SPECTACULAR SHOW: The Doha Youth Choir stole the show. Photos by Abigail Mathias. Inset: “There is a lot of music appreciation in Doha. From what I can gather there is a lot going on. It’s culturally quite busy here.” — Laura Dziubaniuk, Music Director, Doha Singers
By Abigail Mathias
Setting the right tone for the festive season, the triune collaboration of the Doha Singers, the Doha Youth Choir and the Doha Community Orchestra came together in a spectacular performance recently.
Held at the American School of Doha, the evening was a sold out event. The groups performed twice the same evening in a show called the Winter Wonderland.
Parents, well-wishers and music lovers could not help but sing along to the familiar melodies that filled the air that night. For the newest conductor on the stage, the evening was a fitting culmination of her love for music and an ode to her ability to put up a show.
Laura Dziubaniuk, the Music Director of the Doha Singers, spoke exclusively to Community about how much this first performance with the group meant to her personally.
“Having lived in Qatar for a while now, I’ve always heard about the Doha Singers. I never imagined I’d be leading them but this was a challenge, I graciously accepted,” says the Canadian director. Laura took over the reigns from a previous music director who was with the group for quite a while but had to move to her home country.
Laura has been an active singer and music educator since 1989 in North America, Europe and the Middle East. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Education as well. She is also a laureate in numerous international Vocal Scholarships and Canadian Vocal Music Competitions.
An accomplished Soprano singer, Laura’s chamber music performances have taken her through North America and Europe. She currently teaches music at the Qatar Academy Sidra.
“I was so busy teaching music for the past few years so leading a choral group is a refreshing change,” says Laura, who was asked by a fellow music teacher if she would audition for the part of music director.
Shortly after her first performance with the troupe, the conductor of Doha Singers had tired feet but a warm smile on her face. Speaking about the collaboration with the Doha Youth Choir and the Doha Community Orchestra she said, “I am not so sure if we have ever performed with so many people and musicians on stage before in Qatar, but this was a ready challenge and we enjoyed it. It is very festive performance and a lot of work was involved. But it was rewarding and the audience loved it,” said Laura.
The choir chose Carols that are familiar to the audience even offering music sheets for everyone to sing along.
Qatar appreciates music
Having spent three years in Qatar, Laura feels, “There is a lot of music appreciation in Doha. From what I can gather there is a lot going on. It’s culturally quite busy here.” She laments, “I’ve been so consumed with teaching all this while that it often gets hard to attend performances.”
The Doha Singers are made up of a number of amateur and professional singers. “We have such a wide range of singers most of whom have been with the choir for a very long time,” says Laura. Now that the festive season is coming to a close she is planning her next project with the group. “I’m working on a musical which is a tribute to the music from Broadway,” she explains.
Not to be outdone, the Doha Community Orchestra played a medley of festive tunes during the show. The orchestra is a non-profit group made up of musicians residing in Qatar or enrolled at education institutions in the country.
Grown to two ensembles, the Orchestra and Wind Symphony, the purpose of the organisation is to provide learner musicians of all ages with the opportunity of performing in a full symphony orchestra, and of playing and learning alongside more experienced musicians.
Bringing children to the stage
As soon as the orchestra set the tone for the evening, an adorable group of young performers took to the stage. Led by Alena Pyne, the Doha Youth Choir swayed and sung in pretty red capes and Santa hats delighting the crowds.
After a long night filled with applause, Alena was pleased to share anecdotes about her troupe with us. “Our choir is made up of children who are first and foremost happy to sing.” She is at ease managing different age groups and temperament but added, “The children need to have a passion for music. If you have that, the discipline follows.”
This is an ambitious youth choir where members receive specialised training in sight-singing, notation and theory, vocal technique, music interpretation and are exposed to a veritable variety of the greater classical choral repertoire.
This choir aims to deliver polished and unique performances, every time, and to have good fun along the way. Made up of singers from the age of 8 to 16 it isn’t easy to pull members in as they are consumed with school work and their other commitments.
“We have a lot of social activities in the choir itself to keep them motivated,” said Alena whose own daughter is in the choir.
“This is just our second year,” she added, acknowledging that it is not an easy task to put up such a show. “It has been hard for parents, juggling with traffic, especially to get the children to rehearsal on time. In fact, we took the tough decision to add a second rehearsal this year. My aspirations for this choir are that they become a proper concert choir and we will never achieve that without practice,” said Alena.
It is not just the young singers but their parents who ought to be commended for their commitment to the group. Many families moved away this year, which happens a lot in this region.
“When we recommenced our practices, there were only 14 children from the original group as seven families had left Qatar. Despite this we auditioned again and expanded to have 27 children,” said the conductor. Despite all these pressures, Alena and her husband who also helps with the choir, are committed to see the group thrive. “The hardest thing is to get them to stand still,” she laughed.
The children narrate their own experiences. Fourteen-year-old Monica is a choir leader of the Doha Youth group. She said, “I lived in Canada for most of my life before I moved to Qatar. I have been in The Doha Youth Choir for one and half years and before that I was in another choir called Guelph Youth Singers which toured around Canada and have won many competitions.”
She added, “Being a choir leader is very important to me. I love to sing and so helping other people express their love for singing is really important to me and therefore, that is why I enjoy being a choir leader. It allows me to make sure everyone in the choir is able to express and have new and creative ways to be involved in the choir. It also gives me the opportunity to come up with fun ways to learn.”
Kalika is another Youth Choir member who comes from Mumbai, India. She said, “I joined the Doha Youth Choir in 2013 and have been loving it since. The choir has given my voice a chance to improve through all the practice. I have met some of my absolute closest friends here, in the Doha Youth Choir and will carry the thrilling experiences with me forever.”
