About:

The Heimatsänger Choir is one of many active groups of Club Loreley that represent not only Germans, but the German speaking community in this area. Anyone interested in joining our choir is more than welcome and can call the above mentioned phone number, or meet us in person on any Thursday between 2:00 pm-4:00 pm at Club Loreley.

Music Samples:

The Heimatsänger are proud to present audio samples of their work to you, simply click to listen!!

1) Edelweiss

2) Pfälzer

3) Wir gruessen Euch mit frohen Klang

History:

The founder of The Heimatsänger Choir, Heinz Ottinger came to Canada from Germersheim, Germany in 1956. Together with his wife Anneliese he settled down in Oshawa Ontario, then in later years they both joined the German/Canadian Club Loreley.

Early in 1994, Toni Haas, a club member, approached Heinz Ottinger and asked him if he would be interested in entertaining the guests on the upcoming ‘Heimatabend’ (Heritage Day) with some songs from the old homeland. Heinz Ottinger, his wife and a few close friends began immediately to meet once a week to practice at the Ottinger’s residence. From then on this small group kept on meeting each Wednesday for their practices.

As more people became interested and joined the group, the Ottinger residence became to small for all the singers to practice; therefore it was decided to meet at the clubhouse every Thursday from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

This group, our choir (at this time nameless) performed for the first time at Club Loreley on Heimatabend in March of 1995; it was an instant success. The foundation for this new choir was established; all we needed was a suitable name. I don’t recall exactly who came up with the name ‘The Heimatsänger’, but we all agreed, that it was a suitable name for our choir. We are proud of our heritage and love to sing our beautiful traditional songs and hopefully pass them on to the next generation.

We the Heimatsänger, sing mostly Volkslieder (songs from the homeland). We perform in hospitals, at funerals, in nursing homes, and at many other occasions. We also carol Christmas songs at malls, but our main performances are at our own club functions. We are a mixed choir of 34 members. Our founder Heinz Ottinger is also the present conductor of the choir.