Nova Scotia Youth Choir on Tour
Vote The Big Sing as Halifax’s Best Community Project!
The Big Sing, a community singing event led by Jack Bennet (Choirs for Change, Phoenix Community Choir) and George Woodhouse, has been shortlisted as Halifax’s Best Community Project in this year’s “Best Of Halifax” awards presented by The Coast. As the only music-related nomination in this category, help us get the word out about this great event and the importance of community music-making!
To vote, follow the link below (it takes a few seconds to load):
https://bestofhalifax.com/#/gallery/113578076
As background, The Big Sing began in January 2017 and has since been offering drop-in singing experiences at local pubs around Halifax. All are welcome to attend, and are led through learning a 3-part harmony to a well-known song. Videos of the final performances each night are recorded and put on Youtube. In the past year and a half, The Big Sing has engaged with thousands of Nova Scotians in singing. In addition to a number of corporate and team-building retreats, they’ve performed at Full Circle Festival, Neptune Theatre, the Halifax Pride Festival, and recently with pop-icon Leslie Feist.
For more information, connect with them at the following links
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebigsinghfx
Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCM5fpHysysmIm3Ux54gfv_Q
Website: www.thebigsinghfx.com
Polaris Auditions 18/19
Polaris is excited to welcome you to auditions for our upcoming September 2018 – June 2019 season!
Are you a singer in Halifax with choral experience and an interest in social change? This is the ensemble for you! Polaris is a mixed-voice ensemble that performs at a high musical level, and creates space for insight and performance as it relates to current social justice issues.
Auditions will take about 20 minutes and consist of some music reading, singing exercises, and a brief discussion on social justice. Please come prepared to sing a song of your choice without accompaniment.
***To book an audition, please email (without the spaces): choirsforchange @ gmail.com***
In summary, Polaris…
-is a high-commitment community choir of roughly 30 members
-rehearses once a week on Monday nights
-will perform up to 6 times in the upcoming season
-learns music using sheet music, and is a place where reading music is a desirable skill
-engages in activities and discussions about topics of social change
-is led by an artistic team and social dialogue coordinators
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When: August 27th, between 6-9pm, 20-minutes time commitment
Where: St Andrew’s United Church
(https://goo.gl/maps/frdoMA9SeUS2)
What: please prepare one song to perform without accompaniment, and be prepared to do some singing exercises, music reading, and brief discussion on social justice
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Choirs for Change Association is a registered non-profit organization based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our choirs are collectives of singers and activists seeking to support social change movements through innovative choral events. We can be contacted through our Facebook page, or via email at choirsforchange @ gmail . com (without the spaces).
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Accessibility information: these auditions will be held in the community centre at St Andrew’s United Church, which features a wheelchair accessible entrance. There is also a wheelchair accessible washroom located in the building. To access these areas using a wheelchair you must use a wheelchair elevator located in the building. Several Halifax Transit buses come in close proximity to the venue. For questions, please feel welcome to message our Facebook page, or email us: choirsforchange @ gmail . com (without the spaces)
Nova Scotia Choral Federation Annual General Meeting
43rd Annual General Meeting
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
6:30 pm
Berwick United Church Camp
115 Commercial Street, Berwick, NS
(To include dinner (6:00 PM) please RSVP nscfadmin@nscf.ns.ca or 902 423-4688)
Election of Officers
Each year the Nominating Committee selects a slate of nominees for their individual skills, expertise and their
willingness to devote the time required for committee work and Federation business. The committee also strives for
the widest possible provincial representation. With these guidelines in mind, we will present the following slate of
nominees for the two-year term of 2018 to 2019 at the Nova Scotia Choral Federation’s Annual General Meeting. If
you are interested in nominating someone to our Board of Directors the deadline for nominations is August 7, 2018.
The procedure is as follows:
Members will submit motions of nominations any time up to 14 days prior to the Annual General Meeting. Motions
must be made in writing, signed by the mover and the seconder, and delivered to the Federation office. The nominee
must deliver signed acceptance by the deadline and provide biographical information suitable for reproduction or
distribution to Annual General Meeting delegates. Please review the following biographies of our current nominees
for the 2017/18 – 2018/19 term as listed here.
Music Leaders from the ScotianAires head to Nashville on Music Scholarship
Five talented music leaders from the Halifax-based Atlantic championship a cappella chorus, the ScotianAires, will soon be heading to Nashville, TN for a week of music education, thanks in part to the financial support of Sing Canada Harmony, a Canadian charity supporting music education.
The ScotianAires are a chapter of Harmony, Incorporated, an international organization of female a cappella singers specializing in the barbershop harmony style. Harmony, Inc., and Sing Canada Harmony, have partnered to support Canadian musical directors receiving scholarships for best-in-class training opportunities. Harmony University (Harmony U), held on the beautiful grounds of Belmont University in Nashville, is an intensive week long workshop hosted by the Barbershop Harmony Society with a wealth of educational opportunities for barbershop style singers from all over the world. This year’s program runs from July 22-29, 2018.
ScotianAire members Jill Reid, presently a Performance Judge with Harmony, Inc., and Fatima Whelan, a Performance Judge Candidate, will both attend the Coaches’ Apprentice Program. Reid will take part as an observer in order to free up her schedule for additional workshop opportunities. Whelan, a first time attendee at Harmony U, looks forward to the “great opportunity to learn from some amazing leaders, coaches and educators with the focus on Performance.”
Bass Section Leader Marion Fraser Pritchard returns for her second year in Nashville and looks forward to “classes in chorus leadership, and promotion of a cappella singing with youth in our community”. ScotianAires Assistant Director Adele Merritt will attend the Directors College and can’t wait to be immersed in a “barbershop bubble” for the week!
ScotianAires Director, Sue Kember is also a returning participant. Her schedule contains a little bit of everything: “I am looking forward to another awesome week at Harmony University. I have chosen courses that touch upon every aspect that I am involved in so I am really looking forward to the education I will be receiving on directing, coaching, leadership, quartetting and for a challenge, some arranging and beat boxing! It is going to be fantastic!”
Everyone is looking forward to the keynote address to be delivered by Deke Sharon, sometimes referred to as “the father of contemporary a cappella” and best known as the arranger of the music for the popular “Pitch Perfect” movie series. Performances by outstanding men’s barbershop quartets such as Main Street and Instant Classic will be a highlight and the five ScotianAires will also have a chance to perform as members of the Women’s Honor Chorus.
The Harmony, Inc. funding initiative “Director’s First” that Sing Canada Harmony has supported was launched in 2016 with the impressive goal of sending as many as 60 musical directors and leaders from Harmony, Inc. chapters to Harmony University in the space of five years. Since its inception, 25 Harmony Inc. music leaders from across Canada and the United States have travelled to Nashville.
The five ScotianAire participants attending Harmony U are grateful for all the support they have received, financial and otherwise, and look forward to sharing their experiences with the whole chorus when they are together again in August.
You can find out more about the ScotianAires at scotianaires.ca or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/scotianaires.chorus/ and on Twitter @ScotianAires.
Halifax based chorus ScotianAires retain Atlantic championship with new high score!
The ScotianAires, an a cappella chorus made up of women from across the Halifax region, and Tonic!, a quartet made up of four members of the ScotianAires, have retained top honours at Atlantic Canada’s most prestigious competition for women barbershop singers. Both were repeat champions at the chorus competition at the Harmony Inc. 2018 Area 1 Convention and Contests (AC&C) held in Sackville, NB on June 1, 2018.
It was an exciting win for the chorus who became the first Atlantic chapter to achieve a score of 900 since the competition began 44 years ago! Director Sue Kember reflects on the experience: “Our goal of improving our scores was met and surpassed as we earned the highest scores ever in our area. It was an incredible feeling to know that all our hard work was rewarded especially since we recently celebrated our 35th anniversary as a chorus. It is so wonderful to work with these amazing women who keep the music alive with their desire to improve and who also maintain and enjoy the special camaraderie that is the ScotianAires!”
Tonic! took home the first-place Wona Wright Memorial Award and also the Karen Gordon Memorial Award, presented to the quartet with the highest performance score. ScotianAires’ quartet enJOY! were right behind them in second place and the newest competing quartet from the chorus, Arpeggio, earned a respectable fifth place finish in their first competition.
The ScotianAires, Tonic! and enJOY! all qualified to compete against choruses and quartets from across North America at the International Convention and Contests (IC&C) to be held in Orlando, Florida in November, 2018.
Director Kember also hopes their success will help to raise the profile of women’s a cappella singing in the Halifax region. “We’re always looking to expand our membership, so if you’re a woman who loves to sing, we want to hear from you”.
For more information contact the ScotianAires at info@scotianaires.ca , visit us at scotianaires.ca or find us on Facebook and Twitter!
Aeolian Singers – Auditions for 2018-19 season
Looking for choral music opportunities with a fabulous community of women? Do you love to sing great music, love a challenge, and love to laugh? The Aeolian Singers is holding auditions for committed choristers with previous singing experience for their 2018-19 season, which begins in September.
The choir recently completed its 42nd season, the first one under the artistic direction of Nova Scotian choral conductor Heather Fraser. The Aeolians perform five to six times per year, and are accompanied by pianist Diana Torbert.
You can learn more about the choir at www.aeoliansingers.ca (go to How to join the choir). Auditions will take place in on June 11, 18, 25 (Monday nights) and June 16 and 23 (Saturdays) at the NS Choral Federation on Marginal Road in Halifax (near Pier 21).
For more information, or to schedule an audition, please contact the choir’s Assistant Conductor, Joanne Slack, at mjslack@eastlink.ca, or call (902) 473-1869 and leave a message to schedule your audition.
Eastern Horizon Concert Information!
The results are in! Join the Eastern Horizon Chamber Choir in its first performances on June 14th in Halifax and June 15th in Lunenburg to hear the premiere of three new works by composers who have been shortlisted as finalists in the Eastern Horizon Choral Writing Competition, as well as other pieces by composers from marginalized identities – individuals whose identities have long been, and continue to be, underrepresented in the choral canon.
The finalists are Julijana Hajdinjak (ON), Ryan Henwood (NS), and Marie-Claire Saindon (QC).
The Halifax performance will take place at 7pm on June 14th at First Baptist Church (1300 Oxford Street). The Lunenburg performance is on June 15th at 7:30pm at St. John’s Anglican Church (64 Townsend Street). Entry is Pay-What-You-Can (ranging from $0 to $20) at the Halifax concert, and $20 for the Lunenburg concert.
Eastern Horizon is an intensive and high-level choral ensemble led by Jack Bennet and Christina Murray within the Choirs for Change Association, a newly-registered non-profit organization based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our choirs are collectives of singers and activists seeking to support social change movements through innovative choral events.
We hope you can make it! If you have any questions, contact Choirs for Change through our Facebook page or by emailing choirsforchange@gmail.com.
Unison Festival – Halifax 2022
Unison Halifax 2022
The Unison Festival began in Edmonton in 1998, after the then artistic director of Edmonton Vocal Minority, David Garber, suggested a weekend choral festival to bring together Canadian LGBTQ choruses, who may not otherwise be able to attend the week-long GALA festivals that take place in the United States. Quickly gaining the support of the Edmonton LGBTQ community (the city’s Pride Day was even moved in order to coincide with the festival), the inaugural Canadian GALA Choruses Festival ’98 proved to be a resounding success, bringing together 15 choruses from all across Canada, eager to return for another festival. Since then the festival has been presented every four years. During the 2010 festival, the decision was made to create a formal national Unison organization, in order to develop and maintain formal guidelines regarding the hosting of futures Unison events. Unison has taken place in in Edmonton in 1998, Toronto in 2002, Vancouver in 2006, Winnipeg in 2010, Ottawa in 2014 and most recently in Calgary this past weekend. In Calgary, the Women Next Door, a Halifax based chorus, presented and won the bid to host Unison 2022 in Halifax! Partnering with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, Choirs for Change and Xara Choral Theatre Unison will take place in Halifax as The Women Next Door celebrate their 30 Anniversary. Artistic Director Willi Zwozdesky, Vancouver, is no stranger to us on the east coast and is very excited that Unison 2022 will be hosted Nova Scotia!
Thanks for the Tune ees
NSCF would like to thank the following choirs for there support of this year’s Toss-a-Tune-ee campaign. Donations this year total $1728.45 and will help support the our provincial youth choir and our National Youth Choir quartet.
Aeolian Singers
Annapolis Valley Honour Choir
Aylesford United Church Choir
Cape Breton Chorale
Coastal Voices
Dalhousie Health Professions Choir
Dartmouth Choral Society
Digby Choral Federation
Enchor East
First United Church Choir
Halifax Camerata Singers
King’s Chorale
North Mountain Chorus
Seton Canata Choir
South Shore Chorale
If you would still like to Toss-Tune-ee with your choir – it is never too late to participate.