Photo: The Towne Theatre

Watching a movie at the Vernon Towne Theatre Thursday evening will benefit a local choir.

It’s Thankful Thursday at the Towne, where 100 per cent of ticket sales are donated to a local charity. This month, the theatre has chosen not-for-profit AURA Chamber Choir.

“We’re so grateful for the generous donations from individuals,” said Margaret Hundeby Hunter. “We’ve partnered with the Watkin Motors Ford and Vernon Towne Theatre to make it even easier to support us.”

The Towne will be showing Maestro starring Bradley Cooper on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. The film is about the conflicted relationship between famed conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre.

“This is a win, win,” Hundeby Hunter said. “Not only do you get to see a seven time Academy Award nominated movie, but you also get to show your support for AURA."

The choir produces choral music throughout the Okanagan. The group will perform J.S. Bach’s masterpiece The Passion according to St. John at its spring anniversary concert on April 6 and 7.

“It’s a massive undertaking,” said Terry Pitt-Brooke, musical director.

“We've engaged professional players from the OSO [Okanagan Symphony Orchestra] and Vancouver, local vocalists, and celebrated tenor Benjamin Butterfield — well known to Vernon concertgoers from his recitals for NOCCA [North Okanagan Community Concert Association] — to realize this most dramatic of Bach's settings of Jesus' last hours on the exact 300th anniversary of its first performance."

Pitt-Brooke and the choir have been working on perfecting the music since early January.

Alongside rehearsing, the choir has been fundraising for the spring concert, holding performances downtown and at various senior centres, and hosting a silent auction. Local philanthropists Janet Armstrong and Lloyd Davies have donated over $3,000 in support of the concert.

You can see Maestro at The Vernon Towne Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7p.m. Tickets can be purchased online, here.