tower climb. Our team, SMCS Cares, fundraised together over $2 000 dollars to raise awareness for wildlife conservation. We met at the Rogers Centre at 6:00 am and stood in a long line for about 45 minutes. When we were at the front of the line, we registered and got our time cards and bracelets. We left the Rogers Centre after coat check and had to walk in the cold from the Rogers Centre to the CN tower security without our jackets! By the time we got through security and were inside the CN Tower, it was 7:15. We held on to our time cards for dear life while we entered the staircase, terrified and excited at the same time. For some of us, it was our first time, but others were veterans! We all made our way up, widely spread out, and unaware of our teams status. We just kept going until we all met at the top where we were greeted by David Miller, our former mayor and president of WWF, and the WWF pan-da! Our fastest time was 17 mins! After we all met at the top, we headed down the elevator to collect our t shirt and fundraising prizes. Then, we all went to Cora's for a well deserved breakfast, and stories to share! Our team, and the Eco Club would like to thank everyone who participated and donated and we look forward to seeing even more climbers next year!! Christian Sforza, Gr. 7

Le concours d’art oratoire 2015 Le 31 mars, deux orateurs de la 10e année, Amit Nehru et Nicholas Wanstall, nous ont représentés aux finales du Concours d’Art Oratoire du conseil scolaire. Parmi des concurrents et concur-rentes doués venant de plusieurs écoles de notre conseil scolaire, tous les deux élèves ont très bien parlé avec de la confiance et de la passion. Nous sommes très fiers de la deuxième place remportée par Amit qui a partagé sa connaissance de La menace mondiale. Félicitations Amit et Nicholas! H. Dakin





Jesus Serrano represented the intermediate division at

this year’s Concours d’Art Oratoire 2015 with an ex-

cellent speech about being a proud Canadian and the

importance of acknowledging our Aboriginal roots, Les

autochtones. Jesus tied for third place out of 8 partici-

pants. Jesus embraces a second and a third language and

the judges commended the ease with which he com-

municates freely and eloquently. Félicitations!

Mme LoCurto

The Concours d’Art Oratoire semi-finals were held at the board on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 and we had two students in our junior division representing our school. In Grade 4, Gianluca Scurti placed first in the Core French catego-ry and Nicholas Witowych placed third in the Extended French category. On Friday, April 17, 2015 the following students repre-sented St. Michael’s Choir School in the board wide fi-nals for the Concours d’Art Oratoire: In the category of Core French – Grade 4, Gianluca Scurti placed 2nd with “Le fils unique”. In the category of Extended French – Grade 6, Noah Beaudry placed 2nd with “Le chocolat”. A special thank you goes out to everyone involved espe-cially Mrs. Lam for coaching our finalists.

Merci et bon travail! M. Tarascio



Badminton On Thursday April 9, 2015 Brandon Li represented St Michael’s Choir School at Humber Col-lege for the TDCAA Badminton competition. The event consisted of all schools in the TCDSB with a badminton team plus a few others. Brandon started the day off in the double elimina-tion tournament with a win but then faced very tough competition (who ended up winning the entire tournament). Match after match Brandon used strategy and technique to beat his com-petitors and ended up making it to the semi-finals. In the semi finals Brandon faced a provin-cial player where he fell just short. He finished in 4th place overall in the TCDAA and made his coach Mr. Peacock and the school very proud. Special congratulations to Brandon and to all of our athletes who have represented us so well in various sports. GO SPARTANS GO! Andrew Peacock Department Head of PHE

SMCS Junior Elementary Basketball



The Junior Basketball Tournament took place on Monday, April 27, 2015 at Senhor Santo Cristo Catholic School. The team participated very well and demonstrated a great passion in every game. The team was undefeated and lost in the final game at the buzzer by a score of 16 to 14. It was a wonder-ful day and the team came back with a finalist pennant that will be dis-played in our gym. The team would like to thank Mr. White for running the intramurals and Mr. Tarascio and Mr. Nunes for coaching and taking us to the tournament. By: Jonathan Adams Congratulations to the following team members: Grade 5: Jonathan Adams (C), Devin Cairney, Cameron Pardy Grade 6: Julian Addesa, Michael Adragna, Daniel Avila, Xavier

Hollott-Lo, Scott MacDonald, Justin Ngo, Aidan Young Coaches: Mr. White, Mr. Tarascio, Mr. Nunez

2015 SMCS Junior Elementary Volleyball



The Junior Elementary Volleyball Tourna-ment was held at St. Raymond Catholic School on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. The team was met with an unfortunate event, as due to a subway closure, half the mem-bers were late. Luckily, with the assistance of Scott MacDonald's brother, who took on the role of the coach, the six players who arrived on time won the first match. In addition to this success, we were very blessed to have parents offer their support in transporting the remaining members of the team to the tournament. Once the team finally reunited, they continued to play extremely well and won every match thereafter. Once the team made it to the finals it was difficult to remain focused under pressure; However, through communication and well developed skills as a result of training, the team won and was undefeated. We have successfully brought back the championship banner raising the count to 9 in total. We would like to thank Mr. Tarascio for coaching us and to all the parents who sup-ported us at the tournament. A special thank you goes out to Ms. Margani and Mr. Avila for helping us get to the tournament when we were left stranded at the subway station. By: Aidan Young Congratulations to the following team members: Grade 4: Vincenzo Baggetta, Gianluca Scurti Grade 5: Devin Cairney, Samuel Krzeczunowicz, Benjamin Norton, Cameron Pardy Grade 6: Julian Addesa, Michael Adragna, Daniel Avila, Noah Beaudry,

Scott MacDonald, Timothy Stocker, Aidan Young (C) Coach: Mr. Tarascio

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Congratulations go out to the High School boys who rep-resented our school in the Downsview soccer tournament on April 15. The boys played well against some formida-ble teams. A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Povolo and Mrs. Riola for treating the team to pizza afterwards. Coaches: Ms. Merocchi and Mr. Hume Players: Michael Avila Paolo Bordignon, Filip Czul, Carmine D’Andrea, Martin Gomes, Adam Ierullo-Woloszczak, Derek Li, Lucas Kapeniak, Adam Kolodziej , Matthew Lam, Daniel Lobo, Francesco Mannella, Chris Pacitti, Josh Perez, David Ribeiro, Matthew Riola, David Snowdon, Christian Umipig, Alex Virdo Team Manager: Vince Tameta




The Lower House

The “Chair-ity” Project Creating a chair that symbolizes a safe, caring and accepting school.



Although a chair is an everyday object, it can be associat-ed with a place for someone to take comfort. From the

comfort and safety of the chair, one can explore their deep inner levels of being. Chairs are meant for resting, re-

flecting, pausing and meditating. All deserve a place to sit and just be. All deserve to feel welcomed, safe, cared

for and most importantly, accepted. “Making a Place for Everyone”

The 4 houses participated in the chair activity and each house created their chair to represent the many symbols of a safe, caring and accepting school. The message was powerful and everyone worked together to support anti-bullying. Once the chairs were complete they were sent to the Catholic Education Centre where they were placed on display on the second floor atrium with all the other chairs created by the different schools. The Grade 8 leaders are to be commended for their leadership and collaborative work on this project. They have since been returned and are on display outside the main doors to our school’s main office next to the prayer table. Lower House Deans, Mr. Tarascio and Mr. Rubacha


The Lower House The display of chairs at the CEC



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CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS May,2015


Pachi the porcupine was greeted with plenty of applause when he honoured our school with a PanAm Games tribute on Wednesday April 29th, 2015. "Pachi" is derived from a Japanese phrase meaning "clapping with joy," and that's exactly what enthusiastic SMCS students did. They clapped with joy. the various colours of the quills each represent the qualities Pachi has: green for youth, fuchsia for passion, blue for collaboration, orange for determination and purple for creativity. Why a porcupine for a mascot? Well, we learned that the porcupine is indigenous across North and South America. Our E-CSLIT team has been working hard at promoting this year’s PanAm and Para-pan Am games which will be held here in Toronto. The PanAm Games take place July 10 to 26, 2015 and the Parapan Am Games will be held August 7-14, 2015. Over the next 2 months we expect to learn more about our athletes and the many sporting events. Take a look at what you can expect to see at the PanAm Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMv2dlC2JFQ Mme LoCurto E-CSLIT Advisor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMv2dlC2JFQ




Elementary Choral Award: Derrick Xu, Sebastian Cairney Tomas Igreja, Elliott Duffey

Junior Choir Leader-ship Award: Matthias Law Noah Beaudry Michael Adragna

A Man for Others: Peter Abate Jonathan Adams Gigi Ciarlandini

Francais Award: Peter Abate, Oliver Aleksandrowicz Jonathan Adams, Julian Adessa, Christian Sforza, Tony Li


Joshua Rossetti Student Council President 2014-2015 Things continue to move along at a quick pace as we move into the latter months of the school calendar. This past month a delegation of students went to the Catholic Education Centre

to present to the board our petition to maintain the one hour lunch. Our argument was well-received by the panel of trustees and staff. Currently, the board is evaluating the situation and go-ing through the necessary processes. We wait patiently in hope of a favourable outcome. Student Council also ran an upper house event in the month of April, offering foosball, W5H, Mi-nute to Win it, and soccer. The house standings remain close as we move towards the awarding of the house cup in June. We had our Intramural finals at the end of the month; a big congratulations to the Unicorns for their win over the Ponies in the season finale. Thanks to Mr. Hume, Mr. Nunes, and Vice-President Baxter Baltazar for facilitating our season. Student council’s marquee event, Jam Night is taking place May 8. Full concessions will be offered, and there will be a raffle draw offering a range of prizes; among them a tablet and Blue Jays tickets. We invite all in the Choir School community to come out and enjoy the music of our very talented performers! Remember to follow us on Facebook at SMCS Student Council 2014-2015 and on Twitter @SMCSCouncil for updates and other Choir School news!



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Tuesday, May 5, 2015 Organ Recital—Auditorium—5:30 P.M. May 5, 2015 to May 7, 2015 House Exams—Grade 9-12 Saturday, May 9, 2015 Priest Ordination—Sr. Select Choir Sunday, May 10, 2015 Mother’s Day Monday, May 11, 2015 Grade 3 and 4—Toronto Symphony Concert Friday, May 15, 2015 Spring Concert—St. Paul’s Basilica—7:00 P.M. Monday, May, 18, 2015 Victoria Day May 19th to May 28th, 2015 NEWFOUNDLAND TOUR—GRADE 5-12

May, 2015 CHOIR SCHOOL NEWS

DIRECTOR: MS. ANGELA GAUTHIER

SUPERINTENDENT:

Mr. J. Shanahan

(416) 222-8282 Ex. 5371

TRUSTEE 2014-2015

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

WARDS 1. JOSEPH MARTINO 2. ANN ANDRACHUK 3. SAL PICCININNI 4. PATRIZIA BOTTONI 5. MARIA RIZZO 6. FRANK D’AMICO 7. MICHAEL DEL GRANDE—CHAIR

8. GARY TANUAN 9. JO-ANN DAVIS (416) 512-3409 10. BARBARA POPLAWSKI 11. ANGELA KENNEDY 12. NANCY CRAWFORD—VICE-CHAIR

STUDENT TRUSTEE

Christopher MacDonald & Hannah McGroarty

TRUSTEE FOR ST MICHAEL’S CHOIR SCHOOL

[email protected] - www.jo-anndavis.ca


St. Michael’s Choir School Advisory Board

Rev. Ivan Camilleri, Chancellor of Spiritual Affairs

Mr. Jim Milway, Chancellor of Temporal Affairs

Mr. William Dunlop, Comptroller, Archdiocese of Toronto

Rev. Michael Busch, Rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral

Rev. Brian Clough, SMCS alumnus, , Judicial Vicar

Rev. Larry Leger, Chair Nominating Committee

Dr. Constance Price

Dr. Joseph Gasser, SMCS alumnus— Chair

Mr. John Anderton, SMCS Alumnus, Chair of Finance

Ms. Patricia Parisi, Chair Governance committee

Ms. Anne Bolger

Ms. Andrea Chisholm

Mr. Stephen Handrigan—Director

Mr. Barry White - Principal

Dr. Paul Gauvreau, Parent

Mrs. K. Lagroix

SMCS 2014-2015 CSAC REPRESENTATIVES

Geoff Rawlinson - Co-Chair

Pina Povolo - Co-Chair

Angela Racco - Secretary

Jennifer Danahy - Treasurer

ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO

Chancellor: Cardinal Thomas Collins

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jo-anndavis.ca

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