Right to the choir: towards the Podium 2024 event

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At least 3.5 million Canadians practice choral singing, and based on the numerous studies on the subject, I am almost certain that the overall health of these choristers is above the national average.




The level of cortisol (stress hormone) was measured before and after choral singing rehearsals: decreasing. Blood pressure, heart rate, energy level, quality of posture, breathing, mood; we measured everything, and all the indicators are at their best. It’s the effect of the music, yes, but also the effect of the collective: for a couple of hours, we create something beautiful together, we are made better by a group. It’s rare these days…

The first time I felt in a state of grace while making music was at 12 years old, in the choir of a small music camp. It must be said that we had Louis Lavigueur as choir director (very young at the time, today a grandfather and renowned veteran of the musical world). He knew how to both be demanding and convince us that we could rise to the level of his demands, to our greatest amazement.

I think that’s the secret of the best choir directors: they almost all have to deal with non-professionals, but they manage to deliver this improbable equation in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

In mid-May, the Podium event will bring together around 2,000 singers in Montreal. Both a conference and a festival (seven magnificent indoor concerts will be presented, in addition to free performances), the event is organized by the Alliance chorale du Québec and Choral Canada.

Régis Rousseau, co-president of Podium, directs the Schola Cantorum of Quebec. Before becoming conductor of this choir, he was part of it while he was director of studies for the network of Quebec conservatories. “I was exhausted when I finished my days at the office, I had to push myself to go to rehearsals, but each time I came out full of energy,” he explains in an interview.

It’s like that in all choirs: the atmosphere at the end of a rehearsal is electrified, there’s laughter, there’s chatter, we’re no longer in a hurry to leave.

Régis Rousseau, co-president of Podium

It was while singing in a choir in Jonquière that Régis, a renowned organist, took up music, only learning the piano and then the organ at the age of 14. I ask him if the choir has properly prepared his brain for an instrument like the organ, which always plays several musical voices at the same time. ” Yes, it’s true ! My father listened to music: when I heard a Beethoven symphony or the Bolero of Ravel, I already had a polyphonic listening experience. »

While choral singing has long been associated with the church, it now takes on all sorts of shapes and styles, reflected in the title of the 2024 edition of Podium, “Free Voices, Open Minds,” but even more in its programming. The invited vocal ensembles for Podium 2024 come from Winnipeg, Newfoundland, but especially from Quebec and Toronto. They play a very broad repertoire, ranging from the Renaissance to hip-hop via Nat King Cole.


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