Toronto's Elmer Iseler Singers cross the causeway to entertain Cape Bretoners

The Elmer Iseler Singers -- a professional chamber choir from Toronto -- crossed the Canso Causeway ahead of a winter storm to entertain Cape Bretoners Tuesday night.

The Juno Award-winning and Grammy-nominated group played three other shows in the Maritimes before heading to island.

"One of the best choirs in the country,” said Annette Coffin, the acting president of the Cape Breton Chorale.

The Elmer Iseler Singers teamed up with the Cape Breton Chorale for their “Voices in Song: A Choral Celebration!” performance Tuesday night.

The performance was a homecoming for the group’s conductor, Lydia Adams, who is originally from the island.

"She is a renowned conductor, and we're very happy to have her home,” said Coffin.

"We're trying to make it a homecoming for Lydia, since she's from Glace Bay,” added Ruth Ann Morrison, a member of the Cape Breton Chorale.

The professionals from the big city teamed up with the chorale’s recreational singers in a concert at Christ the King Church in Sydney, N.S.

Their hope Tuesday afternoon was that they would beat the coming nor’easter.

"We'll end the evening on a high note, and then the snow can start,” said Morrison.

Chorale members say they are coming off the high of performing with the Men of the Deeps as part of an 80-plus person chorus last November at the Savoy Theatre.

"My experience with that was out of this world,” said Coffin.

And the group expected the same for their Tuesday night performance.

"We will rise to the occasion. We will rise again,” said Coffin, laughing. “That's how we end the show. And I think we'll blow the roof off with that.”

Tuesday night’s show in Sydney was sold out.

The Elmer Iseler Singers’ last performance in the Maritimes this week will be Saturday night at the Woodlawn United Church in Dartmouth, N.S.