Author of the article:
Zac Delaney
Published Jun 11, 2025 • Last updated 20hours ago • 3 minute read

Transforming the gladiatorial sounding O Fortuna into an Oilers-themed rally song for their encore at the Winspear, Edmonton’s Chorus Inspira closed out its last seasonal performance on Sunday in style to raucous applause from the crowd in support of both the Oilers and the ensemble alike.
“A year ago, I thought, well, if they can be in the finals or the playoffs again this year, we’re gonna make sure that we do an encore that’s Oilers themed,” said Chorus Inspira artistic director and conductor, Tim Shantz.
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Chorus Inspira, which recently changed its name from the Richard Eaton Singers, have been performing in Edmonton for more than half a century. The choir’s deep roots in the city shone through on Sunday when it showed its support for another long-standing Edmonton staple: the Edmonton Oilers. According to Shantz, plans for the performance were set in motion about a year before when the group selected the repertoire for the performance.
With plans to perform Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’, the stage was set for the choir to dip its toe into Oilers fandom with O Fortuna already part of Orff’s iconic repertoire. As Shantz explained, the song is legend in film, television, and all throughout pop culture. Some websites online argue it could even be the single most-used piece of music in film history. In fact, with the themes of fate, the song’s lyrics aligned with the Oiler’s ambitions as they returned to the finals.
“It has this epic kind of quality to it, so it yeah, it lends itself to parroting in some ways,” Shantz.
Which is exactly what the choir decided to do.
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Amending its original Latin lyrics which compare the waxing and waning of the moon to the fickle effects of fate, the choir instead sung lines about the team.
“O it’s fin-als/In Ed-mon-ton/Let’s bring home th-e Stan-ley Cup,” they sang.
The lyrics dove even deeper than just mentioning the finals, and went so far as to address specific Oilers players (and their injuries).
“Hy-man’s hurt but/Ekholm is back/Connor Brown is ska-ting fast.”
While a choir singing classical music and a professional hockey team may seem like opposing interests that could attract different crowds, Shantz said there was no shortage of fans in both the choir and the crowd on Sunday as they sang. Echoing back chants of “STU” after the mention of Edmonton Oilers goaltender, Stuart Skinner, the audience at the Winspear could just as easily have been mistaken for the fans at Rogers Place on a game day, though perhaps less noisy. When a chorister waved an enormous Oilers flag near the end of the song behind the choir, Shantz heard the crowd loud and clear.
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“He took the flag out, and you could hear the audience just go crazy. It was a lot of fun,” recalled Shantz.
This wasn’t the first time Shantz had seen a choir and hockey intersection. Years before, while conducting for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, he’d done something similar with the same song. Then, last year the Chorus Inspira were challenged by a Vancouver choir to a bet while the Oilers took on the Vancouver Canucks in last year’s playoffs, which the Edmonton choir happily accepted, making this year’s performance an easy sell.
“It got the choir interested, and it brought the true orange and blue out in the choir,” he said.
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