As the Marcus Mosely Chorale enters its final performance season, Marcus Mosely is holding on to one of his favourite Bible verses, and now songs – “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
“And that's really where the core of my decision is, that I just understand that the choir has had its season. And so it's time to release it and let it go.”
After 10 years of performances, which have included regular performances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Marcus Mosely Chorale will hold its final performance this May after a spring season of events.
As the COVID-19 pandemic decimated live performances, the Chorale was not immune to the financial pressures the last two years threw at entertainers. With capacity limits set to 50 per cent, mask requirements, and an aging choral age, Mosely didn’t want to risk his performers' health, either.
“There [are] a number of people in the in the choir who are immune compromised, and the last thing I'd ever want to do is to it to put them in a position to be exposed, you know.”
Mosely said as difficult as the decision is to disband the choir, “It’s time.”
“As far as I'm concerned, the [final] concert is about the choir, it's about those people. I want them to have a great evening of performing.”
First rehearsing back in 2011 at the St. Andrews Wesley United Church in Downtown Vancouver, Mosely said the chorale is coming “full circle” to conduct the final performance in the space.
“Since they've renovated, they've also incorporated the ability to do live streaming and to tape the concert. So we plan to tape it and then we can make it available to the choir members for a keepsake for the other final performance.”
But while the final show might be the cherry on top for the gospel choir, Mosely said when he reflects on the decade of the program, it’s the sense of family that he’s most proud of.
About five years ago, Mosely was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Living a “fairly spartan life,” the choir rallied around him to get him through.
“They put together a fundraiser concert among themselves and invited musicians and people from the music community of Vancouver. And they raised a really beautiful sum of money to help me during the transition of getting the surgery and then recuperating,” he said. “I had to recuperate for a month or two, and they stuck with me, and they just showed their love that way. And that totally blew me away.”
Mosely recalled another moment, in which for his 60th birthday, they flew his mother up from California to be with him.
“I know this is a cliche, but they really have been like a family. It’s not unusual [that] I come to choir rehearsal, and somebody says, ‘Here, I made some dinners for you. Here, take those and put them in your freezer,’ and that kind of thing,” he said. “They’re all making certain I've got food or making certain that I have what I need to live. So, they've been a real life support, a real community.
“You know, we say it's a community choir, but the emphasis is on community.”
Mosely knows that even with the choir no longer rehearsing or performing, the connection of community and family won’t be lost.
“When I announced that I was going to do this, a couple of people came up and said, ‘Oh, I was planning on this being my retirement choir,’” he laughed.
“And that was the hardest part. The hardest hurdle to jump was that, because I know like for some of them, they say, ‘I don't go to church but coming to rehearsal on Monday nights is kind of like church.’”
With a wavering voice, Mosley said the choir really opens up to each other, feeling each other’s emotions freely.
“It’s not unusual for tears to flow or for joy to overflow, and people will start to kind of dance around or whatever. And … I will miss that.”
Mosely will continue to perform as a solo act, and will continue voice-over work, where he is currently working on a children’s television show. Details for the chorale’s Feb. 18 show can be found on the Marcus Mosely Chorale’s website, along with information about the upcoming final performance.
