The Way We Were, and Are: Chamber Singers Alumni Reunite

By Sabrina Cataldo, BA’97, BJ’99, Cert. PR’04, MA’23

The University of Regina Chamber Singers are celebrating 50 years of making world-class music this year. They’re marking it with a reunion in August, complete with a performance featuring directors and singers who have taken part in the choir over the decades.

The top hit of 1974 was Barbra Streisand’s, “The Way We Were,” an appropriate sentiment as previous members of the University of Regina Chamber Singers reflect on the past 50 years at their reunion this summer. Established in the 1974-75 academic year, the Chamber Singers has given more than 1,000 people the opportunity for camaraderie and a high level of music making over the years.

“A lot of people who went through the Chamber Singers become music teachers. And because they had a relationship with the Music Department, they were able to recommend it to their students.”  Vern Sanders

Vern Sanders came to the University of Regina that same year to start one of the first master’s degree programs in conducting in Canada. He noticed the University had a concert choir but no chamber choir. Once he pointed that out, the Chamber Singers was born. “It’s important to have a chamber choir because it provides graduate and other accomplished students with challenging repertoire and high standards for performance,” he says. Unlike the concert choir, the Chamber Singers is an auditioned ensemble and is smaller in size (ranging from 16-32 members over the years).

Vern Sanders, the first director of the Chamber Singers, in Melville, SK, in 1975.
Vern Sanders, the first director of the Chamber Singers, in Melville, SK, in 1975. Photo: Gail Fry

Sanders explains that during his time as director, the chamber choir was also used for student recruitment. “We would do concerts in communities and high schools to show students that there were opportunities to study music here,” he says, noting that one departmental objective was to prepare students to teach music in the province. “A lot of people who went through the Chamber Singers become music teachers. And because they had a relationship with the Music Department, they were able to recommend it to their students.”

Early on, the Chamber Singers established a reputation for excellence. In the late 70s, they were selected as one of only two university choirs in the country to perform at a music teacher’s conference in Newfoundland. The accolades continued over the decades. Kathryn Laurin recounts that, during her time as director (1985-2005), the group won several prestigious CBC choir competitions, recorded CDs, were invited to perform at Chicago Symphony Hall and the American Choral Directors Association conference, and sang for Princess Anne when she visited Regina. The accomplishment that sticks with Laurin the most, however, was being invited to participate in an international choir competition in Wales in 1997. “We were competing against choirs from all over the world. The competition was very steep, but we won in our category! The students worked really hard; it was a great feeling of accomplishment for all of us. That was one of the experiences I will remember for my lifetime,” she says.

Chamber Singers performing at the National Eisteddfod of Wales festival, in 1997
Chamber Singers performing at the National Eisteddfod of Wales festival, in 1997, where they placed first in their category. Photo courtesy of National Eisteddfod of Wales.

The memory of the Wales performance was the impetus for the Chamber Singers reunion. “One of my former students posted on Facebook that it has been 28 years since we went to Wales and she asked, ‘Isn’t it time for a Chamber Singers reunion?’ I replied, ‘If you plan it, I will come,’” laughs Laurin. Melissa Morgan, current Director of Choral Activities at the University, chimed in that this year marks the U of R’s 50th anniversary, so if ever there were a time to have a reunion, it’s now. Corinne Pirot, the former student who had playfully asked the question, immediately started reaching out to other past choir members and directors. Her plan was a backyard barbecue, but there was so much interest that the casual get-together turned into a three-day event involving almost 50 singers coming from as far as Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, the U.S. and Europe.

In addition to social activities, the reunion will include six hours of rehearsal and a public performance with host conductor Morgan and guest conductors Laurin, Jean-Marie Kent and Brett Scott—all former Chamber Singers directors.

Several weeks before the reunion, Pirot sent each participant 12 pieces of music to learn. “It won’t be different than it was back then—there’s the expectation that you come knowing your music and be prepared to do the same quality of repertoire,” she says. In addition to social activities, the reunion will include six hours of rehearsal and a public performance with host conductor Morgan and guest conductors Laurin, Jean-Marie Kent and Brett Scott—all former Chamber Singers directors.

The 2024-25 Chamber Singers, directed by Melissa Morgan. Photo: U of R Photography Dept
The 2024-25 Chamber Singers, directed by Melissa Morgan. Photo: U of R Photography Dept

The public performance of the Chamber Singers alumni takes place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 10, 2025, at the Blessed Sacrament Parish, 2049 Scarth Street, in Regina. All are welcome.

Pirot says the reunion is an important opportunity to reconnect. “When you work that closely with people for that amount of time, you really get to know each other, especially the group that went to Wales. It will be amazing to be back with the people I spent some of my best years with.”

About the Author

Sabrina Cataldo, BA’97, BJ’99, Cert. PR’04, MA’23, is a Regina freelance writer and communications specialist who is also a proud alumna of the University of Regina Concert Choir.

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In his 1979 autobiography A Life in Architecture, Minoru Yamasaki wrote that the purpose of architecture is to create an atmosphere in which to live, work, and enjoy. Anyone who has spent time at the University of Regina over the past 50 years would have certainly done just that in and around Yamasaki's handiwork. As the architect and master planner of the original main campus, the plan he envisioned in 1962 laid a strong foundation for future iterations of the main campus - and a cohesive collection of buildings that continue to express Yamasaki's ethos.

"We've always been impressed with the forward-thinking around the University's building capacity," says Neil Paskewitz. As the University of Regina's Associate Vice President of Facilities Management, it's his job to consider how the university campus began and help to steer where it's going. "There was some great planning back then. As the campus fills up, we've started to hit the edges of our capacity but even so, the original planning was extraordinary."

Buildings on University of Regina Campus, early 1970s. Minoru Yamasaki's original three buildings on the new Regina Main Campus.

As one of the most celebrated architects of the mid-twentieth century, Minoru Yamasaki was perhaps best known for his design of the original World Trade Centre in New York City (1976), but he notably left his mark on many universities throughout United States; he was commissioned to design for the campuses of Princeton, Wayne State, Oberlin College, and Michigan State among others. The original Yamasaki buildings on the University of Regina's main campus are still some of its most recognizable, and form a starting point to tell a story about the University of Regina campus from its nascent beginnings in the 1960s (prior to the U of R's establishment as in independent university in 1974) to present-day.

An interior view of the Archer Library in 1973

"What I like about the original Yamasaki buildings -The Archer Library, Lab Building and Classroom Building - is the way they're connected" says Bernard Flaman, author of Architecture of Saskatchewan (University of Regina Press). "They're individual buildings but they're connected - and the expression of the exterior of the buildings, especially the Archer Library with the big columns, has a kind of gothic modernism going on. I think it's a great response to Regina's climate and supports community at the university." The collegiate gothic style - commonly found on older campuses throughout North America is the dominant one found in the original buildings at the University of Regina's College Avenue Campus. Like the new main campus at the time, those early Yamasaki buildings were a departure from the original Regina College campus and signalled a forward-looking approach to the future development of this exciting new university on the Canadian prairie.

Growing hand-in-hand with the community

Of course, the University of Regina's development didn't happen in a vacuum. A post war baby boom saw the establishment of nearby neighbourhoods that grew alongside the U of R in the city's south end. "Whitmore park and Hillsdale were the first neighbourhoods to be planned after the post-war boom", says Ben Mario BA'03, Manager of City Planning Branch, City of Regina. "Within ten years, there was development from north to south in that area, with some parcels reserved for what is now Wascana Parkway. South Regina has always been a desirable place for professionals. It's near the park and government buildings - and the location of the new University of Regina campus reinforced that. It would have attracted a lot of the academics working and studying on campus to south Regina."

The U of R continues to hold a strong influence on the city, not only as a place of cross pollination between the university's ten faculties and Regina's many growing communities, but in its capacity to draw newcomers to the province as they begin to put down roots, and establish themselves in a new home. "After the development of the main campus started to take hold, we absolutely started to see more of that city integration with the campus itself," Mario says. "A lot of the apartment development that you see adjacent to Wascana Parkway (across from the main campus) happened in the mid 70s. And today, that pattern continues as we see many students living in the relatively new neighbourhood of Harbour Landing. The University-to-Harbour Landing bus route is now Regina Transit's most well-used."

Completing the Circle

As the campus filled out with the addition of the Language Institute (now La Cité) in 1991 and the Riddell Centre in 1996, a more defined circuit of buildings began to emerge, creating a new connectivity between facilities, and creating easier movement for students and faculty to navigate the campus.

"One of the big steps forward was the addition of Paskwāw and Wakpá Towers, and the Kinesiology, Health, and Sport building, all in 2004" Paskewitz says. "Those projects were really key to completing that puzzle connecting a corridor around campus." More recently, the addition of the residential Kīšik Towers further expanded the campus in 2015 - with room to grow and accommodate a steadily increasing student population living on campus.

Looking ahead

"There's a lot of opportunity for renewing our existing buildings. I'd say that's one of the primary focuses we have right now," Paskewitz says. Built in 1974, the AdHum Building's central space is currently undergoing a renovation that should be revealed in time for the 2025 fall semester. Its renewal will bring the long beloved "conversation pit" - a student hangout and meeting place - into the 21st century, making it fully accessible and retrofitted to accommodate contemporary needs. "We have buildings that are now 50 to 60 years old and there's a need for renewal and making them more efficient and accessible," Paskewitz says. "The AdHum conversation pit is near and dear to many. These projects are also a lot of fun and are huge changes to the look and feel of our campus, especially as the first thing people see when they arrive."

A view of the original Conversation Pit in the AdHum Building, 1974. A view of the original Conversation Pit in the AdHum Building, 1974.

As the university grows to meet the demands of industry and communities alike, that growth also presents challenges around available space on campus.  With increased student enrolment and research capacity over the past ten years, opportunities to expand, rethink, and enhance current facilities are being explored.  "There's an understanding that our campus is starting to fill up," Paskewitz says. "The last iteration of the master plan was in 2016. We'll get started on the next master plan in about a year, in partnership with the Provincial Capital Commission which oversees the surrounding Wascana Park."

Charting a path forward as a unifying force

Perhaps what most sets the University of Regina's campus apart is the way in which its buildings tell the story of its development over the years. Unlike campuses with more uniform styles tied to a specific era, the U of R's campus incorporates many - from the mid-century modernism of the Yamasaki buildings and brutalism of the Ad Hum building, to the post-modern expressions of the Kīšik Towers, and more contemporary expression of the Research and Innovation Centre. Aerial view of the University of Regina Main Campus present day Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography Department Aerial view of the University of Regina Main Campus present day Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography Department

"Architecturally, the U of R is quite successful," Flaman says. "There's a legible chronicling of some of the architectural styles of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that's really interesting. There's not really a unifying style; it's more related to the circulation and the landscape - and it's the circulation that works as a unifying force."

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