Following a very successful fall season which culminated in a performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” Seton Conservatory Choir is inviting experienced singers to join its ranks! Rehearsals will resume at 7:00 pm every Wednesday evening, at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, beginning 18 January, 2023. Good vocal production and sight reading skills are pre- requisites. Interested candidates are asked to contact Garth MacPhee to arrange a choral interview. (macpheegl@hotmail.com)
The Nova Scotia Choral Federation office will be closed for the holidays from December 16, 2022 to January 3, 2023. Wishing you and your families all the best for the Holiday season and we look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.
It was Robbie’s last wish for his music to continue on after his passing. In 2019, his musical partner, Kathleen Glauser, began the process of contacting composers to create choral arrangements of Robbie’s music. Partnering with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, The Robbie Songs Project has now commissioned 27 new choral arrangements from 16 composers across Canada and the United States.
On April 30, 2023 we will celebrate Robbie’s work at St Matthew’s United Church in Halifax with a concert featuring Nova Scotia choirs. Cantabile Singers will be joining us from Truro on the heels of their own Robbie Songs concert the previous evening and we are welcoming other choirs to join us. More details about the concert to come!
If your choir has studied and performed Robbie songs (or would like to) and would like to join in this concert, please contact Anne at anne@nscf.ca to learn more.
Weekly rehearsal of Valley Voices A Cappella Chorus. Guests invited to sing with this lively friendly group of women singing four part harmony in the barbershop style. Rehearsals start up on January 3, 2023 at Kentville United Baptist Church.
FRI NOV 18 5:45-6:45pm Amherst, NS Holiday Light Up, meeting at the offices, at 98 Victoria Street E SAT NOV 19 4:45-6:15pm Halifax, NS Downtown Halifax Business Commission SAT NOV 19 5:00-6:30pm Halifax, NS The Lord Nelson Hotel SUN NOV 20 noon-2pm-ish Ardoise, NS Meander River Brewery Holiday Market THU NOV 24 5:30-7:30pm Halifax, NS Bishop’s Landing FRI NOV 25 4:00-8:00pm Halifax, NS Spring Garden Road (Shopping Under the Stars) FRI NOV 25 5:00-7:30pm Halifax, NS Killam Brewery Market FRI NOV 25 5:30-7:30pm Halifax, NS The Maple on Hollis SAT NOV 26 11:00am-1:00pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival – strolling carolers SAT NOV 26 2:00-4:00pm Halifax, NS North End Business Association, kicking off their event. Meet in CycleSmith Prk lot, 2553 Agricola SUN NOV 27 4:45-5:45pm Cole Harbour, NSCHABA Tree-Lighting (with Santa’s visit) next to the fire hall on Cole Harbour Rd. THU DEC 1 5:00-8:00pm Saint John, NB Irving Christmas “in the Quad” (outside, starting at 5:30pm) *Dale is b/u for female voice. THU DEC 1 5:30-7:30pm Halifax, NS South Park St, between the YMCA and the residential buildings beside it. FRI DEC 2 3:00-8:00pm Halifax, NS Spring Garden Road (Shopping Under the Stars) FRI DEC 2 4:30-6:30pm Saint John, NB CraftNB Christmas Festival at Marco Polo Terminal FRI DEC 2 5:45-8:45pm Saint John, NB Uptown Sparkles SAT DEC 3 11:00am-1:00pm Bedford, NS Sunnyside Mall SAT DEC 3 11:00am-1:00pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival – strolling carolers SAT DEC 3 11:00am-2pm Dartmouth, NS Downtown Dartmouth SAT DEC 3 12:00-3:00pm Saint John, NB CraftNB Christmas Festival at Marco Polo Terminal SAT DEC 3 4:30-6:30pm Dartmouth, NS Downtown Dartmouth
SUN DEC 4 12:15-2:15pm Saint John, NB CraftNB Christmas Festival at Marco Polo Terminal SUN DEC 4 2:00-2:40pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival Mainstage SUN DEC 4 7:00-8:30-ish Saint John, NB St. Mary & St. Bartholomew Anglican Church FRI DEC 9 10:00-11:00am Dartmouth, NS Alderney Gate Public Library SAT DEC 10 11:00am-1:00pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival – strolling carolers SAT DEC 10 11:00am-2:00pm Dartmouth, NS Downtown Dartmouth SAT DEC 10 3:00-4:00pm Dartmouth, NS Cole Harbour Public Library, on the branch floor, not the event room… SAT DEC 10 3:00-4:30pm Hubbards, NS St. Luke’s Anglican Church fundraising concert SUN DEC 11 2:00-2:40pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival Mainstage FRI DEC 16 11:45am-12:45pm Dartmouth, NS Dartmouth North Public Library, during a special teen/youth luncheon FRI DEC 16 7:00-8:30pm Sackville, NS Knox United Church, with the Bedford Leisure Club Orchestra, in CONCERT! SEASONAL SELECTIONS FROM THE SILVER SCREEN 567 Sackville Drive, Lower Sackville, NS Admission by donation.
SAT DEC 17 11:00am-2:00pm Dartmouth, NS Downtown Dartmouth SAT DEC 17 7:00-8:30pm East Dover, NS Village Green Community Centre IN CONCERT! SUN DEC 18 2:00-2:40pm Halifax, NS Evergreen Festival Mainstage FRI DEC 23 11:00am-1:00pm Bedford, NS Sunnyside Mall
Anne 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.
Our Call for Volunteers is now open! Volunteers needed to help with ticketing, ushering, and program distribution for December 8, 9 and 10. An orientation session will be provided in advance, in person and via Zoom. Interested?
Choirs for Change is thrilled to announce that Ryan Henwood has been appointed to the new role of Artistic Director!
Ryan has been involved with Choirs for Change since its inception in 2017, first as a singer and later as principal director of Polaris and Spíra choirs. In that time, he has led both choirs through countless rehearsals and concerts, and taught hundreds of arrangements—including original songs like “Pulse” and “Celandine.”
Last year, Ryan completed his Bachelor of Music Education from Memorial University and started work in Halifax as a music teacher.
“In my role as Artistic Director,” Ryan says, “I hope to be able to work with and support my conducting colleagues to provide our audiences with high-level and thought-provoking artistic programming…[and] I want to empower our choristers to feel that our art making is a form of a social change.”
Choirs for Change’s mandate is to have its three choirs—Polaris, Spíra, and Eastern Horizon—support social change movements with innovative choral events. With this in mind, Ryan has previously led the choirs to appear at Nocturne: Art at Night Festival, Mayworks Halifax, and multiple rallies for different causes. Going forward, Ryan plans to promote causes close to home.
“I hope to ground our social change focus on local issues. This may take form through events that focus on issues happening on a municipal or provincial level, but may also look like partnering with other organizations that are already doing amazing work in our community.”
And Ryan’s event planning doesn’t stop with choral music—he plans to collaborate with artists across a variety of mediums. “Choral music is already such a powerful vehicle for storytelling,” he says. Choristers and audiences alike will appreciate the shared talents of “musicians, dancers, and spoken word artists.”
Catch Ryan leading Polaris in concert at the end of November—watch for the concert announcement at choirsforchange.ca.
This survey is part of a project designed to determine the major challenges choirs, choruses, singing groups and composers are currently facing, as well as to help identify what gaps there are in choir programming and governance. This survey will also provide some preliminary insight into what new opportunities are available and what toolkits are needed to help meet these challenges.
Choirs at all levels and composers across the country are seeing new opportunities in exploring the creation and use of new and shared digital content and resources. (This does NOT include unauthorized sharing of copyrighted material.)This survey and project will help inform decision making and provide strategic guidance to allow for a quick and successful transition to our “new normal”.
National and provincial choral organizations, artists, composers, schools, and various arts organizations across Canada will be invited to complete this survey which asks questions about “Digital Offerings”, in particular during COVID. Questions on topics such as: What digital tactics have been used? How have they been monetized, if at all? How and with whom have these been shared? Have they resulted in changes in audience connections? What financial and human resource barriers have you encountered?
There are new resources needed to increase the digital literacy of choral organizations. This could take the form of “toolkits” or a national database to help organize access to current and future content. The hope is that these resources will help leverage digital technologies to inform innovative programming, new ways of marketing and funding, and a transformation of audience engagement as they return to live performances. Your collaboration through the completion of this survey will greatly assist in helping the choral and other arts sectors towards understanding these goals.
Some questions are designed for singing organizations to answer and some are more generic and can be answered by both choirs and independent composers. Composers associated with singing organizations can of course answer all questions. Independent composers not associated with a specific organization will be directed to certain parts of the survey.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes of your time. As a token of appreciation for your time, after completing the survey you can enter into a draw to win one of the prizes:
– A gift certificate for $100 from Cypress Music Publishers
If you have any questions, or if you experience any technical issues, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at: Victoria Glizer at info@cpamo.org or charles c. smith at executive@cpamo.org.
This project is supported with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
