Conductor | Composer
My areas of interest include community engagement in the choral arts, social history of (Western) choral singing, and contemporary choral composition. I regularly give workshops/clinics/adjudication for singers of all ages and conductors/teachers alike on a variety of topics related to choral repertoire and pedagogy. As a practising church musician, I also take an active interest in living composers writing sacred choral music. I would love to hear from you if you’re interested in any of this work.
Research / Interest Sessions
“Community Choral Soundscapes: Building Bridges through Collaborative Choral Music Creation.” Co-presented with Katerina Gimon. Invited interest session for PODIUM 2024, May 2024 (Montreal, QC).
“Exploring Sonic Lifeworlds: Collaborative Composition in the Large Choral Ensemble.” With jashen edwards. Invited presentation for Sound, Music, Education Symposium, University of Guelph, October 2023.
“Community and the Oratorio Society: Rethinking histories, lineages, practices.” Invited interest session for PODIUM 2022, May 2022 (Toronto, ON).
“Composing ‘Community:’ Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields in Philadelphia, PA.” Invited poster presentation for National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference, Jan 2022 (Atlanta, GA).
“Contemporary choral composition as musical social practice.” Invited paper presentation at SIMM-posium 6: The social and cultural commitment of the musician, Nov 2021 (Paris, France).
“Social Practice Composition in the Choral Arts: Reena Esmail’s Take What You Need in Skid Row, Los Angeles.” Invited paper presentation at Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities National Conference, Oct 2020 (online).
“IPA for All: Teaching the International Phonetic Alphabet through Choral Warmups.” Invited interest session at American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conference, March 2020 (Rochester NY).
General Interest Talks
“The Oratorio: Where we’ve come from and where we’re going.” Presentation for University of Toronto undergraduate oratorio class, October 2022.
“From Score to Stage: Preparing a Renaissance Mass for Contemporary Performance.” Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School, August 2021.
“Composing ‘Community:’ Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields in Philadelphia, PA.”
A general interest presentation about my research I have presented for numerous choirs and community groups
“Warming up with Lyric Diction.”
An interactive version of my interest session on I.P.A. and choral warmups that I have presented for high school singers and educators.
Writing
“Exploring Sonic Lifeworlds: Collaborative Composition with Large Choral Ensembles.” Curriculum resource, co-authored with jashen edwards. For Canadian New Music Network Participatory Creative Music Hub. See the complete resource here.
“Wisdom of the Crowd: David Lang on Finding Community in his Participatory Choral Works.” Choral Journal (Aug 2022).
Review of “Focus: Choral Music in Global Perspective” by André de Quadros, The Choral Scholar (2021).
Dissertation: “Composing ‘Community:’ Social practice composition and the performance of community in choral works by Reena Esmail, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang.” University of Illinois, 2021.
Recent Adjudication
Walkerton Rotary Music Festival (2025)
Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincial Finals, School Choirs (2024)
Choirs Ontario Ruth Watson Henderson Composition Competition, jury (2024)
London Kiwanis Music Festival, community choirs classes (2022, 2021)