For half a century, the St Anthony of Padua Church Choir has been a source of pride for the Italian community in Ottawa. The choir’s inaugural performance took place on Christmas Eve in 1973 and marked the birth of what would become an enduring tradition of dedication and service. By the mid-1990s, what had started as a modest gathering of parishioners grew to a 45-member choir, including those skilled in playing musical instruments. Today, the choir is 25 singers strong, ranging in age from 19 to 93 and covering the four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Although still predominantly of Italian origin, the choir now includes members originating from Brazil, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, and Poland.
Under the guidance of the first Choir Director, Luigi Petrò, the group was initially known as La Corale. They sang at Sunday masses once a month and gradually expanded their presence beyond the church walls to perform at various venues. Their voices have traveled far and wide, including to cities such as Sudbury, Montreal, Kingston, St. Catharines, Toronto and even one trip to Italy.
For many choir members, this group is inextricably linked to family.
“Before he passed away, my father was honoured for forming the original team of seven friends from Pretoro who would gather to sing at each other’s homes,” explains Grace Disipio, a long-time member and supporter of the choir.
“At one point, our choir included five members from my immediate family. I am especially grateful that I had the opportunity to sing alongside my late parents, and still now with two remaining family members,” Disipio continues.
For Maria Marcantonio, the choir similarly is closely tied with her family.
“My parents actually met singing in the choir. So, while I formally joined in 1992, my family says that I’ve been a choir member since I was in my mother’s belly!” Marcantonio comments.
Following the departure of Petrò in 1994, Damaso Colasante was persuaded to take on the role of Choir Director. Colasante was an obvious choice, given his long-standing involvement in the choir as lead trumpeter and his formal music training, completed in Italy prior to his arrival in Canada.
Under Colasante’s guidance, the choir formalized its relationship with Saint Anthony’s church and was re-named La Corale Parrocchiale di Sant’Antonio da Padova. This change marked the beginning of dedicated weekly practice sessions and an expanded performance schedule. They have embraced a diverse repertoire that includes traditional Italian hymns and folk songs, as well as classical Latin compositions from the grand masters such as Vivaldi, Mozart, Verdi and Bach.
Their most important events remain Christmas, Easter and the feast of Sant’Antonio in June.
Today, Colasante can be found every weekday morning at the church planning and preparing the choir’s performances. As most of the members are not able to read music, Colasante has developed a painstakingly detailed approach where the lyrics and musical notes are handwritten on hard copy music sheets so that everyone can easily follow along.
Colasante is not sure what the future will hold as the conditions for success today are very different than the reality of the early years of the choir.
“In the 1970s, the economy was fine, but immigrant Italian families did not have a lot of extra money to spend beyond the necessities. E allora, what did they do? They gathered at church. They socialized before and after mass and forged lifelong friendships,” Colasante observes.
“As long as there are interested choir members, I will be happy to continue in my role.”
Even at 80 years old, Colasante’s dedication is unwavering.
With so many Italian-Canadian cultural groups struggling to survive, the choir stands as a testament to the principle of placing community above individuality.
The choir’s 50-year milestone was recognized at a recent banquet held at the Marconi Centre in Ottawa. The event was well attended by current and former members of the choir as well as friends, supporters, and family.
When asked to comment on this extraordinary milestone, Colasante said:
“I really want to send my congratulations to all of the choir members. I give them all the credit in the world. They have a lot of patience, including with me. We are like a family.”
As the clock approached midnight, the anniversary celebration began to wrap up with choir members putting on their winter coats and saying their goodbyes. While it would be reasonable to assume that many would be looking forward to a rest the following Sunday morning, the predominant salutation of “Buona notte… See you tomorrow at church!” signalled a different plan.
For this group, it truly seems that cantare è amore.
To follow the activities of the St Anthony of Padua Church Choir, visit their Facebook page.
Though congratulations on the 50th are in order, I feel a need to comment on a few things that I have knowledge of, as Fil and Nina D’Onofrio, photographed in the opening picture of this article, are my in laws. In fact, the opening picture with my in laws in it, I believe was taken by me, which Luigi distributed a copy of to each of the choir members early on in the choir’s historic 50 years.
In the article, you identify the name as La Corale, which though used to describe the choir, and probably continues to this very day, is only one of two nicknames. The second was Saint Anthony of Padova’s Choir. Even back in the choir’s inception, its’ true full, unabbreviated name was “La Corale Parrocchiale di Sant’Antonio da Padova” and not renamed after the departure of Luigi as it would appear in this article, but one could clarify by asking him.
The second comment I will make is the very omission of commentary from the founding father of the choir, Mr. Luigi Petrò, as it would have been nice to hear the motivation behind the choir’s inception. Was he even invited to celebrate in this momentous occasion? From Luigi’s arrival to Ottawa, he dedicated himself to Sant’Antonio da Padova, and because of this dedication and the friendship he built up, he asked Padre Andre if he could organize a choir, and the rest is your historic 50th Anniversary.
Luigi, from the choir’s earliest beginnings aimed at building, not only harmony to the choir musically, but as well, building a family of like minded orchestra and choir members, and glad to hear that this sentiment remains true today.
Though I could make other comments, I will end by saying congratulations on the 50th Anniversary of the choir and friends that continue as members to this very day!