WILMINGTON — A Canadian choir that gained popularity by bringing together groups of people to sing pop, rock and other genres of music will head to town this fall.
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Wilson Center is hosting Choir! Choir! Choir! on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. The group started in 2011 and is led by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman who host public singalongs to create a communal, engaging experience that tethers strangers through harmony and soulful connection.
Choir! Choir! Choir! started as a one-off for a birthday party but has grown into bringing together thousands of people to learn a song or two and sing it together. Perhaps one of the group’s most popular tracks performed interactively has been Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” bringing together 1,800 people to sing in unison. Goldman and Adilman split the audience up into varied parts and conduct them through the performance, which is normally accompanied by an acoustic guitar.
Since starting more than a decade ago, Choir! Choir! Choir! has done hundreds of performances, many raising awareness and funds for nonprofit events. For instance, in 2015 the group performed John Lennon’s “Imagine” to help Syrian refugees and The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Daffodil Campaign.
The choir also has gained popularity by hosting events in homage to artists following their deaths, such as David Bowie and Prince in 2016. The group even paired with famous musicians such as Rufus Wainwright for “Hallelujah” and David Byrne who led the choir singing Bowie’s and Brian Eno’s “Heroes” during the Under the Radar Festival.
Rick Astley joined in 2018 for “Never Gonna Give You Up” as “rickrolling” made a resurgence. The following year Patti Smith and Stewart Copeland joined the group for a day in NYC to perform Smith’s anthemic “People Have the Power.”
And the music didn’t stop during the Covid-19 pandemic either. Goldman and Adilman hosted virtual singalongs on St. Patrick’s Day 2020, featuring songs such as “Stand By Me,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “Lean on Me,” among other tracks. They’ve even performed with Kermit the Frog and had an orchestra join for a rendition of “Rainbow Connection” a few years ago at the Lincoln Center.
Choir! Choir! Choir! is headed to Wilmington’s Wilson Center, with tickets open to the public on Friday, April 25; they open to Wilson Center members only on Wednesday, April 23. The show, titled “Hallelujah: An EPIC Anthems Sing-Along,” will feature Cohen’s epic ballad, as well as tracks from to Joni Mitchell to Whitney Houston to Shania Twain.
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