Choirs often sing carols at Christmastime.
Choral singing is an Easter tradition.
In Prince George you can even send a barbershop quartet to your loved ones on Valentine's Day.
Anytime a festive occasion is on the calendar, there is a canon of choir music called onto the stage.
But Halloween? Come to think of it, there is not a long-standing tradition of spooky tunes for chorus. Only Nove Voce Choral Society stands to contest this theory.
"Because we are the creepiest choir in town, that's why," said vocal coach and choir director Robin Norman.
"We have perfected the creepy choral event."
On Oct. 29 they host a show they've entitled Chords, Choristers And Zombies at the Prince George Playhouse. It's the third consecutive year they have darkened the lights, channeled the spirits of darkness, and reached deep inside their ectoplasm for eerie tones. They don't even need to rent all the props and costumes anymore. They have their own.
"I don't know why, but our choir is quite driven by Halloween. It almost comes up automatically," said Norman. "We could do a Thanksgiving show, I suppose, but this is where the fun is for us."
Although it is rarely arranged into a full repertoire, there is an almost endless supply of music for such an event. The Nove Voce group is an all-female choir for older youth on into adult ages. They have selected for Chords, Choristers And Zombies a Basque witch chant, for example, the song Tjak which is a monkey chant from Bali used to ward off unwanted spirits, and the Canadian ghost song The Maid On The Shore.
"There are so many awesome ones out there," Norman said.
"One of the ones we're doing is Creep by Radiohead. We're doing it as zombies, making it our own, but you could never do that at an Easter show or something. Same with Skyfall (another pop song they are darkening for their singing pleasure). Even the dark heavy masses from the 17th century - these are not creepy but they are haunting and you can't put these songs into a Christmas show or Thanksgiving show. It seems like we lend ourselves more to creepy than anything else," said Norman.
The choir has also enlisted a pair of well known local actors to present as the masters of ceremony for the evening. Both Laura Heagy, whom Norman dubbed "our mistress of darkness" and Kael Byrn (both of them recently seen in Judy Russell's production of Mary Poppins) were approached for their skills at playing campy spooky characters.
Chords, Choristers And Zombies happens on Oct. 29 at the Prince George Playhouse starting at 7:30 p.m. Musical guests will include Spencer Hammond, Barb Parker and Maureen Nielsen.
Tickets are $20 and available at Studio 2880.
