A last hurrah

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This article was published 19/08/2018 (2069 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a 23-year hiatus, Winnipegger Cynthia Dutton repeats a familiar refrain for fans of a long-running Sunday afternoon television show: join her for some nostalgia and some great sacred music.

More than two decades after CBC’s Hymn Sing went off the air, about 80 former choristers will harmonize in a one-time, exclusive reunion concert, 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at Winnipeg’s Bethel Mennonite Church.

“We think of the reunion and the concert as an extension of family because it was a family in some ways,” says the former Hymn Sing host and singer, who reprises her hosting role for the concert, along with other former hosts.

Then known as Cynthia Laird, Dutton performed on the show from 1975 until it was cancelled in 1995. Initially hired for the soprano section of the 16-member auditioned chorus, she became its on-air host, introducing songs and recording promo spots for the nationally broadcasted show.

“It was considered to be a religious program even though singers weren’t hired on the basis of their faith. They were hired on the basic of their musicianship,” explains the retired public school principal, who attends the downtown Elim Chapel where longtime Hymn Sing conductor Winnifred Sim once served as music minister.

Sim will be honoured during the concert, but at age 88 has retired from public performance, explains daughter Margot Sim, who will accompany the choir on organ and recorder and conduct the choir in a piece composed by her mother.

“She was first and always a church musician and a choral musician,” Margot says of her mother’s long career as an organist and conductor, including 30 years on Hymn Sing.

Concertgoers can waltz down memory lane through a display of letters, publicity photos and memorabilia, and watch clips of the show an hour before the concert. All ticket holders are invited to a post-concert reception to meet the singers.

“I think it is going to be a wonderful musical highlight for not only the audience, but also for us,” explains Rev. John Nelson of Regina, chair of the organizing committee.

“It will be a respectful closure for a very influential program of the time.”

With an audience of three million, the Sunday afternoon staple attracted viewers young and old, often bringing families around the television to sing along, and generating fan mail and recognition for its hosts and singers.

“We were a rare program. We did classical music, we did contemporary music, we did anthems,” says Nelson, a tenor on the show from 1968 to 1974, who now conducts church and community choirs.

Audience members can revisit those musical favourites during the 90-minute concert, and join in the singalongs, says Lois Watson-Lyons, a member of the chorus from 1970 to 1975.

“We want them to hear again the old (musical) numbers and hymns that aren’t sung so much anymore and we’re hoping this would be an encouragement of their faith,” says the retired voice teacher, who had about a dozen students join Hymn Sing.

Not only are many of the old-time hymns fading away, it is unlikely a network show would now be solely dedicated to Christian sacred music, says Nelson, who floated the idea of a reunion more than a year ago.

“I think it was a phenomenon of the time,” he says in a telephone interview.

“I don’t know whether or not it could receive the same audience attention.”

Canadians will likely never find out. Although CBC ran Hymn Sing for three decades, the broadcaster is committed serving a diverse audience of many cultures and religions, explains Sally Catto, CBC’s general manager of programming.

“As Canada’s national public broadcaster, we strive to reflect the myriad of voices in our country and so it would be challenging to focus on any one faith-based program,” she writes in an email message.

But the show’s legacy remains, especially through the hundreds of singers who signed on for the part-time job, many of whom went on to become music teachers, conductors and performers, says Carol Nowell, a singer for the first five seasons.

“It helped people to get a start in the music business. You learn how to perform, how to learn music quickly, how to lip sync,” she says of the weekly rehearsals, recording and filming.

That national platform launched careers, and it also struck a chord with Canadians who tuned in weekly to hear the choir sing a dozen or so songs, spirituals and anthems.

“It was a blessing to many people,” Dutton says.

“It is still something people connect to Canadian television.”

brenda@suderman.com

 

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