{"id":17821,"date":"2025-12-14T14:18:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/winnipeg-choir-gives-nurses-a-way-to-leave-their-troubles-at-the-door-share-joy-of-music-with-others\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T14:18:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:18:45","slug":"winnipeg-choir-gives-nurses-a-way-to-leave-their-troubles-at-the-door-share-joy-of-music-with-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/winnipeg-choir-gives-nurses-a-way-to-leave-their-troubles-at-the-door-share-joy-of-music-with-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg choir gives nurses a way to \u2018leave their troubles at the door,\u2019 share joy of music with others"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>ManitobaA choir of Winnipeg nurses wants to bring joy to the world through the power of music.\u2019It\u2019s all the things that I need to carry on in the hospital,\u2019 says HSC nurseCBC News  \u00b7 Posted: Dec 13, 2025 6:03 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.The Winnipeg Nurses Choir performs a holiday concert at St. Andrews River Heights United Church on Saturday. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)A choir of Winnipeg nurses wants to bring joy to the world through the power of music.The Winnipeg Nurses Choir held a holiday concert at St. Andrews River Heights United Church on Saturday, one of a dozen such events its 45 members can take part in each year.Maurita Kiesman, a Health Sciences Centre nurse, says the group mainly performs at assisted living facilities. The events bring \u201ca wonderful sense of community and commonality,\u201d she said.\u201dIt\u2019s joyful, it\u2019s hopeful. It\u2019s all the things that I need to carry on in the hospital,\u201d she told CBC News on Saturday.\u201dJust to see the joy on people\u2019s faces is just a gift in my life.\u201dThe choir, formed in 2018, has 45 members but will always welcome more, said conductor Bill Quinn. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)Bill Quinn, the choir\u2019s conductor, formed the group in 2018 after retiring from a career teaching music. His sister is a practising nurse, and his wife worked as a nurse before pursuing a teaching career.A number of the nurses involved have become regulars in the group over the last five years, allowing them to develop musically and have more fun together, says Quinn.\u201dI kind of remind them to leave their troubles at the door, and if they\u2019ve had a rough day, you can leave it there and really enjoy singing with your friends,\u201d he said Saturday.The group likes to stack its repertoire with oldies to evoke memories for attendees, who are mainly between the ages of 60 and 85, said Quinn.Bill Quinn, seen conducting Saturday\u2019s concert, says the group allows nurses to leave the stress of work behind and sing with their friends. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)The choir is tapped to perform the Canadian anthem at Winnipeg Goldeyes and Manitoba Moose games from time to time, he said. It\u2019s also been looking at how to better introduce new members to choral music,he said.No audition is required to join the group, and anyone interested can get in touch via Facebook.\u201dWe\u2019re trying to get some of the younger nurses in, because it\u2019s nice to have younger voices, especially in the soprano section,\u201d Quinn said.\u201dWe always have a good time, and hopefully we can grow the choir and visit many more places and spread some joy.\u201dHeather Quinn, left, and Maurita Kiesman both sing in the choir, and say it has allowed them to spread joy to all, including themselves. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)Heather Quinn, Bill\u2019s wife, sings in the choir, and says the group formed at a hard time for nurses.\u201dIt was a time when nurses were really feeling under siege, working too hard \u2014 and just like now, I suppose,\u201d she told CBC.The choir is an opportunity to \u201cjust let that all go, and think of nothing else than making music together,\u201d she said.Heather says she\u2019ll often look out at the crowd and see attendees singing along.\u201dMusic seems to bring back memories that maybe other things don\u2019t harken back to.\u201dThe choir also brings together different generations of nurses who work, or worked, in various areas of medicine, she said.\u201dSome of the retired nurses, even though they\u2019re retired, have maybe elderly parents that they\u2019re caring for, grandchildren that they\u2019re caring for,\u201d Heather said.\u201dSo it\u2019s a real commitment for people to come out to these rehearsals, and that shows how much they love doing it.\u201dWith files from Gavin Axelrod<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ManitobaA choir of Winnipeg nurses wants to bring joy to the world through the power of music.\u2019It\u2019s all the things that I need to carry on in the hospital,\u2019 says HSC nurseCBC News \u00b7 Posted: Dec 13, 2025 6:03 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,127,1],"tags":[116,126],"class_list":["post-17821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-manitoba","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-manitoba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}