Our Adult Bursary and Professional Development Assistance deadlines are fast approaching. Please have applications in by June 15, 2017. If you have any questions please contact us or visit the website and go to FUNDING. The next deadline will be January 15, 2018.
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
The 2017-18 choral season, which begins at the end of August under the leadership of new Artistic Director, Heather Fraser.
Heather has an exciting season planned for the Aeolians, and you can learn more about the choir at www.aeoliansingers.ca (go to How to join the choir). Auditions will take place in June in Wolfville, Halifax and Dartmouth as follows:
• Saturday, June 10 at Acadia University, Denton Hall from 2:30 – 5:00 p.m.
• Monday, June 12 at Grace United Church in downtown Dartmouth from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
• Monday, June 19 at the NS Choral Federation office, Marginal Road, Halifax from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
• Saturday, June 24 at the NS Choral Federation office, Marginal Road, Halifax, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. if required.
For more information, or to schedule an audition, please contact the choir’s Assistant Conductor, Joanne Slack, at mjslack@eastlink.ca
Join us for more Sing Summer Opportunities for conductors and singers lead by Guest Conductor John William Trotter
Sing Summer Improvisation Workshop
Sing summer Conducting Workshop
Sing Summer Conducting Apprenticeship
Registrations are now open!
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.
Congratulations to the Gorsebook Junior High Choir for winning gold at Kiwanis Music Festival!
The Gorsebrook Junior High Choir is conducted by Zoe Leger and is made possible through the Perform NS Program.
Performance on Wednesday, June 28 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Sydney Mines.
With guests Coro Cantabile.
Tickets are $20 at the door.
Performance on Friday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m. at Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax.
Free will offering at door.
HRSB Choir, the Cantatrice Ensemble received Gold at Musicfest Canada, a National Music Competition in Niagara Falls Ontario. The choir, part of Dartmouth All-City Music, is conducted by Karen Newhook-MacDonald and accompanied by Pamela Burton, music teachers with the HRSB.
