Friday, October 25 – Sunday, October 27, 2019
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Friday and Saturday) & Wellington Secondary School (Sunday)

THE ART OF CHORAL CONDUCTING – ON & OFF THE PODIUM

Join the BCCF for a three day intensive Choral Directorship course for conductors and music teachers of all choirs and all levels! Download the schedule here.

• Vocal Technique for both the young and matured voice.
• Introduction to the Alexander principles for conductors and their singers.
• Conducting Technique : Group conducting sessions and one-on-one consultations
• Introduction to the Laban Movement Theory for Choral Conductors
• Opportunity to sign up for a masterclass!
• Leadership, Repertoire, Score preparation and so much more!

Registration

CLICK HERE to register online. We accept Visa, MasterCard and PayPal using our secure site.

Fees
Registration includes GST & BCCF membership

• Early Bird registration (up to October 1)  $397 total  ($340 + $17 GST + $40 membership)
• October registration (up to October 15)  $428.50 total  ($370 + $18.50 GST + $40 membership)
• Registration after October 15 (subject to available space) adds a $50 late fee

Late registrations may be accepted on the basis of available spaces, but a late fee of $50 is payable on any registration after October 15, 2019. Fees are payable in full at time of registration. Cancellations before October 1 will be accepted and fees (less an administrative fee of $50) will be refunded; cancellations after that will only be accepted on medical grounds. A receipt will be issued for tax purposes.

Extras
Note: masterclasses and coaching sessions are offered on a first come, first serve basis. We reserve the right to refund this add-on if we are at capacity.

• Masterclass sessions (only 6 available)  $52.50 total  ($50 + $2.50 GST)

If sending a cheque, please make payable to:

BC Choral Federation
PO Box 4397, Terminal Main
Vancouver, BC
V6B 3Z8

Financial Assistance

Is cost a factor for you? Thanks to a generous sponsor, scholarships for tuition and bursaries for travel expense may be available to BC registrants. Scholarships for tuition cost may also be available for out-of-province participants. All requests are considered individually.

For more information about financial assistance, contact the BCCF Project Manager. A form is also available here. We recommend that applicants apply as soon as possible to their school, choir, or other potential sources of funding for help.

Clinicians

SARONA MYNHARDT

Sarona has one goal in life, and that is to truly make a difference in the lives of the singers she works with. She firmly believes that through Music one does not only have the opportunity to teach music literacy and musicianship skills, but those life skills and qualities that are universally important. Those of love, compassion, humanity, respect, passion and joy! Born and raised in South Africa, Sarona is a graduate of the Teachers’ Training College in Pretoria where she majored in Math, Languages, Psychology and Remedial Education, and specialized in Classroom Music, Voice, Choral Conducting and Drama. Her formal voice training culminated in postgraduate work at the Conservatory of Music at North-West University in Potchefstroom.

​Her early singing career included memberships in children’s and youth choirs, as well as completion of theory and practical exams in voice, piano and clarinet through the University of South Africa Conservatory. This later extended to solo recitals, and lead roles in Musicals and Operettas. Following ten successful years of teaching Music and conducting Choirs at Elementary and Secondary School levels, as well as directing Musicals and plays, Sarona immigrated to Canada with her husband and two children.

In 1997 she founded the White Rock Children’s Choir, which had Choirs at several levels under her artistic direction for 20 years. The Choir participated regularly in International Festivals and traveled as far as Calgary, California, Montreal, Italy, Hawaii, Mexico, South Africa and England, and she conducted them in prestigious venues including Canterbury Cathedral, St Peter’s in Rome, the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, Notre Dame Basilica Montreal, and St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town where the Choir performed for Archbishop Desmond Tutu. One of the highlights for Sarona and her Choir was the invitation by Mr. Henry Leck to perform in Carnegie Hall as part of a Children’s Festival Chorus under his direction in April 2014. Over the past 10 years Sarona organized two Children’s Choir Festivals celebrating diversity and World Music, and also founded and conducted the Cantrix Women’s ensemble.

​Sarona has taught in both the public and private school systems here in Canada, where she directed both Elementary and High School Choirs and Musicals. She was on the board for the BC Choral Federation for five years, and has been a guest conductor for several honour Choirs. She regularly serves as Adjudicator at Music Festivals & Clinician for Conductor and Choral workshops, and has taught Vocal, Choral and Leadership workshops on several trips to both Taiwan and South Africa. She has been on the faculty for the BCCF Choral Conducting Course since 2006, and in 2015 received the Willan award for outstanding service to the BC Choral Federation.

Sarona has participated in and completed level three of Creating Artistry – Conducting workshops and Master Classes with Henry Leck and Vocal Training with Steven Rickards at Butler University in Indianapolis. Together with Henry Leck she co-conduced a North American Choir with members from the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and the White Rock Children’s Choir on a 14 day Concert Tour of South Africa in 2008.

Sarona is a certified Instructor training for SongShine – a program designed around the science of neuroplasticity that provides music based vocal therapy for people whose voices are affected by Parkinson’s, stroke, neurological disorders, and aging.

She recently moved to Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast, where she founded the INSPIRITO VOCAL ENSEMBLE, teach voice, and lead SongShine classes.

SANDRA MEISTER

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 UNBC.

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 Federations’ 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 July of 2018, Sandra retired from being a School Principal in Coquitlam, British Columbia. In August of 2018, Sandra joined the artistic team of the British Columbia Girls Choir where she and colleague Fiona Blackburn have quickly established themselves as collaborative leaders and have provided mentorship to many choral educators.
Nothing brings Sandra greater joy than doing what she loves most; sharing the choral art.