Members of the choir singing A Red, Red Rose during their March concert last year.

By Umer Nangiana


Qatar’s largest and oldest amateur community choir, The Doha Singers, is all set to entertain the local audience with its first main concert of the year, From Broadway to Doha.
A more secular form of the choir’s programme for May will feature a concert on May 27 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel to be followed by another programme at the College of North Atlantic-Qatar (CNAQ) on June 5.
Tracing its roots back to 1993 when it was formed by Rev Ian Young, the community choir brings a wide range of choral music to members and audiences alike. A four-part adult choir with a membership of between 80 and 100 singers, the Doha Singers has a wide repertoire with a mixture of modern and older pieces, both sacred and secular.
They mainly perform two main concerts per year such as the festive music in December and a more secular programme in May besides other special programmes at different venues for their clients. In recent years, the choir has also shared the stage with the Doha Community Orchestra and the Doha Children’s Choir.
The Doha Singers says one of the main features of its appeal is its friendly atmosphere. They perform to a fee-paying audience and therefore ensure that they rehearse properly and sing to the best of their abilities. Singing with the Doha Singers, the choir promises, gives one membership of a unique group of friends where newcomers are welcomed with open arms.
“I have been a member of Doha Singers since the spring of 2010 and have enjoyed the uplifting practices and the exciting concerts. It is a long drive from home but well worth it,” Kirsten Haynes wrote in the guest book entry of the choir in 2014.
“A great way to get to know people in Doha and an amazing way to enrich your musical repertoire if you are not an English native speaker,” adds another member of the choir, Silvia Salvadori.
Laura Dziubaniuk is the managing director of the Doha Singers, appointed in May 2014 following the departure of Liz Thomas. Laura has been an active singer and music educator since 1989. Opera, Oratorio, Concert and Chamber Music performances have taken her throughout North America and Europe.
She is currently QA Sidra’s Music Teacher. Prior to her arrival in Doha in 2012, she taught in Dubai and Ottawa. She was the Music Director for the Cumberland Community Singers, All Saints Westboro Anglican Church and the Assumption of the Blessed Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ottawa.
She holds both a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Education from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Education Degree from Nipissing University, North Bay, Canada. “I was fortunate to have studied under many great artists, conductors and pedagogues like Joan Maxwell, Ella Akritova, Eva Blahova, Magdalena Hajossyova, Kerstin Meyer, Peter Mikulas, Louis Quilico, Benite Valente, Greta Kraus, Brian Law, Laurence Ewashko, Stuart Hamilton, Michael McMahon and Jurg Wyttenbach among others,” says the Doha Singers’ MD.
She was a laureate in numerous International Vocal Scholarships and Canadian Vocal Music Competitions which enabled her to further her vocal studies at the Kiev Conservatory in Kiev, Ukraine; the Sixth International Interpretation Courses in Piestany, Slovakia and the European Mozart Academy in Krakow, Poland.


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