|
About the choir
Con Amore is a high quality, mixed amateur choir with around 50 singers well distributed on all four vocal groups. Several members have been with us from the very beginning. Our members live in the Oslo region. They have all considerable experience with and a reflected view on choir singing and how this fits into one’s priorities in life.
Our conductor since August 2002-2011 was Ida Baalsrud, who got her degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music. Ida has been working as a musician (mainly on violin) and conductor for the last 25 years. She composes and arranges for choir and she plays a number of instruments.
During the last years the repertoire, besides “light music”, has been turned more towards sonorous, romantic music, in particular songs with roots in the Central-Eastern and Russian tradition. However, our repertoire spans widely and covers challenging works of, among many others, Rachmaninov, Gretchaninov, Gorecki, Tavener and Norwegian composers such as Grieg, Nystedt and Hovland. Folk songs and popular songs from many countries are also among our favourites.
Now and then we seek extraordinary challenges. Hence, in year 2000 we did Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (chamber version) together with two other choirs and excellent solo singers, pianists and percussionists. We managed to fill the Concert Hall of the University of Oslo for two performances.
This helped making us one of the few amateur choirs that actually makes money.
Social events are important to us. We try to arrange a tour abroad every second year. In 1999 we went to Provence and in 2001 we were lucky and got in contact with one of the best amateur choirs in the Czech Republic, the “Janacek Choir”. We visited Jablonec and Prague in June 2001 we gave a number of concerts and had great fun. The Janacek Choir, which has given concerts in 15 different countries, has never been to Scandinavia. They came to Oslo the last week in August and we had a good time together. Con Amore hosted 48 members of the Janacek choir and promoted and arranged the concerts they gave. Summer 2004 we went to Irland for a week.
Origin of the choir
Con Amore started with a selection of singers from Oslo Youth Choir, who reached the age of retirement from that choir at an age of 33, but did not yet feel prepared for the graveyard. Con Amore was then founded in 1969 and has grown and prospered since.
Several individuals have made extraordinary contributions to the choir during a number of years, notably our first conductor Tor Skauge (one of the pillars in Norwegian choir life) and Aage Bjartaas, who conducted the choir successfully through a very difficult period. Eirik Sørborg was our conductor from 1997 to 2002, a highly talented and ambitious, young conductor.
Alf Pedersen, Kirsten Føyen and Eirik Halmøy is Honorary Member of Con Amore. Alf Pedersen was one of the founders and has done an outstanding job for the choir during all these years. Kirsten and Eirik have also done a great job for the choir for more than 30 years.
When and where do we rehearse?
Every Thursday from 7:00 pm until 9:30 pm in Nordberg Church,
Kringsjågrenda 1.
Would you like to join?
At present we are quite strict concerning new members, but if you have experience from other choirs and can read music, we can do with more sopranos, tenors and basses.
Questions?
Contact our Chairman Ingrid Hillblom, post@conamore.no
| 
