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Halifax Camerata Singers – Looking for Great Singers!

Halifax Camerata Singers is currently holding auditions for all voice parts for the 2017-18 season (31st season) for singers who have a solid vocal technique, good sight-reading skills and above average musical ability. Previous choral experience is a must. If you would like to be part of this dynamic choral ensemble please contact General Manager Peggy Walt at peggy@culturalaffairs.ca for more information.

The choir is under the direction of founding Artistic Director Jeff Joudrey, and forms the core of the Symphony Nova Scotia Chorus, who will be performing Handel’s Messiah in December, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in the spring with SNS.  Halifax Camerata Singers will also reprise their show commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion (December 3), present two remembrance-themed concerts in November with guests, Nova Voce, and present a concert with guest mezzo-soprano, Christianne Rushton, in March and June.

Halifax Camerata Singers is Atlantic Canada’s award-winning chamber choir, and rehearses weekly on Tuesday evenings at First Baptist Church, with additional rehearsals as required.  You can learn more about the choir at www.halifaxcamerata.org(and more about the audition process on the home page under Auditions).

 

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NSCF SING SUMMER EVENTS FOR EVERYONE!

NSCF SING SUMMER EVENTS FOR EVERYONE!
Can’t attend a Sing Summer Camp? Join us for a concert!
Check out what else is happening this August at Sing Summer!

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15th
NSCF AGM Dinner and -6:00 with AGM 6:30
Chef Paul will cook up a splendid supper! Come for dinner/AGM and stay for the concert
Please RSVP for Dinner to programs@nscf.ns.ca
ADDISON WOMEN’S CHOIR CONCERT 7:30
Berwick United Church Campgrounds – Free will offering

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16th
Thomas Burton and Edward Enman -Trombone and Piano performance 7:30
Berwick United Church, 240 Commercial Street – Free will offering

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17nd
Why Choral Music Matters – 7:30 pm – John William Trotter, guest conductor
Berwick United Church Campgrounds – Free will offering

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19th
Adult Choir Camp Concert – 1:30 pm – John William Trotter, guest conductor
Berwick United Church Campgrounds – Free will offering

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23th
CHOIR CAMP OPEN DAY & Workshop for Music Educators with Sara Morrison and Linda Song
9-2:30 lunch included – Berwick United Church Campgrounds – $15 includes lunch

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26th
JCC and YCC Concerts
Berwick United Church Campgrounds – Free will offering
Junior Choir Camp Concert – 1:00pm – Sarah Morrison, guest conductor
Youth Choir Camp Concert – 2:30pm – Robert Filion, guest conductor

 

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Membership Renewal Time

All NSCF memberships expire August 31, 2017.  Please renew your membership as soon as possible to avoid delays in borrowing from the library or accessing other member services.  Individuals attending Adult Choir Camp have already renewed their membership for the 2017-18 season as registration includes an individual membership in NSCF. Please renew your membership here.

Benefits of Membership (Adult and Student)

  • Affiliate Membership in Choral Canada and all associated privileges http://www.choralcanada.org/membership/
  • Full Access to Music International http://www.musicanet.org/en/home
  • Access to borrow multiple copies of up to 6 selections at a time from our NSCF Lending library.
  • Access and borrowing privileges to allother provincial choral organization libraries across Canada.
  • Discount rate for choristers attending Junior and Youth Choir Camp
  • Recommend singers for Children’s Chorus of Nova Scotia
  • Opportunity to promote your events and share news through our Member Events Calendar and Member Blog on our Website
  • Receive and have notices included in Enotes, our monthly email bulletin of current events and opportunities
  • Share events on Facebook
  • Assistance designing posters/tickets
  • Discounted full colour or black and white photocopying at the NSCF office
  • A resource for all your choral needs – reading sessions, workshops, expert advice, clinicians, grant information; publicity information with media lists; we welcome special requests
  • Assistance in planning a workshop on a variety of subjects for choirs and directors
  • A sense of belonging within the cultural community; access to a provincial and national network of choral musicians and opportunities for liaison with granting and government agencies
  • A statement of support and a chance to contribute to your art form and its role in the communities of Nova Scotia
  • Participate in guiding the organization; volunteer opportunities; voting privileges at our Annual General Meeting

 

Benefits of Individual Membership (Adult)

  • Access to borrow single copies from our NSCF Lending library.
  • Participation in Adult Choir Camp
  • Adult Bursary for Sing Summer and Professional Development Funding
  • Discounts for some NSCF programs, festivals and workshops etc.
  • Discounted full colour or black and white photocopying at the NSCF office
  • Opportunity to promote your events and share news through our Member Events Calendar and Member Blog on our Website
  • Receive and have notices included in Enotes, our monthly email bulletin of current events and opportunities
  • Share events on Facebook
  • A sense of belonging within the cultural community; access to a provincial and national network of choral musicians and opportunities for liaison with granting and government agencies
  • A statement of support and a chance to contribute to your art form and its role in the communities of Nova Scotia
  • Participate in guiding the organization; volunteer opportunities on committees and board; voting privileges at our Annual General Meeting

 

Benefits of Student Membership

  • Access to borrow single copies from our NSCF Lending library.
  • Participation in Children’s Chorus of Nova Scotia
  • Discounts for some NSCF programs, festivals and workshops etc.
  • Discounted full colour or black and white photocopying at the NSCF office
  • Opportunity to promote your events and share news through our Member Events Calendar and Member Blog on our Website
  • Receive and have notices included in Enotes, our monthly email bulletin of current events and opportunities
  • Share events on Facebook
  • A sense of belonging within the cultural community; access to a provincial and national network of choral musicians and opportunities for liaison with granting and government agencies
  • A statement of support and a chance to contribute to your art form and its role in the communities of Nova Scotia
  • Participate in guiding the organization; volunteer opportunities and attend our Annual General Meeting
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Choir Camp Open Day and Teacher Workshop!

Wednesday, August 23rd – 9:00 – 2:30

Berwick United Church Camp

Attention teachers, conductors, singing leaders of all kinds! Come to choir camp for a fabulous day of professional development that will get you in the mood to start a brand new choir year. Soak up the last bit of summer under the hemlocks at Berwick Camp, while absorbing great ideas from fabulous teachers! For those who aren’t familiar with our camp, it’s a chance to see what it’s all about and why we love it so much!

At Open Day you can:

– Observe rehearsals with Robert Filion (Ottawa – YCC) and Sarah Morrison (Oakville – JCC). Read their bios here

– Observe sectional rehearsals by Artistic support staff (Jenny Trites, Jack Bennet, Thomas Burton, Amelia McMahon, Rachael Delano)

– Observe group activities with Dr. Christianne Rushton (YCC Vocal Health & Musicianship), Josh Noiles (JCC/YCC Drama), Linda Song (JCC Kodaly Music and Movement), and Sherise Jones (YCC – Yoga for Singers)

– **Attend a special 60 minute Workshop for Teachers and Conductors with Linda Song – guest teacher and Kodaly specialist with us from Toronto. Linda teaches Elementary and Middle School music at Claude Watson School of the Arts and is a conductor in the training choirs program with the Toronto Children’s Chorus.

Click here for more information and to register!

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Elmer Iseler Singers and Special Guest Dr. Roberta Bondar – July 19th, 7:30

Elmer Iseler Singers and Special Guest Dr. Roberta Bondar

July 19, 7:30 PM

St. John’s Anglican Church Lunenburg

Musique Royale is pleased to present The Elmer Iseler Singers, a professional chamber choir based in Toronto. The twenty-voice choir, conducted by Artistic Director Lydia Adams, was founded by Dr. Elmer Iseler in 1979 and is one of Canada’s leading choral ensembles. The choir has built an international reputation through its concerts, broadcasts and more than fifty recordings. The Elmer Iseler Singers’ repertoire spans five hundred years of choral music. The choir regularly commissions and performs new works, and appears at national and international festivals.

“When I was eight years old to be a spaceman was the most exciting thing I could imagine.” –– Roberta Bondar

In 2017 Dr. Roberta Bondar marks 25 years since she became Canada’s first woman in space. Building on her long-standing relationship and connection with the achievements of Alexander and Mabel Bell, Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site and the Elmer Iseler Singers led by accomplished Nova Scotia native Lydia Adams, Dr Bondar will help Nova Scotia celebrate its significant achievements in the areas of history, arts, science and technology– and how the coupling of art and science that began with Alexander and Mabel Bell continues today and into the future.

High Flight: Songs of the Stars is a multi-media choral performance of sonic splendour combined with captivating photographs and images of space, highlighting music of the spheres by Canadian composers Eleanor Daley, Imant Raminsh, Jason Jestadt, Ruth Watson Henderson, R. Murray Schafer, and Harry Somers, as well as the performance of a work by Lydia Adams, with text by Dr. Roberta Bondar describing her experience of leaving Earth and coming back once again to its sublime beauty. Dr. Bondar will speak at the event about the search in the stars for new possibilities for life on other planets.

$30 for general and $10 for students. Tickets are available at Shop on the Corner in Lunenburg. Reservations: 902 634-9994 or by email: musiqueroyale1985@gmail.com

Additional Events

A second performance with Dr. Bondar and the Elmer Iseler Singers, celebrating the life and legacy of Mabel Bell, takes place at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck on Friday, July 21 at 7:30 pm.

The Roberta Bondar Travelling Photo Exhibition Light in the Land – The Nature of Canada

(a)     Opening Reception in Baddeck, NS          Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site on Thursday July 20

(b)     Opening Reception in Lunenburg, NS          Lunenburg School of the Arts in Lunenburg on Friday August 18

These activities mark a first-time collaboration of Nova Scotia and national partners – the Alexander Graham Bell Foundation in collaboration with The Roberta Bondar Foundation, Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site – Parks Canada, the Elmer Iseler Singers, Lunenburg School of the Arts, Musique Royale and Cape Breton University. Supported By The Province of Nova Scotia – Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage’s 150 Forward Fund. The 150 Forward Fund supports opportunities for Nova Scotians to create, promote and participate in local and regional events that build a sense of pride in Nova Scotia during the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation. Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.

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Exploring the Experience of Community Choir Singing Among Youth

We are exploring the experience of community choir singing among youth (defined as between 16-29 years of age) who have faced various challenges in their lives, including mental health struggles, addictions, homelessness, exclusion, and discrimination. It’s the beginning of a program of research to gather the evidence regarding the degree to which community choir singing might be a protective factor in youth resilience and wellness.

 

Marion Brown, PhD, Associate Professor
Undergraduate Program Coordinator
School of Social Work, Dalhousie University
3201-1459 LeMarchant Street
PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2

 Marion.Brown@dal.ca

 

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Halifax Camerata Singers’ Halifax Explosion Commemorative Show Goes to Edmonton

 The ECMA-nominated Halifax Camerata Singers (HCS) with special guests, Rhapsody Quintet and actor Jeremy Webb are taking Halifax 1917: From Dreams to Despair to the first Edmonton International Choral Festival, June 1-4, as invited guests of Pro Coro Canada. This original production commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion was first performed before sell-out audience at Halifax Central Library two months ago. Utilizing “letters” imagining correspondence between a young soldier overseas, and his family and friends back in Halifax, the concert portrays a bustling wartime Halifax with marching suffragettes, vaudeville houses and concerts in the Public Gardens. Poignant compositions, including commissioned works by Paul Halley and Chris Palmer, give a contemporary take on some events of the era. Some comments from audience members at the March premiere: “what incredible work and a privilege to attend,” “best concert I’ve ever been to,” “brilliant concept and a magnificent production,” “beautiful music, singing, narrative, projections – bravo to all!,” “I was truly moved.”

Camerata’s performance is on Friday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. at All Saints Anglican Cathedral in Edmonton. Other performers throughout the Festival are the host choir, Pro Coro Canada, and Sweden’s Voces Nordicae as well as a massed gala choir. Artistic Director Jeff Joudrey commented “We wanted to tell a Nova Scotian story in Edmonton, and were delighted when the Artistic Director of Pro Coro Canada, Michael Zaugg, accepted our suggestion of taking the Explosion show to a Western audience. We are also so excited to perform with Pro Coro and Sweden’s Voces Nordicae and to work with master choral conductor, Robert Sund.”

The concert concludes with a work commissioned for the choir and Quintet by Halifax composer Christopher Palmer, utilizing a text by former Alexander MacKay School principal, DM Matheson. Palmer discovered the poem in the rare books section of the Halifax Public Library, and is travelling to Edmonton for the Festival.

Halifax 1917: from Dreams to Despair has been updated to include Camerata’s newest commissioned work, I Lost My Talk, with text by the late Mi’kmaq poet, Rita Joe, commissioned from Canadian choral composer, Jeff Enns.

Also travelling to Edmonton are Halifax’s award-winning Rhapsody Quintet (Jennifer Jones, violin; Shimon Walt, cello; David Langstroth, bass; Eileen Walsh, clarinet and Diana Torbert, piano) and Halifax’s favorite actor/director/producer Jeremy Webb. For more information on Rhapsody Quintet, please visit www.rhapsodyquintet.com and on Jeremy Webb: www.easternfronttheatre.com.