Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Marnie McBean was the Emcee for the Amabile Choirs’ “A Song For Our Sisters” Benefit Concert.
She was outstanding when she explained how she had the audience in stitches when she turned a host’s ‘worst nightmare’ into a ‘Mentor Moment” with “wit and charm’ in an online Q & A! She wrote: “Just this week I was emcee at an event. The Amabile Choirs and Liona Boyd were performing at a benefit concert for Because I Am a Girl. As always, I asked the client how to pronounce a couple of names, including the choirs’ name–Amabile. It’s not what you might think, it’s an Italian word, so it is pronounced Ah-MOB-Bee-Lay (or Ah-MAUB-Bee-Lay). During the performance flubbed it. I said “Ah-mobe-ELL -Lay,” then “A-mobil- lay,” and then many other wrong adaptations. I knew I was missing it–and I made fun of myself. Every now and then I’d get it right but it just wouldn’t stick! I had the audience helping me out–and they loved it…it was hilarious. At the end of the night, the client told me they were quite sure that everyone was going to go home saying Ah-MOB-Bee-Lay with a smile on their face. I was also able to turn it into a mentor moment with the young choristers…even when you make mistakes you can have a great show!”
Thanks again to Marnie for her support of Amabile Choirs!