Kathleen Allan is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and the Artistic Director of Canzona, Winnipeg’s professional Baroque choir. Originally from St. John’s, NL, Ms. Allan is in high demand as a conductor, composer and clinician and is equally comfortable working in early, contemporary, and symphonic repertoire. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Early Music Vancouver. In 2015, Ms. Allan made her Asian debut conducting Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Japan, and in 2016, she was the recipient of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Prize in Choral Conducting. She is a founding co-Artistic Director of Arkora, an electric vocal chamber consort dedicated to blurring lines between the music of our time and masterworks from the ancient repertoire.

Her compositions have been commissioned, performed and recorded by ensembles throughout the Americas and Europe and have been featured at two World Symposiums on Choral Music. Her collaboration with Labrador youth choir Ullugiagâtsuk was featured at the National Arts Centre celebrations for Canada 150 on July 1, 2017. Her music is published by Boosey and Hawkes, Cypress Choral Music, and is a MusicSpoke composer. Also an accomplished soprano, she has appeared as a soloist with the National Broadcast Orchestra, Berkshire Choral Festival, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In addition to freelancing regularly in Canada and the US, she has performed with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Vienna), Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Atlanta), and the Yale Schola Cantorum. She holds a degree in composition from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in conducting from Yale University.

Eleanor Daley is a highly esteemed Canadian composer renowned for her exceptional contributions to the realm of choral music. Born in 1955 in Brantford, Ontario, Daley exhibited a passion for music from an early age. She pursued her musical education at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto, studying piano, organ, and composition.

Daley's career in choral music composition began to flourish in the 1980s, with her works quickly gaining recognition for their emotive depth and lyrical beauty. She has since become known for her distinctive style, characterized by lush harmonies, expressive melodies, and meticulous attention to text setting.

Throughout her career, Daley has composed a vast and diverse repertoire of choral music, including sacred anthems, secular pieces, and larger-scale choral works. Her compositions often draw inspiration from a variety of sources, ranging from traditional hymnody to contemporary poetry, and reflect her deep understanding of vocal writing and choral performance.

Daley's music has been performed by choirs of all levels, from community ensembles to professional groups, and has been featured in festivals and concerts around the world. Her ability to capture the essence of the human experience through music has earned her widespread acclaim and numerous awards, including the Order of Canada and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.

In addition to her work as a composer, Eleanor Daley is also an accomplished conductor and educator. She has served as the director of music at several churches and schools, where she has inspired countless singers and musicians with her passion for choral music.

Today, Eleanor Daley continues to be a driving force in the world of choral music, with her compositions continuing to be performed and cherished by choirs of all ages and abilities. Her unwavering commitment to excellence and her profound musical voice have solidified her reputation as one of Canada's most beloved composers in the choral genre.

Laura Hawley is a Canadian musician known for her compelling approach to musical leadership and artistic programming, multi-faceted community engagement, distinctive compositional style, and passionate advocacy for Canadian choral art. Her music, often influenced by creative community connections and exchanges, has been described in The WholeNote as conjuring “the forces of nature and its effect on the human spirit.”

Hawley is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre. Her works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by many of Canada’s finest ensembles including Elektra Women’s Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Inuksuk Drum Dancers, Canadian Chamber Choir, Vancouver Youth Choir, Kokopelli Choirs Association, and Shallaway Youth Choir. Her setting of the French poem Au champ d’honneur is performed annually on national broadcast by the Ottawa Children’s Choir and Canadian Armed Forces Band as part of the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National War Memorial. Her piece, Alhamdoulillah, became internationally famous when it went viral on YouTube with the title “Welcome to Canada Syrian Refugees” in December 2014. In 2019, the Canadian Chamber Choir toured and recorded her multi-movement work, In Song. Laura is a 2019 recipient of the Association of Canadian Women Composers’ Roberta Stephan Award, and was Halifax Camerata’s first Composer-In-Residence (2020-2022).

While Ms. Hawley writes for many of Canada’s top performing ensembles, her unique understanding of developing musicians and sensitivity to a commissioner’s vision has established her as a widely sought composer for educational ensembles as well. Laura has written a variety of instrumental and choral works for children, youth, and developing adult musicians; works that lend themselves well to educational growth. Her works are published with Oxford University Press, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Rhythmic Trident Music Publishing, Cypress Choral Music, Silent Dawn Music Publishing, and on www.laurahawley.ca.

Laura is artistic director of Da Camera Singers (Edmonton), conductor of ChandraTala (Edmonton), founding conductor of the Diocese of Edmonton Children’s Choir, founding artistic director of Hypatia’s Voice Women’s Choir of Ottawa (2015-2019), and was collaborative pianist and singer with the Canadian Chamber Choir from 2018-2022. In 2020, she co-founded the Sonic Timelapse Project, an innovative crowdfunding initiative that commissioned ten new Canadian choral works and established an online platform of supports (videos, workshops, learning tools) for choirs during the COVID-19 pandemic; and in 2022 presented this project at the World Choral Expo EXchange! in Lisbon, Portugal.

An active clinician throughout Canada, Laura has worked with a wide variety of community-based choral and orchestral ensembles from sea to sea to sea, including CAMMAC, Music & Beyond (Ottawa), Choirs Ontario, Choir Alberta, Nova Scotia Choral Federation, Saskatchewan Choral Federation, and Choral Canada. She is a founding pianist and associate conductor of the Cantiamo Choirs of Ottawa, and was their composer-in-residence from 2003-2017. From 2007 to 2018 she was Director of Music at St. John’s South March Anglican Church, leading the adult choir and establishing a thriving parish youth choir. While living in Ontario, she was a three-time nominee for Choirs Ontario’s prestigious “Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting.”

Laura Hawley has taught composition at Concordia University of Edmonton, and has also taught at both of Ottawa’s universities as a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa in the position of Coordinator of the Solfège program at the School of Music, and at Carleton University School for Studies in Art & Culture (Music) as an Associate Performance Faculty Member (classical piano) and academic Instructor (conducting and theory). She teaches piano, theory, harmony and history in her studio.

Ms. Hawley holds an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music and completed a Bachelor of Music in piano performance and Master’s in music theory at University of Ottawa. She has studied piano with Arlene MacNay and Sandra Webster, conducting with Wayne Toews, the late Prof. Morihiro Okabe, Michael Zaugg, and Lone Larsen, composition with Stephen Gellman, Ugis Praulins, and Prof. Allan Bell, and voice with Elizabeth Turnbull. She is based in Edmonton, AB.

Lavinia Kell Parker’s use of improvisation with traditional compositional elements has garnered her the New Genre Award from the International Alliance of Women in Music, and top prizes in choral composition including from the ACCC, the New York Treble Singers, Vancouver Bach Choir, and the Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Composition Competition. Her choral works have been performed by elite choirs internationally and over the airwaves with CBC radio and PBS television. An educator of over 20 years, she has focused on bringing the joy of music to children and is the founder of Coulee Composers, a composition club for children in southern Alberta. Lavinia is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and an Instructor at the University of Lethbridge Conservatory of Music.

Kristi Lane Sinclair is an artist completely unafraid to plumb the depths of darkness in search of a glimmer of light. That’s precisely what she does on her fifth release, Super Blood Wolf Moon, an awe-inspiring 12-song collection that reflects the harrowing experiences women suffer at the hands of domestic abusers.

With grinding guitars and soaring strings accentuating the album’s roller coaster ride of emotions, Sinclair brings together all the elements that have distinguished her work to this point. But with its overall concept fuelling the explosive performances, Super Blood Wolf Moon stands on its own as Sinclair’s formal introduction to the wider world of alternative rock.

“I think, to boil it down, anger and love are the two main forces at the heart of this album,” she says. “I wanted it to be a true account of how it feels to live with domestic violence and PTSD. And it’s not only about what I’ve been through, but also what I’ve learned from women I’ve encountered in many areas of my life.”

Super Blood Wolf Moon was recorded during sessions at Jukasa Studios in Ohsweken, Ontario and Arc Studios in Hannon, Ontario, overseen by producer Terra Lightfoot, herself a Juno-nominated singer/songwriter and guitarist. Her sonic vision pulls everything into sharp focus and heightens the drama at the just the right moments, aided by a band that includes some of Canada’s top female musicians: drummer Dani Nash, bassist Anna Ruddick, keyboardist/guitarist Robin Hatch and string players Praise Lam and Blanche Israel. The concept of having women both in front and behind the board was fully realized by the work of engineer Jill Zimmerman, with mastering engineered by Grammy winner Emily Lazar.

Lightfoot had been awaiting an opportunity to work with Sinclair since they first crossed paths at the Dawson City Music Festival in 2015. When she heard the songs Sinclair had prepared for Super Blood Wolf Moon, Lightfoot immediately signed on to the project. Lightfoot says, “I believe this album will be transcendent and set an example for all young women in the music industry. It’s a true statement celebrating women, and how we are healing together.”

As a Haida/Cree artist, that healing takes on extra dimensions Sinclair has channelled into her writing. A prime example is the album’s first single “Break,” which features a vocal part by Kelly Fraser, an acclaimed Inuk pop star who was tragically lost too soon. She and Sinclair shared many circumstances all too real to the Indigenous community, which adds to the power of “Break,” sadly just a taste of what the two could have done together. Sinclair’s rage is only surpassed on the song “End Of The Rope,” a truly chilling moment that fully lives up to its title.

Still, the danceable groove on “Heartbites” and cinematic sweep of “Trust” offer a wider view of Sinclair’s range, taking Super Blood Wolf Moon into dark Britpop territory she hasn’t ventured into before. Until now, her sound has evolved from an equal love of classical and hard music—“classical grunge” as she likes to call it—all driven by an admiration for strong female voices such as Cat Power and Kim Gordon. Sinclair’s previous release, the five-song EP The Ability To Judge Distance, lived up to those aims in the way she maintained full control over the project, while providing clear hints that she was ready to take things to the next level.

Sinclair has achieved that with Super Blood Wolf Moon, an album that tears off society’s veneer to expose a long suppressed collective consciousness, just as the best rock and roll songwriters have always done.

Born: 1940. Died: 2012.

Diane Loomer, C.M., is founder and conductor of Chor Leoni Men's Choir and co-founder and co-conductor of Elektra Women's Choir; she has taught on the music faculty at the University of British Columbia. Both her men's and women's choirs have repeatedly won first prizes in national and international competitions. Her choral compositions have been published and recorded internationally, and she frequently appears on CBC national radio as a spokesperson for the classical arts.

The first woman to conduct the National Youth Choir of Canada, Diane received the Healey Willan award in 1990 for her service to choral music in British Columbia; in 1994, she was named YWCA of Vancouver's Woman of Distinction in Arts and Culture; and in 1997 and 2004 received Distinguished Alumni Awards honouring her achievements in choral music. In 2002 she received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for her significant contribution to Canada's culture.

Diane has conducted several ACDA State Honour Choirs and has conducted Provincial Youth Choirs and Honour Choirs in every province in Canada. In 2003, Diane was appointed by the University of Victoria to the University Women's Scholar Lecture Series and in 2005 was appointed Conductor Emeritus to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. With the help of her husband, Dick, she has established Cypress Choral Music as a thriving source of new Canadian choral music and an encouragement to Canadian choral composers. In recognition of her achievements in and service to music and humanity throughout Canada, Diane was honoured to be appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999.

From: Singers.com

Ramona Luengen is a Canadian composer recognized for her outstanding contributions to the world of choral music. Born in 1952 in Saskatchewan, Canada, Luengen's passion for music emerged at an early age. She pursued her musical education at the University of Saskatchewan and later at the University of British Columbia, where she focused on composition and choral conducting.

Luengen's career in choral music composition began to flourish in the 1980s, with her works quickly gaining attention for their rich harmonies, evocative melodies, and innovative use of texture. She has since become known for her distinctive style, which blends elements of classical tradition with contemporary techniques to create music that is both timeless and fresh.

Throughout her career, Luengen has composed a diverse repertoire of choral music, ranging from intimate sacred anthems to larger-scale choral symphonies. Her compositions often draw inspiration from a variety of sources, including poetry, literature, and the natural world, and reflect her deep understanding of vocal writing and choral performance.

Luengen's music has been performed by choirs of all levels, from community ensembles to professional groups, and has been featured in festivals and concerts around the world. Her ability to capture the essence of the human experience through music has earned her widespread acclaim and numerous awards, including the prestigious National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition.

In addition to her work as a composer, Ramona Luengen is also an accomplished conductor and educator. She has served as the director of several choirs and has taught composition and choral conducting at various institutions.

Today, Ramona Luengen continues to be a leading figure in the world of choral music, with her compositions continuing to be performed and celebrated by choirs worldwide. Her unwavering dedication to her craft and her profound musical voice have solidified her reputation as one of Canada's most respected composers in the choral genre.

Canadian composer and conductor Stephanie Martin is associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design. She directs Schola Magdalena, a women’s ensemble for chant, medieval and modern music. She is conductor emeritus of Pax Christi Chorale, and past director of music at the historic church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto.

Martin’s newest oratorio WATER: an environmental oratorio premièred in Kitchener-Waterloo’s Centre in the Square in 2023 (Mark Vuorinen, conductor). Other works include an oratorio, The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak (2019), an opera Llandovery Castle (2018), about nurses who lost their lives in WW1 aboard their Canadian hospital ship, a Requiem mass Requiem for All Souls (2017) premiered in San Diego (Ruben Valenzuela, conductor) and Missa Chicagoensis (2017) premiered at St. John Cantius parish in Chicago (Fr Scott Haynes, conductor). Her choral symphony Babel (2016) premièred at Wilfrid Laurier University (Lee Willingham, conductor), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the WLU Faculty of Music.

Martin’s choral music is published by Cypress Music in Vancouver, and Renforth Music in New Brunswick, and Selah Publishing in Pittsburg. The Canadian Music Centre in Toronto holds several scores, including instrumental chamber music and solo song.

Commissions include works for Voces Capituli, Antwerp; the Canadian Men’s Chorus; Toronto Diocesan Choir School for Girls; the Winnipeg Organ Festival; Richard Eaton Singers of Edmonton; Saskatoon Chamber Singers; Winnipeg Singers; Halifax Camerata; Elora Singers, Kitchener-Waterloo Grand Philharmonic, and choirs in California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia. Pax Christi Chorale’s CD Winter Nights includes the cantata of the same name, along with a choral work commissioned by Ex Cathedra, Birmingham, UK. Victoria B.C’s Christ Church Cathedral commissioned The Legend of the Bird (2012), The Rock Dove (2014) and Alpha and Omega (2015) and The Souls of the Saints (2019). Martin’s string quartet From a distant island received its third performance by Skyros String Quartet, June 2014.

Artistic Director of Pax Christi Chorale from 1996 to 2017, Martin conducted many memorable oratorios, and commissioned several new Canadian compositions. Performance highlights include Elgar’s The Kingdom (2012), Dream of Gerontius (2001) and The Music Makers (2007); Britten’s Saint Nicolas; a semi-staged Bach’s Saint John Passion, Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio; Mozart’s Requiem; Handel’s Solomon, Messiah and Israel in Egypt; Brahms’ German Requiem; Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Saint Paul; Poulenc’s Gloria; and Vaughan Williams’ Hodie and Dona Nobis Pacem; and the North American premiere of C.H.H. Parry’s JUDITH at Koerner Hall(2015). A unique performance of Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ (2016) incorporated dancers from the York University Dance Ensemble, and notably, she conducted the Canadian premiere of Elgar’s The Apostles (2017).

An accomplished composer of works for both voices and instruments, Martin’s awards include the York University AMPD research award (2019), the Exultate Chamber Singers’ competition (2009), and the Association of Anglican Musicians competition (2010). She became an associate of the Canadian Music Centre in 2011, and was composer in residence for the Barrie Music Festival (2012). She accompanied Mosaic choir as resident composer on their tour to Israel (2019).

Producing in the booth, or performing for the mics, Stephanie has recorded with many ensembles on the Naxos, Marquis and Dorian labels, as well as several self-produced recordings on her ‘SJM’ label. Her love of historically informed performance was fostered over 15 years of activity with Arbor Oak Trio, who performed hundreds of chamber music concerts and several fully staged dramatic works, including Arne’s rarely heard Love in a Village, Locke’s Cupid and Death and Gay’s Beggar’s Opera.

Martin holds degrees from the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. In York University’s School of Arts,Media,Performance and Design she teaches music history, composition, harpsichord and organ, and coaches historical ensembles.

The late Jocelyn Morlock (1969–2023) was one of Canada’s leading composers, who wrote compelling music that has been recorded extensively and receives numerous performances and broadcasts throughout North America and Europe. Born in Winnipeg, she studied piano at Brandon University, and later earned a master’s degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, where she was recently an instructor and lecturer of composition. The inaugural composer-in-residence for Vancouver’s Music on Main Society (2012–14), she took on the same role for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2019.

Jocelyn had close ties with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, who in 2015, commissioned My Name is Amanda Todd, a powerful work about the teen from Port Coquitlam, BC, who took her own life due to cyberbullying. It subsequently won the 2018 JUNO Award for Classical Composition for the Year.

“With its shimmering sheets of harmonics” (Georgia Straight) and an approach that is “deftly idiomatic” (Vancouver Sun), Morlock’s music has received numerous national and international accolades, including Top 10 at the 2002 International Rostrum of Composers, the Mayor’s Arts Award for Music in Vancouver (2016) and the JUNO award for Classical Composition of the Year (My Name Is Amanda Todd, 2018).

Most of Morlock’s compositions are for small ensembles, many of them for unusual combinations like piano and percussion (Quoi?), cello and vibraphone (Shade), bassoon and harp (Nightsong), and an ensemble consisting of clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, violin and double bass (Velcro Lizards). Cobalt, a concerto for two violins and orchestra, was her first commission for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in 2009. Her first full-length CD, also titled Cobalt, was released on the Centrediscs label in 2014.

From: National Arts Centre, June, 2023

Canadian composer and educator Sarah Quartel is known for her fresh and exciting approach to choral music. Deeply inspired by the life-changing relationships that can occur while making choral music, Sarah writes in a way that connects singer to singer, ensemble to conductor, and performer to audience. Her works are performed by choirs across the world, and she has been commissioned by groups including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Children's Chorus of the United States of America, and New Dublin Voices. Since 2018 she has been exclusively published by Oxford University Press, and she continues to work as a clinician and conductor at music education and choral events at home and abroad.

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‘Sarah Quartel is a brilliant composer and clinician who sees the world, and singers themselves, more deeply than most. Her pieces have become many of our choir's favourites, perhaps because her music is a reflection of herself, emitting an energy that draws people in. In just a few minutes with our choristers, Sarah had every eye shining with a new sparkle.’

Zimfira Poloz, Artistic Director Hamilton Children’s Choir

Ruth (Louise) Watson Henderson (b Watson, m Henderson). Pianist, composer, teacher, b Toronto 23 Nov 1932; ARCT 1949, LRCT 1951, hon FRCCO (2003). Ruth Watson Henderson was the recipient of many scholarships and awards while studying piano 1937-45 with Viggo Kihl and 1945-52 with Alberto Guerrero at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (Royal Conservatory of Music). She continued her studies 1952-4 with Hans Neumann in New York on scholarship from the Mannes College of Music. Her composition teachers included Oscar Morawetz, Richard Johnston, and Samuel Dolin. After her professional debut in Toronto in 1952 she was active as a concert pianist appearing frequently as soloist with Canadian orchestras and regularly on CBC radio. In 1956 she won the grand prize of the CBC's Opportunity Knocks. She taught and was an organist-choirmaster 1957-61 in Winnipeg and 1962-8 in Kitchener, Ont, returning thereafter to Toronto.

Her Compositions

Henderson began composing while accompanist of the Festival Singers 1968-79 and since then has been a prolific composer, writing more than 80 pieces for the choral repertory alone. Her harmonies often draw from modal or impressionistic influences and her rhythms closely follow the text she is setting. Many of her compositions continue to be popular in Canada and around the world, where she is often requested to accompany or adjudicate at festivals and competitions. Best known as a composer of choral music, Henderson has also written for organ, piano, string orchestra, and for winds, brass and percussion. Her Chromatic Partita for Organ was a prizewinner at the International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim, Germany, in 1989.

She has received commissions from the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (Through the Eyes of Children), the Guelph Spring Festival (The Ballad of St George), the Oriana Singers (Toronto) (Songs of the Nativity), the Toronto Children's Chorus (The Last Straw, featuring tenor Ben Heppner), the Amadeus Choir of Scarborough (Voices of the Earth), and the Elora Festival (Five Ontario Folk Songs), among others. Henderson's more recent commissions include works for the 25th anniversary of the Contemporary Showcase in 1995; the 2002 national convention of the American Guild of Organists (Darkness to Light); the Mount Royal Kantorei (Magnificat); and Chorus Niagara's 40th anniversary in 2003 (Voice of Niagara). Upcoming commissions include a work for the Bach Elgar Choir of Hamilton, combined with the Hamilton Children's Chorus.

Association with Toronto Children's Chorus

Ruth Watson Henderson became the accompanist for the Toronto Children's Chorus when it was founded in 1978, and since then has created many compositions designed for performance by young people. Clear Sky and Thunder, a music-drama about Inuit children, was premiered by the Toronto Children's chorus in 1984. Since then, the Toronto Children's Chorus has been a main performer of their accompanist's output.

Broadcasts and Recordings

Much of Watson Henderson's music has been published and has been performed internationally. Her pieces are also featured as title tracks on many recordings, including My Heart Soars and Ye Makers of Song, both released by the Toronto Children's Chorus; The Last Straw, released by the Amabile Boys Choir; and When Music Sounds, recorded by the Oriana Singers. A concert of Henderson's works, performed in celebration of her 70th birthday by the Elmer Iseler Singers, was released by CBC in 2004, under the title Sing We Joyful.

Awards; Activities After 2000

In addition to performing as a pianist and composing, Ruth Watson Henderson is active as a church organist and a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Henderson has received many awards including the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition in 1992, for Voices of Earth, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Ontario Choral Federation in 1996. Beginning in 2002, Choirs Ontario has held the Ruth Watson Henderson choral composition competition. This biennial competition judges new choral works, alternating between pieces for treble choir and full adult voice choir. In 2003, Watson was presented with an honorary Fellowship in the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She is a member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers, the Canadian League of Composers, and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre. She is music director for Kingsway Lambton United Church in Toronto and still serves as accompanist to the Toronto Children's Chorus.

From: The Canadian Encyclopedia, Dec., 2013