We are celebrating 40 years of helping children and teens find their voices, and we’d love to have all past choristers, directors & board members join the celebration by participating in our 40th Anniversary Concert in June!
 
For more information contact: [email protected]
www.elkislandchoirs.ca

Join us for our Spring Choral workshop on April 6, 2024 from 12-4 pm with special guest clinician, Dr. Joy Berg.

Glory Lutheran Church
22577 AB-16
Sherwood Park, AB  T8A 4T7

No singing experience required; just bring a bottle of water and your voice! For more information, go to www.festivalsingers.ca.

This year is the tenth anniversary of the Great 2013 flood.  It devastated Calgary particularly, Elbow Park, Bowness, and Roxboro.  It also wiped out neighbouring communities including Siksika.  It was an experience that no one can ever forget.  It was a time when neighbor helped neighbor, and we saw the best in each other.   
 
Christ Church Elbow Park was on the shores of the flood, and provided food, a place to clean up, and a place to find solace.  To reflect on the flood, Christ Church Elbow Park through the generosity of two members of its community, commissioned Paul Halley “a Grammy award-winning Canadian composer” to write something that would reflect the best of the flood experiences.  He used the oral histories collected by the communities and called the composition “Hope Rising.”     
 
The world debut will be June 11 at 10:30 at Christ Church Elbow Park.  When asked what would describe the piece, the Choir Director, Margaret Newman, after thoughtful reflection, said “grand cathedral music.”   
 
The commemoration of the flood came out of a desire to collect Elbow Park and Siksika memories of that year which were still strong after a decade.  A booklet of oral histories collected from first responders and those who were impacted is also being published through a grant from the City of Calgary.  It offers the recollections of two communities: Siksika and Elbow Park.  What it showed more than anything was the strength of community and neighborliness. During the summer the same grant from the City of Calgary will also see an Indigenous Blackfoot traditional commemoration of the flood at both Christ Church and on the reserve.  There will also be a small exhibit of photographs collected from the various communities.  There is not cost to any of the performances. 
 
Keep your calendars open June 11 at 10:30 for the world premiere of “Hope Rising” at Christ Church Elbow Park.  And watch for the drumming commemoration in Siksika and at Christ Church this summer.   
 
Contact:  Frits Pannekoek, 403-620-35465 [email protected] or Margaret Newman at  403-243-6506 (h) or 403-607-5973 (c).
 
We are grateful for funding from Treaty Seven Community Futures, the City of Calgary, and Young Canada Works for making these events possible.   

We are thrilled to announce the date of HarbourVOICES! - an international collective singing festival taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. ​This festival will be unique in the world of choral festivals as it will focus on celebrating diversity and inclusion through the sharing of and developing an understanding of varied musical traditions and cultures. At the same time, we will highlight the musical culture and singing traditions of our own beautiful home - Newfoundland and Labrador.
 
This festival will be jam-packed with exciting and innovative collaborative sessions, workshops, exchanges, concerts, combined choir performances, and so much more! We aim to expand the horizon of choral festivals by infusing your Newfoundland and Labrador experience with cultural and musical exchanges from around the world. Outstanding international and Canadian singing groups will be featured during our afternoon concerts and evening highlight concerts.

www.harbourvoices.ca 

This August, we are holding our third choral conducting workshop for beginning, emerging and established conductors. This unique conducting workshop will include group conducting lessons with piano and Dr. Timothy Shantz, Alexander Technique lessons online with Dr. Timothy Pyper and daily opportunities to conduct members of Luminous Voices in rehearsal and performance. The week is intensive with three sessions per day and provides opportunities to refine rehearsal & conducting technique through interactions with singers and Artistic Director, Timothy Shantz. The choir will be made up of 10-12 singers from Luminous Voices. The workshop will culminate in a final performance directed by participants. The repertoire features several new works by Canadian composers, other select contemporary composers as well as classics of the choral repertoire.
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Deadline to register is Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Register here.

Chronos Vocal Ensemble's Composition Competition is now accepting entries.
Deadline is May 26, 2023. Prize $1500, entry fee $25.  

Winning competition entries are represented on several Chronos recordings, and have been performed at Podium and ACDA conferences.
This competition is open to diverse entries, aligned with the Western classical canon or from outside that tradition, including works which explore aleatoric and indeterminate elements, or use graphic notation. Submissions should be suited to the strengths and limitations of our ensemble as evidenced in our recordings and history of performance. 
Prizes for this competition have been provided by an anonymous donor, whose generous support is greatly appreciated.
Entries are evaluated anonymously by a jury of Canadian choral professionals, assisted by Chronos Vocal Ensemble’s Artistic Director.
Full entry guidelines and the entry form can be found on our website.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or if you need any additional information.
All eligible entries must be complete with an entry form.

MORE THAN 380 SINGERS TUNE-UP FOR CALGARY’S INAUGURAL IMMERSIVE FESTIVAL OF CHORAL MUSIC

Tickets for the Gala Concerts are ON SALE NOW!
Hundreds of choral singers from across Canada are preparing to attend Calgary’s first-ever immersive festival of choral music, Kantorei Choral Festival, from April 12th – 16th, 2023, in the prestigious Bella Concert Hall. 

Tickets to the Gala Concerts, featuring choirs singing individually and en masse, are selling quickly and can be purchased at tickets.mru.ca

The festival will be attended by multi-award-winning composers Jake Runestad and Joshua Rist who will be taking choral groups through their paces and helping them to hone their unique craft. 
Choirs will perform the world premieres of Runestad’s Ritual and Rist’s I Will Walk You Home. Calgary hip-hop artist KTheChosen will also perform on Joshua Rist's Witness.
Choral groups attending the festival represent a diverse range of voices and include: Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval, the largest choral organization in Quebec, Cantares Latin Choir, Ventus Women’s Choir, Calgary Men’s Chorus, Concino Choir, Youth Singers of Calgary, Western Canada High School, Spiritus Chamber Choir and Mount Royal Kantorei.
Mount Royal Kantorei is the flagship chorus of Mount Royal University’s Conservatory, helmed by musician, conductor, and educator John Morgan. He said:
“With a growing number of active choral groups and thousands of choral singers, Calgary has one of the most vibrant choral music communities in Canada. So, it is fitting that the city should have its own choral music festival. Choral music provides a medium through which we can communicate so much with so many, which is one of the many reasons it is one of the fastest growing music genres in the world. We are excited to bring Calgary’s choral energy to the stage and hope the audiences are ready to be blown away.” 
Kantorei Choral Festival is supported by Calgary Arts Development, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Calgary Foundation, Mount Royal University Conservatory, and the Taylor Centre for Performing Arts. 

Find out more at www.kantoreichoralfestival.ca
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Applicants must:  

• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. 
• Be studying music, specializing in Choral Music and Music Education. 
• Be enrolled in third year of study or beyond of an undergraduate degree or studying at the Graduate level. 
• Be attending University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge, Ambrose University, MacEwan University, Concordia University of Edmonton or The King’s University. 
• Demonstrate a choral background, passion for teaching, music education for youth and leadership in choral conducting. 

 
There is one scholarship valued at $1,000, applied directly to tuition. The deadline to apply is May 15 at midnight. Eligible applicants are encouraged to access award information directly at: https://calgaryfoundation.org/student-awards/undergraduate-students/ 
 
To access the Student Awards Online Portal, select ‘Apply Now’ under the award listing on the awards webpage. If there are any questions, please contact [email protected].