Skip to main content

Music director honours late wife with new Calgary-based symphony, chorus

Share

A widower is now utilizing the estate of his late wife as well as a GoFundMe campaign to help create a professional orchestra and chorus in Calgary to mark her legacy.

Karen Joy Minish died in December 2020 from cancer. John Goulart, Karen's husband who has served as the music director of Banff's Bow Valley Chorus for 20 years, decided to honour her legacy through music.

Goulart created The Firebird Symphony and Chorus, the realization of the couple's discussions over the years on plans to form a professional musical group based in Calgary.

"We knew that Karen had risen from the ashes from her original diagnosis and so she was called The Phoenix, her sister called her The Phoenix," Goulart told CTV News. "I decided to form The Firebird after her death and there could be no other name but calling it The Firebird."

The group will hold its debut concert on May 29 at the Rozsa Centre, Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall on the University of Calgary campus.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

BREAKING

BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants

Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.

Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence

During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.

Stay Connected