News: Front Page

Dear members of Choral Canada,

This is a reminder that Choral Canada will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, August 20, 2020, at 12:00 PM EST. The meeting will be held by Zoom. The purpose of this meeting is for the Board to report to, and receive direction from, the membership.  All members in good standing may attend.

As announced in a previous email, the Choral Canada Nominating Committee submitted to the Choral Canada Board of Directors a list of voting members who are willing to stand for election. The Board of Directors has approved this slate of nominees.

List of Nominees for the 2020-21 Choral Canada Board of Directors

For Election
Morna Edmundson- President-Elect
Heather Fraser – Director
Elroy Friesen – Director
Irma Mackenzie – Director
Anne Longmore – Director
Marie-Élène Lamoureux – Provincial Choral Organization Representative

For Re-Election
Emma Walker – Treasurer

By Appointment of the Board
Kellie Walsh – Past-President

Continuing Board Members
Laurier Fagnan – Incoming President
Tim Callahan-Cross – Provincial Choral Organization Representative
Willi Zwozdesky – Provincial Choral Organization Representative
Amy Pun – Secretary

Voting
Class A Members are entitled to vote at the Annual General Meeting. Class A Members are Individual and Component members.  The Individual membership category includes Individual, Student, Life and Honorary members.  The Component membership category includes one designated representative from each of the eight provincial choral organizations.

Since the meeting is held by Zoom, the Chair of the meeting will determine the voting procedure. Please refer to the Voting Ballot for information. You are also welcome to vote by proxy. You must complete the AGM Proxy Form by hand, scan and send by email to info@choralcanada.org by latest 5:00pm EDT on August 18, 2020.

AGM Materials
Materials will be circulated in both English and French; however, the meeting will proceed in English.  This email includes the meeting agenda, proxy form, ballot form. The financial statements are available to members upon request.

As there is limited opportunity for extended discussion at this meeting, agenda items include the minimum items of business required.

Please feel free to contact us at info@choralcanada.org with questions or for more information.

Click here to read and download the official PDF version of this letter.

Choral Canada is the national arts service organization for the Canadian choral community and professional choral arts sector.

10% of the Canadian population sings in a choir in almost 28,000 choirs of all kinds according to the 2017 national choral census.That is approximately 3.5 million choristers.1 Choral singing truly is Canada’s national pastime!

As stewards of the choral artform, our #1 priority is the safety and well-being of choristers and the choral industry/sector.

We are seeking constructive avenues of communication among the Canadian Choral community, health officials and policy makers so that we can provide unified guidelines for the choral community. We feel strongly that a thoughtful, informed and collaborative approach is the best way forward.

We are looking to work with health officials and policy makers to find modifications and practical guidelines for safe singing, guidelines that are rooted in scientific research. We seek to create sensible safety guidelines that align with other sectors, such as adult rec hockey, gyms, dance studios, children’s soccer camps, etc. In fact, some provinces have already made recommendations for safe singing.

We appreciate the recent intention of the media to highlight how choirs are innovating and trying to survive during this time, but sensationalist headlines do even more damage to this already devastated arts sector including the professionals and associated industries who rely heavily on the choral arts for income. There is a lot at stake here. We cannot overstate the financial, emotional, cultural and physical damage of negative news articles and comments to the entire choral sector. These recent negative headlines have been pointed directly at the choral sector based on little more than anecdotal evidence.

Definitive scientific studies about COVID-19 transmission in relation to singing versus other forms of activities such as loud talking or cheering and other aerobic activity, have yet to be published. The Government of Alberta recognized the lack of credible, scientific evidence surrounding this subject in its Covid-19 Scientific Advisory Group Rapid Evidence Report, stating:

There is a gap in the scientific knowledge regarding the aerosolization of COVID-19 in particular for such activities [singing]. The evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted through singing is largely limited to media reports, and it is uncertain whether the transmission that occurred in these settings was related to aerosolization through singing, or through droplet or contact transmission… The committee agreed it is unclear whether the risk of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus via singing may be caused by aerosolizing of respiratory particles, or large droplets being expelled, or a combination, or social behaviors associated with close groups (close contact, handshaking, hugging etc.)2

On July 3rd, The Government of Nova Scotia shared new guidelines for musicians, providing guidance for organizations as they plan for their upcoming 2020/21 seasons.  The Nova Scotia Choral Federation has been meeting with Dr. Strang’s office to ensure the guidelines address the needs of our choral community. Full guidelines, as well as other COVID-19 related resources can be found here:

COVID-19: Factsheets and Posters 
https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/resources/

COVID-19 Guidance for Vocalists and Instrumentalists
https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/docs/COVID-19-Guidance-for-Vocalists-and-Instrumentalists.pdf

The Annapolis Valley Honour Choir will be welcoming new choir members for the next school year. Any students in Grades 3-12 during the 2020-21 school year are encouraged to join the choir family.

Auditions for Junior Choir (Grades 3-6), Intermediate Choir (Grades 5-9) and Senior Choir (Grades 8-12) will be taking place online through June. Students can choose to use a live ZOOM audition, or send a pre-recorded video.

With three choirs and over 150 students from throughout the Annapolis Valley, the AVHC is recognized nationally as a leading program for music education. Their online “Virtual Spring Concert” was just a huge success – lifting spirits across the country! Singers are welcomed into a supportive and close knit family, given a safe space to be themselves, build their confidence and find their voices. Fun and engaging vocal instruction, musical literacy and leadership programs together offer a high quality music training and steers the choristers towards musical excellence as well as building thoughtful and community minded citizens.

Halifax-based composer Peter Fillman has been selected by the jury as the winner of  the Nova Scotia Choral Federation’s  4th Young Composer’s Competition for his composition See How Low the Moon Hangs.  In addition, the NSCF is  pleased to share that the jury also selected an honourable mention for the competition; Peregrina by composer Cameron Slipp. Both pieces will be premiered by the Nova Scotia Youth Choir, conducted by Christina Murray, as part of  the NSYC’s  30th Anniversary Celebration.

For more details on the competition, click here.

Peter Fillman is a Halifax-based composer and guitarist entering his fourth year of a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. Peter began his music degree studying guitar under Douglas Reach, and this past year began studying composition under Dr. Jerome Blais. Originally from New Brunswick, Peter was actively involved in arts programming at Rothesay Netherwood School and has performed as a part of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and as a chorister with the Dalhousie University Chorus. He hopes to study a Masters of Composition following his undergrad and is interested in pursuing a career in film composition.

The Nova Scotia Choral Federation will be releasing a biweekly playlist of choral music as a way to keep our community connected through song. Each playlist will be curated to explore a specific theme or idea- much like a conductor would program a concert!  This week’s program explores the transition from Evening to Morning, with highlights from Sergei Rachmaninoff, Craig Hella Johnson, and  Ēriks Ešenvalds with performances by Voces8,  and Chanticleer. So sit back, relax, and let yourself be transported through an “evening” of song!

Have any song suggestions?  Suggest a song for a future playlist by completing this form,  QuaranTunes: Song Suggestion Form.  As this is a curated playlist, your suggestion may not appear in the subsequent E-notes; though we will try our best to make sure that all suggestions are used at some point. We look forward to hearing what choral music you have been listening to during this time!

Choral Canada and the provincial choral organizations hosted a National Webinar on Wednesday, May 20th at 8 pm Atlantic Time to provide information and receive questions from concerned members of the broader choral community.  This session focuses on Canadian-specific information, both on the science and data as well as its effect on choral singing in the near future. This webinar also included some great ideas of ways in which you can keep your ensembles growing and engaged and, hopefully, singing during this period of restrictions from some of our country’s leading  conductors and educators.