Luminous Voices choir singing on stage at the Bella Concert Hall. (Elaina Shepley, CMRU.ca)
The sounds of choral music have the ability to hit souls and bring an audience together in ways that any other concert cannot. A choir can silence a room of people, it can bring tears to its audience’s eyes, and it can unite people, cultures, and languages through music. Alberta-based choir – Luminous Voices focuses on uniting its singers within a unique community to reach out to a larger audience of people. Founded in 2012, Luminous Voices has consciously united local, national, and international artists in order to shine a spotlight on choral music of both the past and the present.
By spanning multiple different genres, cultures, and languages Luminous Voices choir takes on the unique role of combining song and community. By focusing on people, this choir has paid special attention to the importance of reconciliation. 10-year alto singer for Luminous Voices, Meghan Prescott can be quoted saying, ‘We always try to touch on modern pieces that are developing choral music for today. We put a big aspect today on really putting an emphasis on reconciliation.”
Luminous Voices actively works with Canadian Indigenous composers, such as Andrew Balfour in order to combine past and present choral pieces to promote reconciliation. Meghan values the uniqueness of her choir as she says that the community aspect is like no other choir she has been a part of. Prescott expresses that her passion for singing and music has only been emphasized since joining Luminous Voices and that the goal of community involvement Luminous Voices has is something that never makes her want to leave.
On top of combining Indigenous Peoples with Luminous Voices, this choir has also focused on other marginalized voices. Luminous Voices has had the opportunity to record previously banned Ukrainian Sacred Choral music by Vedel. Meghan says that this project not only inspired her but opened up a door for hurting Ukrainian families as “you could hear the hearts of the Ukrainian People in a deep way.”
Luminous Voices not only emphasizes how important it is for choral music to bring people together, but they also actively try to unite communities in unique ways.
To hear Meghan Prescott speak about her experience with the Luminous Voices Choir watch the video below:
To hear more of Luminous Voices’ music follow these links:
- Vedel and Luminous Voices – Ukrainian Sacred Music, Choir Concertos, 2021
- Luminous Voices, Mendelssohn’s Te Deum, 2015
- Peter-Anthony Togni and Luminous Voices – Sea Dreams, 2020
- Zachary Wadsworth and Luminous Voices – The Far West, 2016
- Andrew Balfour and Luminous Voices – Ispiciwin, 2022
- Various Artists and Luminous Voices – Wandering with Wonder, 2021
Check out the Luminous Voices on stage at the Bella Concert Hall:
Before learning about Luminous Voices, I didn’t know much about the choir world or its communities. However, after getting to Meghan and the Luminous Voices culture, I see that unlike other ‘music groups’ choral music has a specific goal – to merge different cultures.
As I was watching their concert at the Bella Concert Hall I was amazed at how many different languages Luminous Voices was singing in. I was also amazed by the amount of different cultures and historical moments they mentioned throughout their concert. Speaking with Meghan Prescott really opened my eyes to how important music is for community. Music is often called the ‘heart language’ of the world. We don’t all need to understand the words, to be moved by the music. Luminous voices does just that with all of their songs.
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