Our 2023-2024 Duet Club of Hamilton Season included our Scholarship Concert, Holiday Concert, several singing engagements in the community and our 135th Anniversary Concert “Harmony in the Hammer.”

We are now 135 years young: a club formed in 1889 by Ellen Ambrose, who founded the Haydn Duet Club as a response to her piano students who were too shy to perform solos in public. Thereafter, her students performed Haydn symphonies arranged as piano duets. The Hayden Duet Club evolved into The Duet Club of Hamilton, Canada and today is the longest running musical club of its kind in Canada. We are proud of our chorus, Women of Song, who perform in concert and sing for the joy of it.

We continue to be amazed by our Artistic Director, Dawn Martens and Accompanist, Ethan Lacey. Our chorus continues to grow, and we are grateful for Dawn and Ethan: we offer ‘thanks from the bottom of our hearts’ for a very successful year. Women of Song sang at two Locke Street Festivals, and at the Cathedral Café and Queensdale School at Christmas. Most recently we sang at the Hamilton Public Library’s Noonhour Concert, broadening the chorus’ fan base. Following the HPL concert we shared in the unveiling of the Ellen Ambrose Plaque that has been erected in a lovely area of Hamilton’s waterfront at Pier 8 Park.

Susan Ricketts, Scholarship Chair, has spent many hours working in conjunction with the Hamilton Music Festival as their scholarship adjudication and awards were presented to many young and talented musicians. We are delighted to be awarding eleven scholarships at the Festival. It is our 84th year of awarding scholarships, and our 7th year of partnering with the Hamilton Music Festival. As well, we continue to offer a scholarship in organ.

Fundraising is ongoing and we are pleased that along with very successful concert attendance, we have shared in the Ellen Ambrose Tea, our annual Christmas Cheese Fundraiser, and the trip to see MY FAIR LADY at the Shaw Festival in May, 2024. We were the recipient of a 2023 Community Engagement Fund (Arts) grant from The City of Hamilton, and are grateful for their support.
May I take this opportunity to thank those who are members of the Duet Club for your patronage. Also thank you to the Duet Club of Hamilton’s Executive, Committee Chairs, and Teams. The dedication and the work accomplished each year by our Executive is deeply appreciated. Thank you all!

Last, but not least, we acknowledge the support of individual donors. Your contributions each year to the Duet Club events, fundraisers, and the Scholarship Fund enable The Duet Club of Hamilton to participate, engage, and to share their legacy, including a wonderful heritage and history, with the so many in the City of Hamilton.

Yours in Music for the joy of it,
Marilyn Repchuck, President

The above message appears in our 2023-2024 Annual Report, which will be distributed at our upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 22nd at Melrose United Church. We look forward to seeing you there and appreciate the involvement of our members and local community.