Janet Brenneman

Senior Years

Janet Brenneman is Assistant Professor of Music at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg Manitoba, where she conducts the CMU Singers, the Chamber Choir, and the CMU Women's Chorus and teaches courses in music education and music theory. Under Janet’s direction, the CMU Choirs may be heard regularly on local radio broadcasts, in concert in the Winnipeg area and on cross-Canada tours, and on their recently released CD, On Earth as in Heaven. Janet is also a conductor for Pembina Trails Voices and at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.

 

Born and raised in Ontario, Janet holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Music Education from the University of Toronto, and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Music Education at Michigan State University. In 1995, Janet received the distinguished Sir Ernest MacMillan Award in Music for her graduate work and scholarship in music education.

CADENCE

Aaron Jensen, Kurt Sampson, Ross Lynde, Carl Berger

Vocal Jazz

 

"four men, four microphones, no instruments"

This 4 voice acapella ensemble has been making waves on the Canadian vocal scene and performed to sold out audiences at the Brandon Jazz Festival in 2006. These 4 charismatic young men are known for their energetic and engaging performances. Their debut cd is the winner of two Contemporary Acapella Recording Awards and is a Juno Award nominee. They have recently recorded their second cd and maintain a very busy touring schedule. Peter Eldridge of the New York Voices calls them "tremendous...Great arrangements and delivery, very inventive ideas: a nice new twist in acapella singing. Bravo!" Cadence performs a wide variety of music and is sure to dazzle audiences of any kind! Don't miss out on the concert of the year!!!

 

Lori-Anne Dolloff

Early Years and Middle Years

Lori Dolloff is the Coordinator of the Music Education division. She teaches undergraduate courses in elementary methods, and choral conducting. At the graduate level she teaches courses in "reflective practice", narrative research methodology, and music in higher education. Prof. Dolloff has published on teacher identity in the British journal "Research in Music Education" and the Canadian Journal of Research in Music Education. Her monograph, Das Schulwerk provides an excellent philosophical discussion of the role of the Orff approach in the artistic development of children. She is also a contributing author to the text "We Will Sing!" An Associate of the International Association for Choral Music Education, Prof. Dolloff has taught course on conducting, score study and reflective practice across the United States and in Canada, and in Great Britain and Sweden. An emerging composer/arranger, she has many choral pieces published with Boosey & Hawkes, and is frequently sought out as a guest conductor for choral festivals and workshops.

 

 

Morna Edmundson

Senior Years

 

Morna Edmundson is one of Canada's best-known choral conductors, with special interests in the areas of tone colour, language and interpretation. As a conductor, singer, and administrator, her professional music career spans some twenty years, including eight years as a professional singer in the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

 

Morna is best known for her work as co-founder and co-director of Elektra Women's Choir, with which she has received numerous honours and awards. She is Associate Artistic Director of Coastal Sound Music Academy in Coquitlam, BC, where she is Music Director of the Youth Chamber Choir. In February 1999, she co-directed the ACDA National Women's Honor Choir in Chicago.

 

Morna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia, a Diploma in Choir Pedagogy from the Stockholm Conservatory and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Western Washington University. She served as Executive Director of the World of Children's Choirs 2001 festival and symposium, which recently brought 47 children's choirs from 17 countries to Vancouver. She is currently Administrative Director of Festival Vancouver.

 

Morna has given lectures on her work at local, national and international meetings of choral professionals. In May 2000, Morna was presented with the Healey Willan award for outstanding service to the BC Choral Federation. Morna currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Federation for Choral Music.

 

 

Elroy Friesen

Senior Years

 

Elroy Friesen is Director of Choral Studies at the University of Manitoba. He directs the University Singers and Women’s Chorus and teaches conducting, graduate conducting and music education. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, researching the choral music of Finnish composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara. He has been a high school choral specialist in Manitoba where his programs included concert, chamber, and jazz choirs. His ensembles have received numerous awards for their performances in Manitoba and Canada, they have toured internationally, and they have performed with many outstanding arts organizations, including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, Kokopelli, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Soundstreams Canada and Groundswell. Mr. Friesen earned his bachelor degrees in music (B. Mus.) and education (B. Ed.) and his masters in conducting (M.Mus.) from the University of Manitoba, receiving numerous study grants and scholarships from the Manitoba Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Foundation for Choral Music in Manitoba.

 

Mr. Friesen is the founder and past artistic director of Prairie Voices, has recently held the positions of Artistic Director of the Mennonite Community Orchestra, Director of Choirs at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana, and director of the U of I University Chorus in Illinois. He is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor, and has conducted youth choirs and workshop choirs throughout Canada and the United States. Elroy and his wife Heidi are raising their family of four children, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

 

 

Marta McCarthy

Senior Years

 

Dr. Marta McCarthy is an Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph, where she conducts four choirs and teaches musicianship and pedagogy. She has taught choral techniques at University of Toronto, University of Guelph, and Wilfrid Laurier University, and directed the University of Waterloo Choir for five years. Under her leadership, the University of Guelph choirs have performed at national events such as Podium 2002, University Voices 2002, 2004, 2006, Festival 500 (2005, St. John's Newfoundland), Kathaumixw International Choral Festival (2006, Powell River, B.C.), and the Elora Festival (2006, Elora, Ontario), while also recording a CD (as a fundraising event for War Child Canada) and touring internationally. The University of Guelph Women's Choir, conducted by McCarthy, won an Honourable Mention in the finals of the 2006 CBC National Radio Choral Competition, placing third (of 78 entries from across Canada) in the contemporary music class.

 

Dr. McCarthy adjudicates numerous national and international festivals. Her workshop presentations for conductors focus on building choral tone, and on developing conducting gesture from natural motion and emotion.

 

Marta is a graduate of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, (MMus), the Royal Conservatory of Music (ARCT), and the University of Toronto (BMus, BEd, PhD), where she was awarded the 1999 Elmer Iseler Conducting Fellowship. In 2001 she was named to the June Callwood Circle of Caring, in 2002 was granted the Ontario Volunteer Service Award, and in 2005 was named a Woman of Distinction for Arts and Culture in Guelph.