an outstanding choral opportunity for young singers
The Alberta Youth Choir provides an opportunity for high-school aged singers from across the province to pursue excellence in choral music under the direction of an internationally renowned conductor. Training and leadership opportunities also exist for a quartet of university-aged singers who will act as section leaders, and for an Apprentice Conductor who will work directly with the Guest Conductor in preparing the choir for performance. Conductors and teachers from across the province are encouraged to recommend their best singers to participate in this choir.
28-31 October 2009 | Camp Evergreen & Red Deer
For singers in grades 10-12
Maria Guinand (Caracas, Venezuela) , guest conductor
REGIONAL REHEARSALS will be held around the provice on Saturday, 24 October 2009. All singers must attend their regional rehearsal.
The choir will be featured in concert as part of Music Conference Alberta.
31 October 2009, 3:00 p.m. | First Christian Reformed Church, Red Deer (MAP)
TICKETS $10
Want to be an AYC Section Leader? We're looking for four university undegraduate and/or graduate students to assist with AYC section. Information here!
Click the links below to hear exceprts of past AYC performances
AYC 2008 | Adam Con, conductor • Desh by Ethan Sperry
AYC 2008 | Adam Con, conductor • Poputnaya Pesnia by Mikhail Glinka, arr. Vadim Prokhorov
AYC 2008 | Adam Con, conductor • Vela! Asambeni Siyekhaya! by Andre van der Merwe
AYC 2007 | Stephen Hatfield, conductor • Salish Song by Derek Healy
AYC 2007 | Stephen Hatfield, conductor • I Am the Great Sun by Jussi Chydenius
AYC 2006 | Juan Tony Guzman, conductor • Dos Indios Krau arr. Marcos Leite
AYC 2006 | Juan Tony Guzman, conductor • Alma Caribe by Juan Tony Guzman
CONDUCTOR BIOGRAPHY
María Guinand, choral conductor, university professor and leader of many choral projects both nationally and internationally, has developed an intense musical career.
At present, she conducts two prestigious choirs in Venezuela: the Cantoría Alberto Grau and the Schola Cantorumde Venezuela with whom she has recorded and toured extensively. As a conductor ofthe National Symphonic Choir of Venezuela she has collaborated closely with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Youth Orhcestra since 1980, preparing the choirs for many conductors such as Rattle, Abbado, Rilling, Mata, Alcantara, Grau, Abreu, Penderecki, amongst others. As conductor of the Polar Foundation Choir she has actively contributed to the development of choral music in private enterprises.
During the European Music Festival organized by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in September 2000, she premiered Osvaldo Golijov's St. Mark’ s Passion as a special project for the Bach year. This perfomance received glowing press reviews and its recording by Haenssler Verlag was nominated for the Grammy prize in 2002. In 2007 she recordedthis Passion with Deutsche Gramophon. In 2006 she prepared the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela for the premiere of John Adams´ Opera A Flowering Tree during the Festival "New Crowned Hope" in Vienna. She has been the conductor of the Festivalensemble Choir during the European Music Festival from 2001to 2004.
She is currently editor of the "Musica de Latinoamerica" collection at Earthsongs Publishing.In 1997 she was awarded the 'Kulturpreis' of the InterNationes Foundation and in 2000 the Robert Edler Preis für Chormusik.
As a choral promoter, she organizes the activities of several National Associations such as Schola Cantorum of Venezuela Foundation, Movimiento Coral Cantemos Foundation, Bach Academy of Venezuela and the National Academy forGregorian Chant. She also contributes to the permanent development of centres forchoral musicfor children and youth of low economic status in Venezuela. She was Vice-President for Latinamerica of the International Federation for Choral Music (1996-2008) and is a Professor in the Music Master Degree program at the University Simón Bolívar (Caracas) where she served as Dean for four years.
Frequently invited as guest conductor in North and South America,Europeand Asia,and as a lecturer in the World Symposia for Choral Music and the Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Ms. Guinand has specialized in Latinamerican Choral Music of the XXthad XXIst centuries.
During 2009 she will be conducting Golijov’s ‘St. Mark’s Passion’ in the Canary Islands, pariticpating with the Cantoria Alberto Grau in the ACDA National Convention in Oklahoma, USA, and conducting the National Choir of Spain and the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela in the Mostly Mozart Festival, in New York.
She graduated from Bristol University (England) and studiedchoral conducting with Alberto Grau. She further her conducting and musical education with Helmuth Rilling, Luigi Agustoni and Johannes B. Goeschl. She served as Dean of the Music School "Jose Angel Lamas" and of the Conservatory of Music "Simón Bolívar", the main academic programme of the Foundation for Youth and Children Orchestras in Venezuela, and also as member of the Executive Committee of the International Music Council of UNESCO.
REPERTOIRE HISTORY :
2009 Alberta Youth Choir
Guest Conductor: Maria Guinand
Apprentice Conductor: Maria Conkey
Accompanist: Dr. Roger Admiral
Vocal Coach: none
2008 Alberta Youth Choir
Guest Conductor: Dr. Adam Con
Apprentice Conductor: Elaine Myhre
Accompanist: Dr. Roger Admiral
Vocal Coach: none
Exultate Deo | Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Schirmer)
Frohlocket Ihr Volker Auf Erden | Felix Mendelssohn
Desh | Ethan Sperry (earthsongs)
Paradise Song of Georgian Bay | Eleanor Daley (Rhythmic Trident Music)
Bach (Again) Come Sweet Death | J.S. Bach, arr. Edwin Londan & Rhonda Sandberg (Colla Voce)
Poputnaya Pesnia (Travelling Song) | Mikhail Glinka (Schirmer)
Vela! Asambeni Siyekhaya! | Andre van der Merwe (earthsongs)