News: e-notes

WESNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2019

One of Canada’s national treasures in a very special concert on the farewell tour for the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s founding Artistic Director and Conductor, Jon Washburn, who retires this year. With a diverse repertoire and performing excellence, this twenty-voice choir has been performing across Canada and in every corner of the world for more than forty-five years. Boasting 32 recordings, the multi-award winning Vancouver Chamber Choir demonstrates the range of vocal expression from the majesty of choir and orchestra to the multi-hued palette of unaccompanied voices, to song to motet to oratorio and even opera. For this memorable Halifax concert, the Vancouver Chamber Choir will perform music including works by J.S. Bach, Claude Debussy, Benjamin Britten, Zoltán Kodály, and Imant Raminsh.

This concert opens with a special performance by Les Voix d’Acadie, a four-part francophone choir from Halifax.

Ticket Information and Purchase

Community Partners

It’s that time of year again! Please pass the hat and Toss-a-Tunee at your choir(s) rehearsal(s) or concerts in February and help support these amazing opportunities for our young singers! If all our member choirs took up the challenge you could really make a difference!

Do not miss this great opportunity to perform at the 2020 National Choral Conference & Festival PODIUM in Montréal! Visit www.podium2020.ca/perform

CALLING ALL MEN! Presented by Nova Voce in cooperation with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, Voice Male is a workshop for changed male voices.  It is an opportunity to learn, have fun and sing with a larger male chorus!  The workshop will be followed by a concert featuring Nova Voce, guest choirs, and a massed choir sing. Join us for a day of music for men!

Fee:
Choir – $50
Member of a registered choir – $15
Come Solo (choir not registered) – $25
Dinner – $10

Location:
Faith Tabernacle, 6225 Summit Street, Halifax

Guest Conductor Mark Ramsay: Mark Ramsay is the artistic director of the Exultate Chamber Singers as well as the conductor of the University of Toronto Men’s Chorus, the U of T Scarborough Concert Choir, and the MNjcc Community Choir. In addition to his conducting work, he is an adjunct professor at the U of T Faculty of Music where he teaches graduate choral conducting lessons, an undergraduate course in choral music education, and works as an administrator for the choral area. He is frequently asked to appear as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor, and is the editor of Choirs Ontario’s publication, Dynamic.He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from U of T where he was a student of Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. He was a recipient of an Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Choral Conducting, as well as multiple U of T Fellowships and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. In addition, he holds a Master of Music from U of T and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Prince Edward Island.Mark has also been a student conductor with the Elmer Iseler Singers, conducting fellow with the Canadian Chamber Choir, apprentice conductor with the Ontario Youth Choir, and tour manager for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Before moving to Toronto, Mark worked for ten years as a high school music teacher and curriculum specialist in Summerside, PEI where he was also the music director at Trinity United Church and conductor of the Summerside Community Choir.

Register your choir HERE if you choir would like to attend and perhaps perform in the closing concert.

Each individual singer of a choir and come solo singers must also register separately HERE

Congratulations to tenor Marcel d’Entremont, who has won McGill University’s 2018-2019 Wirth Vocal Prize.

The Prize recognizes a voice student who demonstrates exceptional talent and significant promise for an international career.

Marcel performed on November 25 with the other three finalists as part of the final round of competition. His musical collaborator was pianist and Talent Trust music scholarship recipient Dakota Scott-Digout, who also studies at McGill.

Marcel is a Talent Trust voice scholarship recipient who won the Talent Trust Portia White award in 2013. Originally from Merigomish, Nova Scotia, Marcel is in Montréal to complete a Graduate Diploma in Performance.

In addition to his Talent Trust scholarship and Portia White Award, Marcel won the Hal Leonard International Vocal Competition and placed first in the Atlantic Young Artist Competition.

Marcel has performed across Canada, singing the roles of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera McGill, Il Podesta in La Finta Giardiniera with Opera Nova Scotia, and Rodolfo in La Boheme with Opera Saskatoon. He toured with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada as the title role in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette as well as Alfredo in La Traviata.

Established in 2015 and awarded annually, the Wirth Vocal Prize brings the winner a $25,000 cash prize and a 14-karat Wirth Prize lapel pin.

Now in its 40th year, with some musicians participating since conception, Messiah from Scratch brings orchestral musicians and singers of all ages together to support Feed Nova Scotia and the Chebucto Symphony Orchestra. Messiah music scores are provided for a quick, one-hour rehearsal and then performed for the public, from scratch.

December 27th, 2018
Faith Tabernacle Church
2:00pm

Everyone is welcome to participate or to hear the performance. Messiah from Scratch will be held Thursday December 27 at Faith Tabernacle, 6225 Summit Street, Halifax. Rehearsal is at 2:00 p.m. and the performance at 3:15 p.m. Cost is $10 to participate or attend, with a $10 deposit for scores (refunded when returned). Donations and canned food for Feed Nova Scotia are welcome.

Junior Choir Camp
August 11 -17, 2019

Guest Conductor | Krista Vincent
Krista Vincent is a conductor and music educator in the Halifax area. Her love of singing began in her early years in Stephenville, NL, and has seen her progress from elementary school chorister to conductor of her own ensembles. She has continued her choral education through involvement with several local choirs, and keeps active in the professional community by participating in masterclasses and workshops. Krista aspires to provide an experience that challenges singers to improve musically, while valuing the social benefits and community connections of choral involvement.

Ms. Vincent was the founding director of Vivace Children’s Choir and was conductor of the Halifax Youth Honour Choir.  Krista sang with and has been Resident Conductor of the Nova Scotia Youth Choir and a clinician at Youth Choir Camp. This year she is thrilled to be leading EnChor East Singers. She is looking forward to being at camp with us.

Youth Choir Camp
August 11 -17, 2019

Guest Conductor | John Wiebe
Dr. JOHN WIEBE is an award-winning conductor, pianist, educator, adjudicator and clinician based in Edmonton, Alberta, where he conducts the choirs at the University of Alberta-Augustana campus, is the Artistic Director of the Edmonton Youth & Children’s Choirs and the President of Choral Canada. John has studied at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Alberta, with Frieder Bernius from Stuttgart, Germany, and in Vienna, Austria. Choirs under his dynamic leadership have recorded six CD’s, performed coast-to-coast across Canada and around the world (Europe, Russia, South America and China), and have received awards for their performances locally, nationally and at the Langollen Music Festival and the World Choir Games. John is a regular clinician and adjudicator across Canada who likes to keep in shape for his music schedule by travelling with his family, running, and playing hockey.

Adult Choir Camp
Choral Conducting Apprenticeship
August 19 -24, 2019

Guest Conductor | Michael Zaugg
Swiss-native Michael Zaugg has distinguished himself as an innovative and versatile conductor, pedagogue and clinician. Currently in his 7th season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the professional chamber choir Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton, Michael also previously led other notable Canadian choirs including, in Montreal, the St. Lawrence Choir (2008-2013), and voces boreales (2006- 2015), and the Cantata Singers Ottawa (2005-2014).
As Chorus Master of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (2006-2011), Michael successfully prepared groups of up to 1500 singers for OSM Artistic Director Kent Nagano, including the award- winning production Saint François d’Assise by Messiaen. Michael also prepared the Cantata Singers Ottawa for their appearances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under conductors such as Franz- Paul Decker, David Lockington, Trevor Pinnock, Helmuth Rilling and Paul Goodwin.
Active as a Guest Conductor, Michael Zaugg has worked with notable groups including the Vancouver Chamber Choir, National Youth Choir of Canada, the BBC Singers, Vancouver’s musica intima, the Nova Scotia and Ontario Youth Choirs, Thirteen Strings, as well as the Longueuil Symphony Orchestra. In Switzerland, he was Chorus Master of the Symphonic Chorus Regiochor, and he appears regularly as a guest conductor in his home country. Michael’s US debut was with the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street in New York. Over the last three years, he has led a 60-voice male choir, with singers selected from across Canada, the US and the Ukraine, to perform the Resurrection Liturgy by Fr. John Sembrat (Alberta) in tours from Edmonton to Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg and to Toronto, Philadelphia, Rochester and New York City.

Originally an accomplished tenor, Michael became the first Swiss conductor to be accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden in its prestigious post-graduate program for Professional Choir Conducting. Through this program, Michael worked weekly with singers of the world-renowned Swedish Radio Choir and had the opportunity to guest-conduct Sweden’s gems – the Adolf Fredrik’s Girls Choir and the Mikaeli Chamber Choir. Mr. Zaugg also holds degrees in voice and music education from the University in Basel. In 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music (Hon DMus) by Scotland’s King’s College, University of Aberdeen.
A passionate pedagogue, Michael Zaugg is strongly committed to his work not only with choirs but also with emerging artists. He created the educational component #connect with Pro Coro Canada, which has young composers, singers and conductors working with him and the professional choir several times over the season. Michael is also the Program Director of ‘CHORAL ART: for singers, composers and conductors’ at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. His work with and support of emerging Canadian composers is presented through Pro Coro Canada’s Choral Series, distributed by the Leading Note in Ottawa.