Dear BCCF members:
In the face of the escalating uncertainty and restrictions imposed on us all by the current pandemic, the BCCF is announcing with deep regret the cancellation of BCCF CHORFEST 2020, BC YOUTH CHOIR 2020 and CHILDREN’S CHORFEST 2020 originally scheduled for May 29-31 in Fort Langley and Abbotsford. This most regrettable cancellation is unprecedented — a move for unprecedented times. Heartfelt thanks are extended to our host committee from the Langley Community Chorus and Valley Festival Singers. The committee’s wonderful “Be The River” theme to have been realized in superior Fraser Valley venues deserves to be revisited in the future! Thanks, too, to clinicians Julia Davids, Jim Sparks, and Sandra Meister and to our cohorts who worked on the musical and organizational aspects of these programs. Your work will be put on ice for a future date, as well.
Individuals who have already registered may receive a refund of registration fees, concert and meal tickets. Charitable tax receipts for all or part of your costs, alternatively, will be issued to those registrants who choose to make a donation instead. Please note that BCCF individual membership fees of $40, which are used to sustain the organization, are non-refundable. Thank you for your continued involvement and commitment to the BC Choral Federation and to the choral art. Our administrator and registrar will be in contact in the coming days. Separate notices about the Annual General Meeting and BCCF Raffle will also follow soon.
Looking forward, please mark your calendars for BCCF CHORFEST 2021 in Ashcroft, May 21-23, 2021. We look forward to singing together again!
Willi Zwozdesky
Executive Director – BC Choral Federation
We are thrilled to welcome you to BCCF Chorfest 2020, our flagship event, coming this year to the Fraser Valley, May 29-31. Our Adult Chorfest Choir will be led by Dr. Julia Davids – artistic director of the Juno-nominated Canadian Chamber Choir and Director of Choral Activities at North Park University in Chicago.
The BCCF Chorfest theme for 2020 is Be the River. As Canadians we are very influenced by our natural surroundings, especially our many bodies of water. Rivers and lakes are especially evocative – from a gentle, still, meandering stream to a fast-moving, vast, wide body of water such as the mighty Fraser River, rivers and lakes have inspired countless composers. At the heart of the Chorfest program are two works for chorus and orchestra. Canadian composer Stephanie Martin’s “Be The River” and American composer Gwyneth Walker’s “The Water is Wide” from “River Songs”. Canadian composers Laura Hawley’s “The River” for choir and bassoon, viola, and vibraphone and Laura Sgroi’s “The Lake” are complementary works that highlight the various ways water move, setting moving poems with supple melodies and changing tempi. Finally, we’ll combine all of the choirs for Carol-Ann Weaver’s joyful “Dancing, Dancing River”. I’m excited to get to work on these great pieces by all-female composers with the many singers who are coming together to Be the River! – Julia Davids
Get ready for BCCF Chorfest 2020 “Be The River” — co-hosted by Langley Community Chorus and Valley Festival Singers! Venues include the Fort Langley Golf Course (rehearsals and banquet) and Abbotsford Pentecostal Assembly (gala concert). We will even be joined by a 24-piece professional orchestra!
REGISTRATION
This year we will be offering three choirs. Please click on them to learn more.
Adult Choir (Non-auditioned)
Conducted by Julia Davids
BC Youth Choir (Auditioned)
Conducted by Jim Sparks
Children’s Choir (Non-auditioned)
Conducted by Sandra Meister
ACCOMMODATIONS
Registrants should make their own arrangements for accommodations. The BCCF has secured a special Star Plus rate for Chorfest participants at four Sandman Hotels properties:
Sandman Hotel Langley
8855 202 Street, Langley
Sandman Signature Hotel Langley
8828 201 Street, Langley
Sandman Hotel Abbotsford
32720 Simon Avenue, Abbotsford
Sandman Abbotsford Airport Hotel
3010 Mt Lehman Road, Abbotsford
Dr. Julia Davids – Adult Choir Clinician
Dr. Julia Davids is the Artistic Director of the Canadian Chamber Choir, Canada’s professional level ensemble dedicated to building communities through choral singing. A founding member of the CCC, Julia has led the ensemble on concert and workshop tours of every province. She directed the CCC’s 2010 debut recording In Good Company as well as their Juno-nominated 2015 release Sacred Reflections – A Canadian Mass. Julia has led workshops and master classes for choirs and conductors throughout Canada and the US. She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of choral conductors and is committed to giving emerging and established Canadian composers a forum for their work. A native of London, Ontario, she grew up singing in the Amabile Youth Singers, the Ontario Youth Choir, and the National Youth Choir, for whom she was the first Apprentice Conductor.
Julia is the Stephen J. Hendrickson Professor and Director of Choral Activities at North Park University, Chicago. She directs the University Choir, the Chamber Singers, and teaches choral conducting and music education. Julia is co-author with Stephen LaTour of “Vocal Technique – A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers” published by Waveland Press in 2012 and winner of Choral Canada’s 2014 award for Best Choral Publication. Julia is the Music Director of the North Shore Choral Society, a 130 voice amateur community choir. She also serves as Director of Music Ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette. Julia earned a Bachelor of Music in Education and a Bachelor of Education at the University of Western Ontario, Master of Music degrees in Conducting and Voice Performance at Michigan University, and a Doctor of Music in Choral Conducting at Northwestern University.
Dr. James Sparks – BC Youth Choir Clinician
Jim Sparks is a conductor, and teacher from Vancouver, Canada. His recent positions include interim Director of Choral Activities at Boston University, adjunct Professor of Conducting at the University of British Columbia School of Music, and Lecturer in Music Education at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. He is senior advisor for choral music for Music Mentors International and former teacher of vocal, choral, and ensemble music at the renowned Langley Fine Arts School (LFAS) in Langley, British Columbia for two decades. Jim has been chorus director for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Ryan’s Requiem for a Generation, and William Walton’s Henry the Fifth with the Vancouver Symphony and Maestro Bramwell Tovey. His recent choral season at Boston University featured performances of Verdi’s La Traviata, Poulenc’s Gloria, Holst’s Planets at Boston Symphony Hall, and a collaborative residency with renowned Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. Jim is the recipient of the Professional Music Educator Award from the British Columbia Music Educators Association and the Healey Willan Award from the BC Choral Federation. For his research into Cross-Cultural singing, he received the Simon Fraser University President’s PhD Award in 2014.
In his roles as researcher, conductor, and educator, Jim connects active research with music learning, performance, and conducting. With support from the Canada Council, the Canadian Music Educators Association, the AIRS collaborative initiative, and Simon Fraser University, he has been a guest conductor and researcher in singing with four renowned international conductors: Alina Orraca in Havana, Cuba (Schola Cantorum Coralina); Joseph Muyale Inzai in Nairobi, Kenya (National Boys and Girls Choir of Kenya); Anatoliy Avdievski in Kiev, Ukraine (Veriovka Choir); and Helle Høyer in Aarhus, Denmark (Aarhus Pigakor Choir).
In addition, Jim has taught choral and orchestral conducting at the undergraduate and graduate level to students in Canada, the United States, and Brazil. He has enjoyed conducting residencies in Sobral, Brazil; Charente-Maritime, France; and Havana, Cuba, and has given presentations on his singing research in Canada, Kenya, Denmark, Estonia, France, and Brazil. He is on the panel of international adjudicators for the International Choral Kathaumixw in Canada, and continues to be in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, guest conductor, and music consultant throughout Canada and abroad.
Sandra Meister – Children’s Choir Clinician
For more than three decades, Sandra Meister has been a leader in music education in British Columbia.
During her twenty years as director of Die Meistersinger Children’s Choir, Sandra and the choristers served as musical ambassadors at festivals and conferences in North America and Europe. A highlight of the Meistersinger years was singing for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in honour of the opening of the University of Northern British Columbia.
Sandra’s work has been acknowledged with many awards including the Governor General’s Medal for outstanding service to arts and culture in Canada, the British Columbia Music Educators Association Professional Educator Award, and the British Columbia Choral Federation’s Willan Award.
Sandra has enjoyed providing choral leadership in many communities in North America and abroad (Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and China) as a guest conductor, facilitator, and adjudicator.
Sandra has served as music teacher, district curriculum co-ordinator and principal in fourteen schools in three school districts. In June of 2018, Sandra retired from being a School Principal in Coquitlam and is now devoting her life to doing what she loves most – sharing the choral art.