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Signal Halifax: How N.S. community choirs are navigating pandemic problems

Members of the Halifax Gay Men’s Chorus rehearse at the Maritime Conservatory of the Performing Arts led by Artistic Director Bryan Crocker

“It’s the energy. That atmosphere that you get in those rehearsals that can be so electric that was so missing from their lives.”

-Heather Fraser, AVHC and the Aeolian Singers Artistic Director

On January 19th, Signal Halifax published an article on our provincial choirs navigating rehearsals during the pandemic.  Member choirs, the Aeolian Singers, the Annapolis Valley Honour Choir, and the Halifax Gay Men’s Chrorus, share their experiences starting rehearsals again this January.  Since September, choirs have been able to meet in-person, but have had to socially distance, wear masks while singing, and abide by protocols for ventilation. Despite these restrictions,  our provincial choral community has been privileged to be able to come together in song!

To read the full article, click here. 

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Grand Philharmonic Choir: GPC Choral Works Competition 2021

The Grand Philharmonic Choir Choral Works Competition welcomes new, unpublished and unperformed works by Canadian composers 30 years of age or under.

The GPC Choral Works Competition is for composers, to encourage the creation of new music for symphonic chorus, mixed chamber choir, children’s choirs and youth choirs on an annual rotating basis. The annual program is in its fourth year, and this year the winning work will be for youth choir.

A jury of professional musicians, including Artistic Director Mark Vuorinen, will review the applications.

The winning composer receives a prize of $1500 and a Grand Philharmonic Youth Choir ensemble will perform the piece in November 2021.

The guidelines of the competition change each year depending on which ensemble of the Grand Philharmonic Choir organization is the focus of the competition. Works must be unpublished and unperformed at the time of the competition and must follow the criteria of the competition with respect to length, instrumentation, text, etc. Securing the permission to use texts currently under copyright is the responsibility of the composer (proof of permission will be a requirement of the winning entrant).

The deadline for entry is April 1, 2021.

For more details, click here.

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British Columbia Choral Federation: Respect Workshop Series

The BC Choral Federation (BCCF) is proud to announce a series of four interactive webinars this winter centred around cultural diversity, equity, inclusion and respectful engagement in our choral communities.  This exciting series of four interactive webinars features diverse and authoritative presenters who will inspire our choral community to better understand, honour, and respect the voices and cultures they choose to interpret.

In the context of all that is happening in our world, cultural diversity is of utmost importance for our choral community. The Black Lives Matter movement and Indigenous efforts to reclaim traditions, and heal from the legacy of colonialism and residential schools require of our predominantly white choral world to learn and inform our performance practices with compassion, respect and integrity. Our purpose in offering this series of webinars is to create a safe environment where we can challenge ourselves to envision a more diverse, inclusive, just, and equitable choral community: a community where all voices can flourish and all cultures will be honoured, celebrated and respected. These workshops will be of interest to choral singers, Artistic Directors, conductors, composers, arrangers, music educators, church choirs, and boards of directors.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
Instruments of Change: Building Respectful, Inclusive and Mindful Choral Communities
with Ryan Cho and Dawn Pemberton

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Black Voices Matter: Considerations for Anti-Racist Choral Environments
with Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake

SATURDAY, MARCH 6
From Vive la Canadienne to Vigneault: Singing French Canadian Choral Music
with Patricia Abbott

SATURDAY, MARCH 20
Honouring Indigenous Musics: Conversations around Voice, Place, and Solidarity
with Jonathon Adams and Nadia Chana
To learn more and register, click here.
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Unison Choruses Canada: Call for Proposals For Choral Compositions

Unison has applied for and received funding from the LGBT Purge Fund to commission three new choral works (SSAA, SATB and TTBB) to be premiered at the 2022 Unison Festival in Halifax/K’jipuktuk. People from all across Canada were deeply affected by the LGBT Purge. The Halifax/K’jipuktuk region has particularly deep ties to the LGBT Purge due to the concentration of Armed Forces in the region.

This commission project provides a unique opportunity to create something very special for the 2022 Unison Festival, while shining a spotlight on the LGBT Purge and its impact on Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and offering comfort to victims of the LGBT Purge. The new pieces will be performed on the final day of the festival by the three festival mass choruses.

Deadline: March 15, 2021

For more details, click here. 

About Unison:
Unison operates as a national hub for Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ choirs and facilitates connections between choirs across the country. These choirs provide a valuable safe space within their own community for 2SLGBTQIA+ singers and allies, and also act as advocates and ambassadors for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, raising awareness of 2SLGBTQIA+ issues in the broader community and championing acceptance, diversity and inclusion.

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Christmas at Home with the Jubilate Singers

Christmas at Home
with the Jubilate Singers and Friends

December 13th @7:00 p.m.

 

A virtual concert to raise funds for food boxes for families in need at Christmas. Due to the new limitations on gatherings, the full Jubilate Singers choir is not able to participate, but we still have a wonderful show planned!

Featuring

  • Ardyth & Jenifer, with Pam Mason and Clara Whitman
  • Holly Arseneault (jazz piano)
  • A Quartet from the Jubilate Singers, under the direction of Terry Hurrell with piano and organ accompaniment by Rob Paddock.
  • Storytellers: Sonya Beeler, Jamie Bradley and Gillian Fowler.

For updates and to receive the link to the virtual concert:

If you wish to donate in advance, you may do so

Any support, small or large, is gratefully accepted! Tax receipts are issued for donations of $15 or more.

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NSYC 30th Anniversary Celebration Video Available on Facebook and YouTube!

Even if you weren’t able to join us for the premiere of the NSYC video, you can still view the video on Facebook or YouTube!  At a time where making choral music has been difficult, we hope that this celebration will remind us all of the richness of the choral community here in Nova Scotia. It has been so lovely to receive feedback from members of the Nova Scotian choral  community  that this video felt authentically “Nova Scotian” and truly captured the vibrancy of our provincial choral community.  We hope you enjoy!

At this time, the NSCF asks that you consider making a donation to our NSYC Anniversary fund to help cover some of the lost revenue that the NSCF incurred as a result of the pandemic. To make a donation through our Canada helps, follow this link: https://nscf.ca/support/donate/

Or, consider making a donation to our Facebook Fundraiser, by following this link:  https://www.facebook.com/donate/379983503297651/

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Choral Canada: Register Today for Navigating Copyright for Choirs in Canada!

Join Choral Canada with presenters from SOCAN, Entandem, CMRRA, and Edwards Creative Law on Wednesday, December 9 at 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET (Eastern) to answer your questions about copyright in the Canadian choral context. The presentation will focus on easy to understand regulations for online performances (live streamed and recorded), in-person concerts, and hybrid performances (live streamed/recorded and in-person).

Registration:
– Free for members of Choral Canada
– $10 for non-members (includes HST and Eventbrite fee)

Please register by 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, December 7.

All registrants will be sent general information about copyright for choirs before the presentation to answer preliminary questions. There will be time for a live Q&A.

Recording of webinar:
All registrants will be sent a recording of the presentation.

Summary notes of the presentation will be provided in French, if requested.

Panelists:

James Leacock
SOCAN
Greg Smith
Entandem Licensing
Andrew Hunter
Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA)

Co-Moderators:

Meghan Hila
Choral Canada

Byron Pascoe
Edwards Creative Law

Register Now
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Pictou Youth advocating for Singing in Schools

The NSCF is proud to see NSYC alum, William Austin, and his classmates at North Nova Education Centre join together to advocate for singing to be permitted in schools. Currently, Nova Scotia is the only province in the Maritimes that has not  permitted and developed guidelines for singing in schools.  To read the full article in the Pictou Advocate, click here. 

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LET THEM SING!

Singing is a vital component of elementary school music education. In Canada three times more children under the age of 18 sing in a choir than play hockey. Singing and choir are barrier free activities and how important it is, therefore, to have such experiences available to students

A sincere thank you to this group of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia students, who collaboratively wrote and performed “Without Our Voices” to share how they feel about singing being prohibited in schools throughout the fall of 2020. Expressing themselves creatively, they truly show us that, “where words fail, music speaks”. Annika Murray Cameron Boulter Campbell Hayman Caroline Boulter (violin) Justin Skinner (piano) Kara Taylor William Austin #ChoirIsOurSport #LetThemSing Singing in schools continues to be prohibited in Nova Scotia schools as of December 3, 2020. 
We continue to seek clarity and consistency in Nova Scotia policies around singing.
Knowing that choral singing is a vital part of Nova Scotia communities, the Nova Scotia Choral Federation has been advocating for safe choral singing in community, faith and school settings.
Watch our full presentation to Dr. Strang here:

Meeting with Dr. Strang
Nova Scotia Guidelines

Please share!