Director                                                                                      

  

Michelle St. Onge-Mitchell Michelle St. Onge-Mitchell joined Seaway Sounds in 1995 at the age of 20. Starting as a baritone in chorus and quartets, she became a lead a few years later. Michelle is no stranger to music. Both her mother and her father sing barbershop and she has been in many choirs. “I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember,” she said, “My mother said that I used to wake up singing in the crib. I love to sing…put me in front of a crowd and watch me go!”             Michelle is French Canadian, born and raised in Point Edward, Ontario and proud of it! She is a child and youth worker, where she helps teens in need.             Michelle is married to a wonderful man named Chris and together they have a beautiful son, Hunter and a gorgeous daughter, Camryne, a born Sweet Adeline!             Michelle has served as secretary for the chorus board, lead section leader, assistant director, and is now the chorus director!             She thanks many people for getting her where she is today as a Sweet Adeline. “My quartet, Bel Canto, taught me A LOT about music and life. I learned not only to read music and get to know barbershop chords, but also, how to work hard for what you want and how to be a good friend. I grew up with the chorus. These ladies have seen me graduate from college, get married, have children and grow as a Sweet Adeline.”            “Through good and bad they have supported me through it all. I’ve had AMAZING directors, like John Noteware, Julie Rock and Karen Shackleton, who have taught me well. Not to mention all our amazing coaches!! They saw potential in me that I never knew I had!” Michelle absolutely loves to attend regional and international education classes offered by Sweet Adelines international. “I love to learn new things and then try them out with the chorus!”             “I have often felt like I was surrounded by a group of mothers. But now I am a mother myself, their director and best of all…their friend! It’s strange…I was the youngest for so long, having others help me. Now we have members younger than myself and I hope to help them out as well!”             What a great chorus! What a great organization!

Rehearsals and Performances

The Seaway Sounds Chorus holds rehearsals every Thursday night from 7 to 10 p.m.at St.François Xavier Secondary School in Sarnia, Ontario. Members come from Lambton County in Ontario and St. Clair County in Michigan. The Chorus performs a number of times throughout the year. These performances vary in length and style to fit the occasion. We love to entertain and performing is what we are all about!

Sweet Adelines International

The Seaway Sounds Chorus is an international chorus which is part of Sweet Adelines International, the world's largest women's singing organization. We are international because we have members from Canada and the United States.

Choruses  can be found all over the U.S.A. and Canada as well as Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and we continue to expand to other countries. The organization is divided into 25 regions in North America and five worldwide areas. We belong to Border Lakes Region #2, which includes part of Michigan and Southwestern Ontario.

Each year in the Spring, each Region holds a competition in which the choruses and registered quartets compete. This is a wonderful experience and all the preparation which goes into our competition package helps us to improve our vocal and performance skills. The winners of each Regional contest go on to compete at the International level.   International competition in 2006 was held in Las Vegas, 2007 in Calgary, 2008 in Hawaii and this year it is in Denver, Colorado.