The Montreal Choral Institute is proud to offer its first annual composers’ workshop. This event is designed to enable early-career Canadian composers to hear their piece(s) or sketch of a piece to be workshopped live with Voces Boreales‘ professional vocal Octet , led by the MCI’s artistic director Andrew Gray. This event is designed to give composers the rare opportunity to experiment with textures, vocal production and techniques, blending or contrasting of sounds, rhythms, dynamics etc. whilst developing a particular piece or their individual style and sound. Only a cappella pieces that can be performed by an SSAATTBB group can be considered.

Four composers, who will be selected from the submissions received, will be invited to attend the workshop session – either in person (if within reach of Montreal) or via videoconferencing.

To learn more about the Montreal Choral Institute and Voces Boreales visit their website at www.vocesboreales.org

Submitted works or sketches of pieces in development should:

• not have been performed before
• be up to 5 minutes in length
• be written for a cappella mixed voices (up to 8 part SSAATTBB)
• be typeset and in pdf form

The Montreal Choral Institute welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds of age, gender, ethnicity, and ability.

The deadline for submission is Sunday 9 May 2021

To submit please email scores to info@institutchoraldemontreal.ca
Please include your name (unless you wish to remain anonymous), a contact email address, and your piece and/or sketch.

The Nova Scotia Talent Trust (NSTT) is seeking a Development Officer, Major Gifts Fundraising, enthusiastic about the arts and keen to help the NSTT grow over the next couple of years.

The pandemic has shown us even more how important the arts are for our well-being and health. The NSTT was fortunate to support 66 pre-professional artists in 2020. The new Development Officer Fundraising will help us ensure that this support can continue far into the future.

This is a part-time contract position. Application deadline is May 5, 2021.

Detailed information about the job offering can be found at our website nstalenttrust.ns.ca or at this PDF file.

On March 26th, Choral Canada, in partnership with Canadian Music Educators Association, Coalition for Music Education, and Kodály Society of Canada, launched the Singing in Canadian Schools COVID-19 Impact Survey (https://bit.ly/31mTMAk) to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the teaching of singing in K-12 school music education in Canada from the perspective of music educators.

We know the burden of teaching through a pandemic and advocating for your students is a heavy load to bear. We aim to provide survey results that will help you in your advocacy efforts from here forward. Until then, we need you to complete the survey and encourage others to do the same.

Data speaks. We need a high level of engagement from our Canadian music education community to present clear data in our findings.  The survey should be completed by K-12 school music educators who teach general music using singing, choral ensembles/group singing, or singing related courses. Singing is a core component of the music curriculum across Canada, as well as a tool for instruction and musical expression and discovery. The perspectives of Canadian music educators who use singing as a core component of their music programs are particularly important to capture during this unprecedented time. This survey will help ensure teacher voices are heard and will provide valuable tools for advocacy as music educators look to the future of their programs.

Click HERE (https://bit.ly/31mTMAk) to complete the survey now. Please complete by Friday, April 9.

Recently, NSCF Programs Coordinator and Polaris Conductor Ryan Henwood was interviewed by 2020 Social Connectedness Fellow Sarah Roberts on the adjustment of choir during COVID-19 and Choir For Change’s unique use of choir as a means for positive social change. Sarah  is active within the Nova Scotian arts community and sings weekly with Polaris, one choir within the Choirs for Change organization.

To read the full interview, click here.

Yesterday, NSCF Executive Director Tim Callahan-Cross  and Nova Scotia Mass Choir Treasurer Tamar Pryor Brown joined Bob Murphy on CBC Maritime Noon.  Joined by choristers throughout the Atlantic provinces,  the panel discussed the  experience of the choral community since the outbreak of COVID-19.

To listen to the full interview, visit CBC Maritime Noon’s webpage, by clicking here.