Nova Scotia Youth Choir Concert Tour 2019
NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH CHOIR 2019 CONCERT TOUR 
TATAMAGOUCHE, NEW GLASGOW and HALIFAX – The province’s most talented young choral singers will gather as the Nova Scotia Youth Choir, under the direction of guest conductor, Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff, to present concerts in TATAMAGOUCHE, NEW GLASGOW and HALIFAX on September 21st and 22nd.
The Nova Scotia Youth Choir is a program of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, and for 29 years, has been bringing choral excellence to the young singers of Nova Scotia. This program provides opportunity for singers ages 16-25 to work intensively on a wide variety of choral repertoire with some of the best choral instructors and directors in the field today.
The Nova Scotia Youth Choir is excited to present a program that spans from madrigals and motets of the Renaissance period to arrangements of folk songs and spirituals by today’s composers. The program will feature works from classic composers such as Thomas Morley, Felix Mendelssohn and Tomas Luis de Victoria as well as works by Canadian composers, Sarah Quartel, Ruth Watson Henderson, and Christine Donkin.
Concerts will be Saturday, September 21st at 7:30 p.m. at Sharon United Church, 15 Church Street, Tatamagouche, and on Sunday, September 22nd at 2:30 p.m. at Trinity United Church, 151 Temperance Street, New Glasgow and at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s United Church, 6036 Coburg Rd, Halifax. They will be joined by resident conductors Gary Ewer and Pamela Burton and collaborative pianist Mary Castello.
Tickets are $20/$5 (students) for all three performances.
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About the Nova Scotia Youth Choir: A project of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, the Nova Scotia Youth Choir is now in its 29th year. The objective of the choir is to provide choristers aged 16 to 25 with a challenging opportunity to work, develop and perform choral music together under the leadership of talented local educators and accomplished Canadian conductors. Thirty-five auditioned singers from around the province have been selected to work with a team of fine musicians.
About Guest Conductor Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff: Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff has been on the faculty of the Department of Music since 1981, teaching in the area of choral music at both graduate and undergraduate levels. With Prof. Debra Cairns, Ratzlaff co-founded and now directs what is now the most established graduate training program for choral conductors in Canada. He directs the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, one of Canada’s leading university choirs, who have gained both national and international competition awards for their performances and recordings. The Madrigal Singers have also appeared at the national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (Los Angeles, 2005) and Choral Canada. Ratzlaff has produced 5 CD recordings with the Madrigal Singers, of which 2 (Balulalow, 1999; The Passing of the Year, 2004) received a National Choral Award in the recordings category from Choral Canada.
Professor Ratzlaff has conducted premieres of new works by numerous Canadian composers, including Violet Archer, Allan Bevan, John Estacio, Malcolm Forsyth, Allan Gilliland, Christos Hatzis, Margaret King, Imant
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Raminsh, Sid Robinovitch, James Rolfe, Mark Sirett and Ruth Watson Henderson. He has sung in numerous projects in North America and Europe with the late American conductor Robert Shaw, and participated as soloist in the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria for many years.
Professor Ratzlaff also directs the Richard Eaton Singers, a 110-voice symphonic chorus that performs regularly with the Edmonton Symphony and that has toured both nationally and internationally, most recently to Germany in 2013. He has served as president of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors, and is currently on the board of Chorus America. Honours include induction into the Alberta Order of Excellence, the Order of Canada and the Royal Society of Canada.
For More Information Please Contact:
Ryan Henwood Program Coordinator, Nova Scotia Choral Federation (902) 423-4688 or 1-888-672-3969 ryan@nscf.ns.ca www.nscf.ns.ca