Walton is very blessed to have so many talented musicians in our community! We have three choirs at Walton, involving approximately 80 members.
The Adult Choir rehearses every Thursday at 8:00pm from September to mid-June.
The choir sings an anthem every Sunday and most services also involve Adult Choir ensembles, duets, or solos. The music ranges from Baroque to Contemporary and is always challenging and stimulating. Throughout the year, the Adult Choir presents special music on Sundays such as Spirituals, favourite hymns, Christmas music, Easter music, Handel’s Messiah, as well as evening concerts and carol services.
The choir also performs one or two secular concerts each year. These have included: The music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan, Cole Porter and George Gershwin, British Music Hall, “The Full Bronte” and other comedy shows.
The choir enjoys regular fellowship “treat-nights” as well as a Christmas Party and a year-end barbecue.
The members of the Youth Choir range from grades 6 to 12 and practice Thursday from 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm. They sing 3 Sundays per month at the 9:30 am service.
They learn the basic skills of sight-reading and harmonizing through the various SA (Soprano/Alton) and SSA (Soprano/2nd Soprano/Alto) songs, most of which are contemporary. The choir also presents a spring concert and joins the Adult Choir in our Annual Choir Service.
Walton’s Youth Choir has sung in movies and as backup singers for 2 Eric Nagler recordings, both of which were nominated for Juno awards.
The choir has won two ‘First Place’ awards at the Peel Music Festival and many of its members have won individual awards as well.
The Junior Choir (children in grades 1-5) provides an opportunity for younger children to participate in the music program at Walton.
They practice once a week on Thursdays from 7:15 pm to 7:45 pm and they sing an average of twice per month at the 9:30 or 11:00 am services.
The combination of a large congregation (over 500 families) and small building (seating 250 at one time) requires Walton Memorial United Church to hold two Sunday services, usually from the third Sunday in September to the first Sunday in June.
The second Sunday in June is for the Summer Celebration Service when our services move to one service at 10:00 am.
Because of having two services, the Adult Choir alternates between the early (9:30) and late (11:00) services. In order to balance the availability of choir music for the congregation at both services, the following schedule as been developed:
First Service (9:30) Sept, Nov, Dec*, Jan, Mar, May
Second Service (11:00) Oct, Dec*, Feb, Apr, June
*Note: the Adult Choir sings at both services during Advent (December) and at Easter.
If you are looking for a place in which to worship God through music and are interested in joining one of our choirs, please contact the church office at office@waltonmemorial.com or 905-827-1643
