History
WLU Alumni Choir History
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New Beginnings as a Constituent Society
According to Chapter 6 of the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Association By-laws, a constituent society must have a common base, an academic discipline, or a common interest in order to be formed and formally recognized by the WLU Alumni Association, as circumstances deem appropriate. Recently, the Alumni Choir has been deemed a constituent society of WLU, which formally connects the current Laurier Faculty of Music and the WLU Alumni office.
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History
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In 2001 several former WLU choristers (from 1964 – 1976) gathered at the Keffer Chapel for a reunion. They had the opportunity to recall fond memories of Reading Weeks when the choir toured as ambassadors for Waterloo University College or Waterloo Lutheran University. Friendships were renewed and plans made to establish the Keith Knights Scholarship to remember a dear friend from those years. A decision was made to organize a larger reunion and concert for 2002 and thus, the WLU Alumni Choir was born.
As this choir is trying to reunite with all choristers, it welcomes all members who sang under Professors Ulrich Leopold, Martin Luther Dolbeer, Charles McLean, Walter Kemp, Victor Martens, Jan Overduin, Noel Edison, Peter Nikiforuk, William Janzen, Lee Willingham, Nancy Tanguay, Gerard Yun, and Elvera Froese.
In September 2002 the Alumni Choir performed in the Maureen Forester Concert Hall to raise funds for the scholarship and also began the tradition of singing Homecoming Sunday mornings at local churches in the KW community. In May 2004, the choir performed the Fauré Requiem as another fundraiser and through sales of CDs of the concert, monies raised at the concert and donations, the Keith Knights Scholarship fund now grants annual awards to voice students in the Faculty of Music as does the WLU Alumni Choir Scholarship. This award was established in 2006 by an alumni choir member who saw the choir as having a positive impact on the university, students, and alumni.
In 2004, the Alumni Choir was invited to sing at the Founders’ Luncheon, which has become an annual event for the choir during the Homecoming weekend. It was at the Founders’ Luncheon that the alumni choir introduced a reworked version of the Laurier Fight Song. The choir also sang the Fight Song at the Homecoming football game for the next three years and recorded this song in 2005, with hopes that this would re-establish “the school song”.
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