Executive Committee

BARBARA SOLES, PRESIDENT
Barbara Soles joined her first choir when she was 8 years old at the Mount Royal Conservatory. Barbara grew up singing in choirs, and has competed internationally as a chorister and soloist. At the age of 10 she made her operatic debut in Hansel and Gretel as a gingerbread cookie, and has been typecast ever since.
While studying Vocal Performance at Western University, Barbara determined a full-time performance career wasn’t for her, and she pursued a career in the private sector. After her role as an Office Manager in the Energy Sector, she landed her current role, on the Administrative team at Calgary Phil. She has been an Arts Administrator and Singer for most of her life. She firmly believes that singing in choir brings out one’s best self!
​Barbara currently sings in the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, and in her in-law’s living room, whenever possible.
LINDA CALLAGHAN, SECRETARY
Bio coming soon.
NICOLE HOUNJET, VP PROJECTS & PROGRAMS
Nicole Hounjet has been a music educator with the CBE and FSD for the past 20 years.   During her teaching career she has built, developed, and grown programs based on community, culture, and artistry.  Nicole also conducts with the Westwinds Music Society - an organisation focused on adult music education.  Nicole previously served on the Choir Alberta Board as the Vice President of Programs and Projects for Choir Alberta, committed to helping facilitate vibrant and enriching programs for singers and conductors at every age and stage. She is pleased to return to that role in the hopes of continuing to  support the choral community of Alberta.  Nicole completed her music degree at the University of Alberta and her education degree at the University of Calgary.  Since her time at the U of A, Ms Hounjet has continued to develop herself as a musician and artist by studying with choral leaders including James Jordan, James Whitbourn, Gregory Boers, Richard Nace, and Rodney Eichenberger. As an educator and conductor, Ms Hounjet empowers her musicians to fully engage in music by building a community of mutual trust, respect and empathy within the ensemble. Nicole is a past recipient of Choir Alberta's Con Spirito Award.
BOB SERRANO, VP MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Bob has been involved with choral music for the past five decades, having performed with various church, community, and university-based choirs in the Philippines since 1975. Despite not having any formal music education, he conducted his first choir in a national choral competition, garnering first place at the NAMCYA mixed choir division at age 21. He sang with the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus 1981 World Tour, led a multi-awarded professional 8-man pop-jazz acapella group for 17 years while composing more than 100 jingles for radio and television, as well as composing for gospel and secular musicals on the side. Shortly after moving his family to Canada, Bob joined the Spiritus Chamber Choir, where he has been singing for the past 21 years. Presently, he works as a Creative Advisor for a tier-1 multinational project delivery company, producing high-gloss executive summaries, presentations, videos and various customer-facing marketing collaterals in the Business Development space for the past 18 years. Gleaning from this experience, he co-authored a book entitled ‘The Eloquent Engineer—a technical professional's guide to creating and delivering compelling presentations for even the most non-technical audiences.
​JOHN WIEBE, VP DEVELOPMENT
Dr. JOHN WIEBE is an award-winning conductor, pianist, educator, adjudicator and clinician based in Edmonton, Alberta, where he is the Director of Music and Choral Activities at the University of Alberta-Augustana campus, and for 21 years was the Artistic & Executive Director of the Edmonton Youth & Children’s Choirs. John has studied at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Alberta, with Frieder Bernius from Stuttgart, Germany, and in Vienna, Austria. Choirs under his dynamic leadership have recorded many CD’s, performed coast-to-coast across Canada and around the world (Europe, Russia, South America and China), and have received awards for their performances locally, nationally and at the Langollen Music Festival and the World Choir Games. John is a regular clinician and adjudicator across the country, is a Past-President of Choral Canada and likes to keep in shape for his music schedule by travelling with his family, running, and playing hockey.
​JULIE FREEDMAN SMITH, PAST PRESIDENT
Julie Freedman Smith has been involved in teaching for the past 28 years. Her experience as an Elementary/Jr. High music teacher, a choral conductor with the Calgary Boys Choir, a voice instructor and a choral clinician has resulted in extensive opportunities to work with children and adults in both individual and group environments. A founding member of Luminous Voices and a regular addition to VoiceScapes, Julie continues to feed her love of performance. Since 2002, she has encouraged parents across the country as co-founder of Parenting Power. Julie holds B.Sc. Biology and a B.A. Psychology with Distinction from the University of Calgary. ​

Directors

LYNDSEY OLSEN
Lyndsey has been fortunate to have spent most of her life singing in choirs and studying choral music, and has found the greatest joy in sharing this love for the choral music experience with young singers. For the last 20 years, Lyndsey has worked with singers in kindergarten through post-secondary, mainly in her positions with Edmonton Young Voices and Edmonton Catholic Schools, and also as a voice instructor, adjudicator, and conductor of other children’s choirs in Edmonton and surrounding areas. She is currently the Artistic Director of EYV, the director of ECSD’s All-City High School Choir, the director of the Archbishop MacDonald High School Choir, and the founding director of MACappella. She holds a Bachelor of Education with a focus in Choral Music from the University of Alberta and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from California State University Los Angeles. Lyndsey is a mom of three and enjoys bike rides, slow snowboarding on wide open runs, and cooking and eating with her family.
PARROTTA, KATHRYN
Kathryn is the Choral Director for the JUNIOR HI and SENIOR HI divisions, co-producer of SHINE, and Principal Choral Director for the Youth Singers of Calgary. As the composer-in residence, she is also a clinician and arranger for all divisions. Outside of Youth Singers, Kathryn directs the 90-member UCalgary Chorus at the University of Calgary and the Campus Choir. During the Pandemic, Kathryn was the founder of the Calgary Physician Choir- a virtual choir of 65 women physicians, giving them an artistic outlet during a difficult time, which still operates today. She is also a sought-after vocal and choral clinician and adjudicator throughout Alberta and a featured composer at Canada’s PODIUM choral conference. As a composer, her works are being performed internationally and she has been commissioned dozens of works for choirs around the country, many of which can be found published by Alliance publications and Cypress Music Publishing. Many more self-published works can be found at www.kathrynparrottamusic.com. Kathryn holds a degree in voice performance from the University of Calgary as well as a Master of Music degree in Music Education, specializing in Choral Conducting. Kathryn was recently awarded the “Con Spirito Award” from Choir Alberta in recognition of her spirit, dedication, and outstanding commitment to choral music.
INTERESTED IN JOINING THE CHOIR ALBERTA BOARD?
​Our volunteer Board is made up of musicians and non-musicians dedicated to supporting choirs and choral practitioners across Alberta. The broad range of skills and perspectives represented on the Board contribute to the effective planning and delivery of the organization's diverse offerings.

Email us to inquire | Board Expectations | Nomination Form