Skip to main content.

Every spring, the ACF holds non-competitive choral festivals in Edmonton (Choralfest North and Choralfest Jazz) and Calgary (Choralfest South). Choirs participate in both an adjudicated performance and an individual workshop session with recognized clinicians from across North America.

The ACF encourages the participation of all levels and abilities of choirs. In the evaluation and workshop, the emphasis is placed on the continued encouragement, education and development of the individual choir.

Details for participant choirs.

Choralfest North 2010| 4-6 March 2010
McDougall United Church, Edmonton
EVALUATORS • Bruce Pullan (Vancouver, BC), Dr. Bruce Browne (Meridian, ID), Nancy Kidd (Waterloo, ON)

Choralfest South 2010 | 17-20 March 2010
Knox United Church, Calgary
EVALUATORS • Kellie Walsh (St. John's, NL), Dr. Debra Cairns (Edmonton, AB), Dr. George Evelyn (Lethbridge, AB)

Choralfest Jazz 2010 | 1-2 March 2010
MacEwan Alberta College Campus, Edmonton
EVALUATOR • Heather Bambrick

EVALUATOR BIOGRAPHIES

Choralfest North


Dr. Bruce Browne has spent much of his career in the Northwest, where he is Professor Emeritus of Music at Portland State University, and served as Artistic  Director of the Portland Symphonic Choir. He also founded, and for 13 years directed Portland’s first professional choir, Choral Cross-Ties. He is a co-founder of Male Ensemble Northwest.

Browne is a former President of the Northwest Division of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). In 2000, he was named by the National Association for Music Education as one of the outstanding music educators in higher education.

Browne has been awarded sabbaticals to teach in Guadalajara and in London, and has been Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa and, in Fall of 2008, at Oklahoma State University. He has been jurist, clinician or guest conductor in virtually every region of the country, and in Germany, Spain, Estonia, England and Mexico. He has served on panels for the National Endowment of the Arts.

Choirs under Browne’s direction have appeared by invitation and blind audition at five National ACDA Conventions and four National ACDA conventions, to standing ovations. Dr.  Browne  has  been guest conductor for the Edmonton, Canada Pro Coro, and the Phoenix  Bach Choir. He has recorded on the labels of Freshwater, Albany and Koch. November, 2007 marked the national release of the first CD in English of the cycles of Veljo Tormis, now out on Clarion Records. This was recorded by the PSU Chamber Choir in 2005.

Bruce Browne was awarded emeritus professor status at Portland State University in 2006.  He has been active as guest conductor and clinician most recently in San Jose, Portland, Univeristy of Puget Sound, Wingate University, Oregon and University of Nebraska in Omaha. This year (’09-’10) will find him as clinician and guest conductor at Arizona State University, University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Central Washington University among others.  In the Summer of 2010, Browne will be guest headliner for the Nebraska ACDA State Convention, and later will join the staff for the Challis, Idaho, Choral Institute.

 

Nancy Kidd has been a music educator with the Waterloo Public Board for 31 years. Recently retired, she was head of music for 19 years at Bluevale Collegiate Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. She conducted a concert choir of 200 voices, a chamber choir of 72 voices and a Jazz Choir of 22 voices. She has taught music at every grade level and has mentored students and teachers in her community and throughout the province. She was also a Music Consultant with the Waterloo Board for 3 years where she assisted in writing and implementing music curriculum.

Nancy received her Honours Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto and has studied Kodaly Pedagogy at the University of Calgary.

 Nancy Kidd is a respected clinician and adjudicator in the fields of music education and the adolescent male changing voice.She has also been the recipient of numerous awards including the Toronto Sun Top 10 teachers in Ontario Award and the K.W Arts Awards – Mentor Category.Nancy is pleased to be currently conducting the University of Waterloo Choir and the Schneider Male Chorus.   

 

Bruce Pullan was born in England where he was a Choral Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge and New College, Oxford.  After several years of singing, teaching and conducting in London, he moved to North America.

In 1983 he was appointed Music Director of the Vancouver Bach Choir and has conducted the major choral repertoire with this and other choral groups with both the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra.  In 1984 he founded the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorus which now has  9 choirs and over 300 choristers aged 5-25

He has been involved with many projects ranging from national and international tours with both the adult and children’s Bach Choirs, giving Master Classes for the Cleveland, U.S.A, Orchestra Chorus, twice being the Guest Conductor / Clinician for the Kanto Plains Choral Festival in Tokyo, conducting massed Canadian Choirs at Carnegie Hall in New York and has been the principal Conductor and Guest Speaker at the annual conference of the British Choral Directors.  He is a frequent teacher / clinician for the Eton Choral Courses held each summer at Eton College.

 In 2009 Mr. Pullan retired from the position of Head of Choral Activities at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he directed the University Singers, the Choral Union and the Chamber Choirs which are run by the Graduate students who participate in the Graduate programme leading  to the M.Mus  degree in Choral Conducting.

In November of 2008 the Governor General appointed him to the Order of Canada.

 

Choralfest South

Born and raised in London, Ontario, Dr Debra Cairns is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She is a Full Professor in the Department of Music at the University of Alberta where she co-ordinates and co-supervises the graduate program in choral conducting, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, choral literature, and diction, and until 2008 directed the University of Alberta Concert Choir.  Both the Concert Choir and i Coristi Chamber Choir have been heard on regional and national broadcasts of the CBC and have been regular national semi-finalists in the national CBC Radio Amateur Choir Competition;  i Coristi is honoured to have been 2nd-Prize winners (Chamber Choir category) in both the 2006 and 2008 competitions.  i Coristi was also warmly acclaimed in an international tour and competition in Wales during July 2009.

A recipient of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Prize in Conducting (awarded by the Canada Council), Debra Cairns has had articles on the music of the Renaissance composer, Palestrina, published in the Choral Journal and Anacrusis, and has had an edition of Palestrina's Missa Ave Regina Coelorum published by Carus-Verlag of Stuttgart, Germany.  In demand both nationally and internationally as a workshop and conference presenter, guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator, her current area of research interest is the relationship of gesture to sound. 

Dr Cairns serves on many committees both at the University of Alberta and nationally, and in 2002 was nominated for the Syncrude Canada Award for Innovative Artistic Direction in recognition of her work with i Coristi Chamber Choir.  She is currently President of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (founded as the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors).

 

George Evelyn holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University as well as the MM and DMA degrees from the University of North Texas. Dr. Evelyn taught at several universities in the US prior to immigration to Canada in 1973. Evelyn taught at Mt. Allison University (Sackville, NB) and the University of Lethbridge. He became a Canadian Citizen in 1992.

George Evelyn is an internationally recognized bass-baritone and highly sought after choral conductor.  He is the founder of the University of Lethbridge Singers and has been very active in promoting choral music in Alberta and across Canada.  In 1997 the Alberta Choral Federation presented Evelyn with a "Con Spirito Award" for promotion of choral music in the local community.  In the fall of 2000, he was awarded the prestigious Richard S. Eaton Award by the Alberta Choral Federation in recognition of his outstanding service to choral music in the Province of Alberta. Dr. Evelyn was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 for service to Community and Country. Evelyn was a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and had the privilege of performing under Mr. Shaw in Carnegie Hall.

Evelyn continues to perform with numerous Canadian and American symphony orchestras.  Recently with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast which was heard on NPR radio in the USA and with the Lethbridge Symphony in Haydn’s Creation.  He has been heard in recital and oratorio performances in Canada, United Kingdom, Austria, and the United States, as well as broadcasts on CBC Radio and Television.

Evelyn retired from the University of Lethbridge in June of 2008 after 26 years of teaching.  Since retirement Dr. Evelyn has returned as an active adjudicator in BC (Provincial Festival), Saskatchewan (Provincial Music Festival) as well several festivals in Alberta.

 

A proud native of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Kellie Walsh is the Founder and Artistic Director of Lady Cove Women's Choir, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Newman Sound Men's Choir, and the Associate Conductor and Successor of Shallaway: Newfoundland and Labrador Youth in Chorus. She also currently conducts the senior chamber choir, junior high choir, and the multi-award winning treble choir at St. Bonaventure's College, as well as the senior choir of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist.

Lady Cove Women's Choir is a two-time winner of the CBC Radio's National Competition for Amateur Choirs, and this past summer won first place in the prestigious international choir competition, the Béla Bartók Contemporary Choir Competition, in Debrecen, Hungary. Newman Sound has won the CBC Galaxy Rising Star Award, and has also been a finalist in the CBC Radio's National Competition for Amateur Choirs.

Both choirs have busy performance seasons and are very active in commissioning new works, as well as performing and commissioning arrangements of the folk music of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Kellie also enjoys a busy schedule as a workshop clinician and adjudicator. Last summer she was guest conductor for the Nova Scotia Youth Choir summer program, and this past February conducted the first-ever Pan Labrador Youth Choir as part of Festival 500 Labrador. Kellie has worked with such internationally-acclaimed conductors as Maria Guinand of Venezuela, Sir David Willcocks and Alan Hazeldine of London, England, Jon Washburn of Vancouver, Pinchas Zukerman of the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, and Helmuth Rilling of Germany.

She holds Bachelor degrees in both Music and Music Education from Memorial University, in addition to a Master's degree in conducting, having studied with Dr. Douglas Dunsmore, Dr. Donald Buell, and Maestro Marc David. Kellie serves as a sessional instructor for choral music and music education for Memorial University's School of Music.

Most recently, Kellie was named Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council's Emerging Artist for 2008, for her contribution to arts and culture in our province, particularly the choral sector.

Choralfest Jazz

Heather Bambrick, winner of the 2004 National Jazz Award for Vocalist of the Year, is in demand as a performer, educator, and broadcaster.  She has performed with international Jazz artists, including Phil Nimmons, Kenny Wheeler, Guido Basso, Darmon Meader, Peter Appleyard, John Lamb, and Rob McConnell.

Heather has recorded with numerous acts, including the Royal Jelly Orchestra, Carol Welsman, the Caliban Quartet, and The Beehive Singers.  Her own debut CD It’s About Time (2003) was nominated for Best Jazz Recording at the 2004 East Coast Music Awards and is enjoying international praise and radio airplay.  Her follow-up recording Those Were The Days is has also been nominated for Best Jazz Recording at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards.  She and theatre great Rudy Webb are featured guests on a new release featuring the music of Irving Berlin and award winning actor, musician, and songwriter Irving Dobbs.

On stage, Heather is a consummate entertainer, performing for standing room only crowds at venues across Canada and in the US and bringing audiences to their feet at some of the country’s most prestigious music festivals.  Her live shows are a combination of timeless songs, brilliant musicianship, and Heather’s unique sense of humour – all adding up to pure entertainment.

Heather’s voice has been heard throughout North America on radio and television commercials, as well as on film and television soundtracks.  Since 2001, Heather has firmly entrenched herself in the world of broadcasting, hosting the highly popular “Sunday Afternoon Jazz”, on Canada’s only all-Jazz radio station, Jazz FM91.  Heather was honoured with Broadcaster of the Year awards at both the 2005 and 2007 National Jazz Awards.

The native Newfoundlander is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, and is currently on faculty both at U of T and Humber College.  When not in the classroom, Heather is busy as a clinician and adjudicator at music festivals across Canada.

Visit Heather on line at:  www.heatherbambrick.com

GENERAL INFORMATION