Magnificat Choir in Penang

PENANG: Beautiful voices rang out at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on July 30. Those who attended the concert by the Magnificat Choir from Medan, Indonesia, were given a rare treat of songs and dances for nearly two hours. This amazing choir of more than 80 members from Paroki Santo Antonius, Medan is under the directorship of Pastor Redemptus Simamora, OFM (Capuchin), assisted by Kristin Ratnasari.

Pastor Redemptus shared, “After studying sacred music, vocals, instruments, composing and arrangement in Rome for five years, I returned to Medan, formed a parish based choir and was with it for 20 years. Since I had the knowledge and experience, I thought I would put together Magnificat. It was challenging as I had to travel to the surrounding Catholic schools to recruit the singers and carry out auditioning. The choir members need to be disciplined as we have practices on Saturdays and Sundays from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. With generous donors, we have been able to perform not only within Medan, but have ventured out to Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Singapore and now Penang. Our dream is to be given the opportunity to sing in front of the Pope!”–By Stephanie Cheong

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online