By NSCFMGR e-notes • Front Page • Member Blog • Professional Development 0 Comments

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!

By choir Member Blog 0 Comments

ScotianAires and Tonic! repeat champions in Atlantic competition

ScotianAires and quartet Tonic! both successfully defended their 2016 championship placing at Harmony Inc.’s 2017 Area 1 (Atlantic) Convention and Contests for women’s barbershop singing , held in Sackville, NB on June 1-3.

The ScotianAires received the highest score of the six competing choruses in the chorus contest with their ballad “What’ll I Do?” and a lively medley of “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”. Following very closely in second place were the Sea Belles of Saint John, NB whose energetic and entertaining presentation of “Joint is Jumpin’” earned the best performance score of the evening. The five top placing choruses also qualified to compete in Harmony Inc.’s International Competition to be held this year in Halifax in early November, 2017.

Tonic!, which is made up of four ScotianAire members – Marion Fraser-Pritchard, Cathy Hunter, Adele Merritt and Mary Gareau – competed with seven other quartets and turned out to be a triple threat! Tonic! took home the first-place Wona Wright Memorial Award, the Karen Gordon Memorial Award, which went to the quartet with the highest performance score, and the Kathryn Ryan Memorial Trophy for the most improved quartet.

Tonic! will be joined by two other new quartets, Gotta Sing!!! from the Elm City Echoes and enJOY! from the ScotianAires and the Valley Voices as qualifiers from the Atlantic Region at the international competition.

ScotianAires director Sue Kember was excited and honoured to retain the championship and was also pleased that the chorus improved on last year’s score. “With all of Area 1 working harder to improve, I am thrilled with how the ScotianAires performed under the pressure of the contest stage” Kember related. “The coaching and hard work certainly paid off, but it is also the heart of every member wanting to sing her very best and perform the best she can. It is extremely gratifying.”

Participants commented very favourably on the overall experience. “What a weekend!” exclaimed one of ScotianAires newest members Tanya Reid. “I’ve made so many memories, learned so much, made stronger bonds, and laughed and cheered so hard. I love this craft!”

Director Kember also hopes the success of Tonic!, enJOY! and the ScotianAires 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.”

By NSCFMGR Front Page • Member Blog 0 Comments

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.

By NSCFMGR e-notes • Front Page • Member Blog 0 Comments

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

 

By NSCFMGR e-notes • Member Blog • Singers Wanted 0 Comments

Aeolian Singers – Audition Now

Heather Fraser, New Artistic Director

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

By NSCFMGR e-notes • Front Page • Member Blog 0 Comments

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.