History
The Quarantones Male Chorus was founded by Kevin Marquette and Bob Udell in the spring of 2020 at the beginning of the first Covid -19 lock down (thus the name). The inspiration for the group came from the quartet that was hastily formed for a men’s vocal workshop in the summer of 2017. Kevin approached Bob Udell with the idea of reforming that quartet and off we went to Bob’s backyard. In the spring of 2020 the original members of the reformed quartet were Greg Cousineau, Bob Udell, Bob Rennie, and Kevin Marquette.
Original Quartet
We had to be socially distanced and that was achieved by singing outdoors. After a few rehearsals we soon realized it was going to be a challenge for 4 Bass / Baritones to sing 4-part harmony, taking turns singing the tenor parts in our falsetto range. Bob, then suggested we we might want to expand to an octet and hopefully attract some tenors to join us, so Bob contacted choristers we had sung with in other choirs and invited them to join . Becoming an octet gave us more flexibility as we were able to carry on rehearsing even if one member was away in any of the sections, it also gave us a fuller sound. We soon realized we were going to need a director to move us forward so Bob could focus on singing, so Denise Marquette, well regarded director in the valley, agreed to join us. Denise would pound out parts for our a capella pieces and conduct us on others. Eventually we recruited Kelly Thomas as our accompanist so Denise could focus on conducting.
Initial expansion to an Octet
As summer wound down we were going to need an indoor space to rehearse, luckily the Weird Church in Cumberland was only a few blocks from Bob’s and so we moved there and resumed singing in a well ventilated space with plenty of room to spread out. Being so spread out made hearing each other difficult so we brought in mics and a sound system, this made a big difference. Voicings had not stabilized yet with tenor still being a challenge. In fall 2020 with covid getting bad we had to suspend in-person singing and moved to an on line format. Fortunately a new virtual singing platform called EVC (Easy Virtual Choir) had recently been developed so with the help of Jean Sarrazin we jumped in with both feet and created some quality virtual song projects, including Do Not Fear the Wind and Flight Song. In spring 2021 we returned to in-person rehearsals at the Weird church and began preparing for a summer performance at Anderton Gardens with a focus on Sea Shanties. At this point we moved our rehearsals to Mike Day’s garage and front yard. We were pleased to have Jean Sarrazin and his assistant Garrick Bradshaw do sound for the show, they did a fabulous job. The show was a sell out and we were able to make a sizable donation to the Comox Valley Children’s Choir.
Sea Shanty Show
In September 2021, rehearsals resumed in the Weird Church to work on a more challenging and robust repertoire with a winter concert of mixed genres planned. With the popularity and the buzz surrounding the sea shanty concert, requests for appearances began to roll in. The Quarantones appeared as guest artists in the Island Voices Chamber Choir concerts in November / 21, as an opening act for the Parking Lot Messiah concert organized by Jean Sarrazin in Dec / 21 and as a contributing quartet for Island Voices carol walks at Kitty Coleman Woodland Garden Christmas light festival in Dec / 21.
Guest performers at the Island Voices concert
The group is now an auditioned chorus and we currently have 12/13 members; 3 on each vocal part. Our repertoire is diverse, we sing many genres, including: sea shanties, classical, modern choral works and barbershop harmony to name but a few. We are located in the beautiful Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. We currently perform around the Comox valley, North Island and are often asked to be guest performers.
See CONCERT DATES tab for upcoming performance dates.
We are situated in the North Island community of the Comox Valley