Heather Fraser
Executive Director
Newly appointed Executive Director, Heather Fraser, is following in the footsteps of Tim Cross, who retired in July 2024 after over 30 years at the NSCF. As the previous Program Director for the NSCF, passionate about the power of choral music to build community and foster our humanity, Heather is thrilled to be returning in this role to serve the Nova Scotia singing family.
Heather is the Artistic Director of the Annapolis Valley Honour Choirs (200 singers Grades 2-12) and has maintained an active career as a choral conductor, music educator, clinician, adjudicator and collaborative pianist. Heather has studied conducting and choral pedagogy with mentors across Canada, the USA and the UK. She was honoured to be a Conducting Fellow with the Canadian Chamber Choir (2015), the first conductor in Pro Coro Canada’s emerging artist program (2016), and was Apprentice Conductor of the National Youth Choir of Canada under the guidance of Dr. Victoria Meredith (2010).
As a board member of Choral Canada, Heather sits on the committee for the National Youth Choir of Canada, and has served as Chair of Advocacy since 2020. This role kept her busy during the pandemic, advocating for equitable treatment of singing across the country, arranging educational opportunities, webinars and discussions for choirs of all kinds, and finding ways to keep the national singing community connected. She initiated the National “Singing in Canadian Schools Covid Impact Survey” (2021) - the data from which produced a clear picture of how singing was decimated across Canada, and was influential in the reinstatement of programs. She was also co-chair of the "Benefits of Singing Campaign" to raise awareness of the scientific evidence that exists for the many ways that singing together contributes to our psychological, physical, spiritual, social and emotional health.
Anne MacDonald
Program Coordinator
programs@nscf.caAnne MacDonald is a graduate of Acadia University with a Bachelor of Arts and Mount Saint Vincent University with a Certificate in Marketing. Originally from Cape Breton, music has always been a significant influence in Anne’s life. Having played piano since the age of 8, she was an active member of her community at a young age providing accompaniment in her community church choir and playing at school. She has completed Grade 8 Royal Conservatory in Piano and continues to share this love of music as a piano teacher in Tantallon, NS.
Anne has worked in several organizations since making the Halifax area her home. She has been involved in Sales and Marketing in the hotel industry, spent several years working in recruitment and retention as well as running a home based childcare and tutoring business for several years. Music has always been her passion, however, and she has consistently found herself drawn to organizations that work with the Arts.
Anne has seen firsthand the benefits of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation as all three of her children are involved in music. Her oldest child was part of All City choirs over many years. She has seen the value of the choral experience, choir camps and the life lessons these opportunities provide. She feels fortunate to be part of an organization that can continue to promote and share these musical experiences for others in years to come.
Anne has been a volunteer within her community in planning large fundraisers, leading community groups and providing day to day support for field trips / in the classroom at the local schools. As her children get older, she spends lots of time driving them to their activities and supporting their interests. Her family enjoys camping, spending time at their family cottage in Cape Breton and the beach. Anne is also an avid baker and enjoys any opportunity to sit with a good book. As a former runner (she completed a marathon in 2014) she also loves the outdoors, hiking and biking.
Dominique Amit
Dominique Amit is a lawyer based in her home community of Stellarton. Her practice focuses on corporate commercial matters, wills and estate planning, as well as residential real estate. She is a life long singer, pianist, and general lover of the performing arts. She credits her passion for choir in particular to having had access to strong school music programs and the influence of excellent music educators in the New Glasgow area. Dominique has sung in various school and university choirs including the King's Chorus during her time at the University of King's College in Halifax, and has NSCF experience through the Sing Summer programs.
Andrew Cranston - Vice President
Andrew Cranston (he / him) is a choral conductor, vocal coach and clinician working primarily in the Annapolis Valley. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Middleton Choral Society and the CONDUIT Chamber Choir. Andrew received a Masters in Choral Conducting from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, studying under Doug Dunsmore, Kellie Walsh, Don Buell and Mark David. While living in Newfoundland for 16 years, Andrew and his wife Beth created the Coastal Sounds Choir Association where he served as the Artistic Director of the Coastal Sounds Community Choir and the Aurora Women’s Choir, as well as many other project based initiatives. He also served as Artistic Director for the Anchormen Barbershop Chorus, as Music Director for Topsail United Church, and Assistant Conductor for the Memorial University Chamber Choir and the Quintessential Vocal Ensemble, the latter of which he conducted in Carnegie Hall in 2014. Andrew has also sung with many choirs in Atlantic Canada, including the Halifax Camerata Singers, the Philharmonic Choir of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and Nova Voce, where he also served as an Assistant Conductor.
Elyse Delaney
Elyse is a french speaker who grew up in a small yet culturally vibrant Acadian village, enjoying traditional folk music and dancing along to fiddle tunes. Growing up in a small rural community, she had many artistic opportunities with our Arts Council to perform music, theater and dance. Elyse recently moved back to her hometown of Chéticamp in order to pursue a new opportunity as executive director of this same Arts Council and making her début as co-conductor of Le Choeur du Havre Choir. Elyse discovered her love for choral music during her time in university. She sang in various choirs. Among these was le Choeur Louisbourg and the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2014, 2016 and 2018. After her undergrad studies in Music Education, Elyse pursued a career as a music teacher in Nova Scotia's francophone public school system for six years. During that time, she was a member of the Galileo Baroque Choir, the St George’s Church Choir and the Halifax Camerata Singers. Over the years, she also had the honour of representing Canada as a singer in the World Youth Choir in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024.
Nicole Jordan
Dr. Nicole Jordan is an artist of the world: A Canadian-Trinidadian, she spent her formative years in Halifax, Nova Scotia, then made her career in England and The Netherlands as a vocalist, creator, and academic. Dr. Jordan holds a PhD in Performance Studies/Music Psychology from the University of Sheffield (UK), a Master of Science in Music Psychology from Keele University (UK), and Bachelor of Music from Acadia University (CAN). Since returning to Nova Scotia in 2021, “Dr. J” has joined the faculty at the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University as Assistant Professor of Voice and advisor on equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) in the arts. She has recently joined the boards of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, Camerata Singers, and the Canadian Chamber Choir to pursue her passions for choral music, community engagement, and advocacy for Black and Indigenous singers in Nova Scotia.
Greg MacLeod -Treasurer
Singing has always been a part of Greg’s life. In his younger years he was in the school choir and took part in many school musical productions with the most memorable being Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. During High School he was part of the school band where he played the trombone. He has been singing with the City of Lakes Mixed Barbershop Chorus for the past 24 years and with Nova Voce for the past 13 years. He has also participated in the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo Choir since 2008 and Jubilate for the past 12 years and has now added Dartmouth Choral to his repertoire. Greg has also participated in the Summer Opera Festival. Greg is Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Nova Voce and looks forward to another year on the Board of the NSCF.
Amelia McMahon
Amelia McMahon (she / her) grew up in the Annapolis Valley and recently returned to Nova Scotia after making her home in Montreal for 21 years. She is the Artistic Director of the South Shore Chorale Society, the Associate Conductor of the Halifax Camerata Singers, Co-Principal Conductor of Eastern Horizon and Conductor of the LeMarchant – St. Thomas Elementary School Choir and is on faculty at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. She regularly sings at St. George’s Round Church, with East Coast Carolling, has had roles in two operas produced by Vocalypse, and is excited to be a member of the new vocal jazz quartet, Canvas. Mentored throughout her career by Maestro Iwan Edwards, Amelia studied choral conducting at Université de Sherbrooke and holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Voice from McGill University.
Joseph Renzi
A proud member of the Cape Breton, Nova Scotian, and Canadian choral communities for over 40 years, Joe has sung with the Cape Breton Youth Choir, Nova Scotia Youth Choir, National Youth Choir of Canada, the Halifax Camerata Singers, and is one of the Co-Founding Artistic Directors of the Nova Voce Men's Choir with Terry Hurrell. Joe currently sings with the Cape Breton Chorale and serves as an Executive on their Board of Directors. Joe worked in Alberta for five years where he was a diction and vocal coach with the Grande Prairie Boys Choir, and sang with the Chronos choir in Edmonton, before returning home to Cape Breton in 2019. Classically trained, Joe has a Bachelor of Music degree from Dalhouse Univeristy, was recently awarded an Honourary Doctorate from Cape Breton University, and has performance diplomas from Bel Canto institutes in New Paltz, NY and Florence, Italy.
Laura Beth Smith
Laura Beth (B.Mus., B.Mus.Ed.) is a classically trained musician in voice and piano. Over the past 20 years she has been working professionally in various combinations as a singer, musical theatre performer, music director, church choir director, community choir director, youth and children's honour choir director, songwriter, composer/arranger, and private and public school music teacher. She is passionate about bringing people together in song and believes from her very depths that singing is for everyone.
Kaitlin Wilcox
Kaitlin Wilcox (B.Mus, B.Ed) has always been dedicated to music education in Nova Scotia. Growing up on the Eastern Shore, Kaitlin was lucky to participate in a rich music education experience in her junior high and high school. Following high school, Kaitlin went on to study classical saxophone and voice at Acadia University where she also obtained her Bachelor of Education in 2018. Kaitlin has had the privilege of working in arts programming and promotion since 2014 and joined the Nova Scotia Choral Federation in 2017 as a summer student, then as Programs Coordinator. Kaitlin has been lucky to return as Sing Summer Staff as an alto section lead for both Youth and Adult Choir Camp. Since the end of her position with the NSCF, Kaitlin began teaching music with the HRCE as well as teaching music privately outside of school hours. In her free time, Kaitlin enjoys training and teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Additionally, Kaitlin is an active member of the Glass Winds Ensemble. Kaitlin is hopeful to see growth in choral education across the province.