Members of the UWindsor Chamber Choir will join 477 singers from more than 45 choirs across the globe in an online performance Tuesday, Aug. 25.

The group will a virtual video performance of “All of Us,” the final movement from Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard, composed to honour the young gay Wyoming college student who was murdered in 1998, and who, along with the murdered James Byrd, are honoured in the naming of the United States’ federal law to prevent hate crimes.

When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the move to online classes on Friday, March 13, the UWindsor Chamber Choir and University Singers under the direction of Bruce J.G. Kotowich were just two weeks from their scheduled concert performance of Considering Matthew Shepard in the Heritage Auditorium of Assumption Hall.

At the time, Dr. Kotowich described this choral work as an oratorio for the modern period.

“Considering Matthew Shepard is an oratorio of hope,” he said. “It reminds us of the importance of acceptance and understand, it speaks of dignity, and connection to creation and life around us. Using traditional oratorio forms, he reflects on the events of Matthew Shepard’s life, setting journal entries, court documents, and reflections in classical, jazz, country, and pop music styles. The story of hope is sung through songs of the common person.”

In April, Johnson invited high school, university, community, and professional choirs who had or were about to perform Considering Matthew Shephard in concert to submit a video of themselves singing their vocal part of the final movement, “All of Us.”

“Eighty schools were invited to take part,” Kotowich says. “We are one of 17 university choirs whose students submitted videos.”

About 15 UWindsor students submitted a video to the project, which will be livestreamed at 7 p.m. Tuesday at conspirare.org/all-of-us/.

This fall, the UWindsor Chamber Choir will meet and rehearse virtually with Kotowich online.

“Choral music is supposed to be a group experience,” he says. “We learn to blend our voices and listen to one another and which voice part is emphasized and which has a supportive role, according to the score. However, our students need to be comfortable with this technology, adapting to the possibilities of new tech. Luckily, we have the flexibility in our curriculum to incorporate these changes.”

The Chamber Choir is planning to perform a modified version of its annual Festival of Christmas online as a virtual concert.

The featured work will be Brother Heinrich’s Christmas, a fable set to music by John Rutter. The lyrics are about Heinrich Suso, a 14th-century Dominican abbot who, according to legend, notated the carol In dulci jubilo after it had been sung to him by a band of angels; he is unexpectedly aided to finish it by Sigismund, his donkey.

—Susan McKee

Tomorrow, Aug. 25, the Alumni Association will take over the UWindsor Instagram account and connect with the Lancer community.

Hosted by Alumni Relations & Advancement staff with numerous guests from the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors, the takeover will showcase information on Alumni Association programming, benefits, and services, and will highlight upcoming events such as Alumni Week 2020.

Tune in to the University of Windsor’s Instagram Account (@uwindsor) throughout the day tomorrow to learn more.

The Freed Orman Centre is now available to host lunch breaks for students, staff, and faculty who are required to be on campus.

No University food services will be available, and Freed Orman will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday to Friday. It is located on the east side of Assumption Hall.

Appropriate safety precautions will be posted and should be followed.

During the summer, IT Services has been upgrading student email accounts from UWin Gmail to Outlook to bring them onto the same platform used by faculty and staff. Starting in October, alumni @uwindsor.ca email accounts will also begin transitioning to Outlook.

“Outlook offers enhanced email security, facilitates easier collaboration within the campus community and increases engagement opportunities,” says Marcin Pulcer, associate director, client services, IT Services.

In preparation for the transition, alumni are being asked to ensure their UWin Account password is in good standing by Oct. 5, 2020.

“We’re sharing information about this email upgrade with our alumni through our communication channels,” says Patti Lauzon, director, Alumni Affairs and Donor Communication. “Keeping our alumni engaged and connected to the university is our top priority.”

If you would like to learn more about the alumni email upgrade, or receive questions about the initiative, refer to www.uwindsor.ca/alumni/email-services for complete details.

The end of summer is now in sight, but the end of the pandemic is not.

The August 2020 edition of Workplace Wellness E-Digest, published by the Department of Human Resources’ Office of Employee Engagement and Development, notes that months of coping with the stressors of quarantines, social distancing, shutdowns, losses, grief, uncertainty, and anxiety are taking a toll on emotional health.

It offers suggestions to reduce the impact on health and wellbeing:

• Stick to behaviours like wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing, to make you feel more empowered and also keep you and your community safer.
• Instead of turning to food or substances to manage difficult feelings, identify and name them so you develop a tolerance and are less inclined to escape them.
• Speak to friends and loves ones who might be struggling with similar negative feelings to get validation and support and to share coping strategies.
• Rediscover an activity you used to enjoy, but have not engaged in recently, to feel a sense of normalcy and reconnect to your sense-of-self.
• Let the people around you know you’ve been feeling irritable and impatient. Protecting your relationships will nourish you emotionally in challenging circumstances.

The newsletter also lists signs to recognize you are experiencing pandemic fatigue, introduces the basics of mindfulness, and offers an audio lesson in guided mindful breathing.

Read the Workplace Wellness E-Digest.