Sing Summer Guest Conductors 2023

Heather Fraser maintains an active career as a choral conductor, music educator and collaborative pianist in Nova Scotia.  A dynamic music educator, she is the Artistic Director of The Annapolis Valley Honour Choirs, The Aeolian Singers, and a music specialist in the Halifax Regional Centre for Education.

Heather is an active clinician and has adjudicated for festivals across Canada. Believing strongly in the power of choral music to build community, Heather sits on program committees for Nova Scotia Choral Federation, the Executive of the Nova Scotia Music Education Council, and is VP of Advocacy for Choral Canada. This role has kept her busy during the pandemic, advocating for equitable treatment of singing communities across the country, arranging educational opportunities and discussions, and finding ways to keep singers connected from coast to coast to coast. She initiated the National “Singing in Canadian Schools Covid Impact Survey” – the data from which produced a clear picture of how singing was decimated in the last school year across Canada and was influential in the reinstatement of these programs. She is also a core member of the working group of singing leaders in Nova Scotia that advocated for and achieved the return of singing in our province’s schools.

An Apprentice Conductor of the 2010 National Youth Choir of Canada, Heather has studied at Westminster Choir College Summer Institute with Charles Bruffy and was 2015 Conducting Fellow with the Canadian Chamber Choir. She was the first conductor of Pro Coro Canada’s Emerging Artist program, (Edmonton) and spent a professional development sabbatical year studying conducting and pedagogy with conductors and choirs across Canada and the USA. She holds a B.Music in Piano Performance from Acadia University and a B. Music Ed. from McGill. 

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Frances Farrell pursued her music studies in Winnipeg, graduating with both Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Manitoba. She subsequently earned a Master’s Degree and Artist’s Diploma in Vocal Performance from McGill University. Frances recently graduated with her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Toronto. Currently, Fran is based in Halifax where she works as a high school music educator with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. Fran also directs a community choir called the Dartmouth Choral Society as well as two senior high choirs (Soundtrax and Jazz Voices) as part of the Halifax Regional Arts Program. As a choral composer, Fran’s works can be found on the Cypress Choral Music website. As a choral clinician, Fran has been invited to work in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan (March 2023) and Alberta, and looks forward to working with the keen choral enthusiasts coming to NSCF’s Youth Choir Camp this summer!

Kellie Walsh is the founder and Artistic Director of the internationally award-winning Lady Cove Women’s Choir, the Artistic Director of the internationally celebrated, Shallaway Youth Choir, co-founder and Artistic Director Emeritus of Newman Sound Men’s Choir, and, most recently, co-founder of the Inuit Youth Choir Ullûgiagatsuk from Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Kellie is also the Past President of Canada’s national choral organization, Choral Canada.

An active guest conductor, speaker, collaborator and innovator, Kellie’s work has brought her across Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. Kellie’s true passion is more profoundly understood by the use of choral music as a medium to unite people and cultures, transcending geography and societal, political and economic circumstances. From deep and proud roots in Newfoundland and Labrador, she has become known in Canada and internationally for embracing the medium of choral singing as an opportunity to explore leadership potential, sociocultural identity building, reciprocal respectful cultural collaborations, and the transformative impact of choral singing and sharing