BCCF World Chorfest 2018: Meet the Clinicians
Get to know your BCCF Chorfest 2018 Clinicians!
We’re excited; you’re excited; they’re excited. But do any of us really know each other yet? Not particularly. That’s why the BCCF Communications team came up with five fun questions to break the ice and help you get acquainted with the people at the podium, May 11-13 in Richmond!
Brian Tate
Award-winning composer, educator and conductor of City Soul Choir, and our Chorfest 2018 Adult Choir clinician.
Q: When was the moment you knew you wanted to be a conductor?
A: In high school, when I first played with the Vancouver Youth Orchestra as a trombonist.
Q: What is your favourite post-concert meal?
A: Hmm, usually more of a snack – beer and chips kind of thing. Or wine and cheese if I am feeling sophisticated.
Q: What is your ‘bucket list’ piece to conduct, and with which ensemble?
A: A fully-staged Mozart Requiem, using the entire space – balcony, aisles, front and back, blocking and lighting, etc. Which ensemble for real? So many – oh, let’s say the Tallis Scholars.
Q: If you could sing under any conductor, who would it be?
A: John Eliot Gardner
Q: What is your musical guilty pleasure outside of the choral genre?
A: Classic R&B, Motown: Stevie Wonder, Aretha, Funkadelic, etc.
Allison Girvan
Nelson-based singer, educator, conductor of Solstice and Corazon, and our BC Youth Choir (BCYC) 2018 clinician.
Q: When was the moment you knew you wanted to be a conductor?
A: There was no moment but rather a gradual realization that conducting was not about control but instead about shaping a shared experience and that, as a “conductor” one is afforded the privilege and joy to be the centre point in a communication between performer and audience.
Q: What is your favourite post-concert meal?
A: A burger and fries!! Or anything, really. I am always super hungry after a concert…
Q: What is your ‘bucket list’ piece to conduct, and with which ensemble?
A: With so many pieces yet to be discovered and so many ensembles of which I am not aware, I feel wholly unable to answer this question! 🙂
Q: If you could sing under any conductor, who would it be?
A: Honestly, I would say my friends and colleagues – Carrie Tennant, Scott Leithead, Jennifer Moir – these people apart from being wonderful musicians, foster the feelings that I would want to have as a singer in an ensemble. Feelings of being engaged, curious and invested in the process.
Q: What is your musical guilty pleasure outside of the choral genre?
A: Not so much “guilty” pleasures, but – Progressive Bluegrass music (like Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz), Stevie Wonder, any Stephen Sondheim (but especially Sweeney Todd!), Peter Gabriel…
Sarona Mynhardt
Master clinician, conductor of SongShine Choir and Inspirito Women’s Ensemble, and our Chorfest 2018 Children’s Choir clinician.
Q: When was the moment you knew you wanted to be a conductor?
A: As a young Chorister living in South Africa our choir had the incredible opportunity to travel to Israel to be part of the International Zymriah Choir Festival. On the first evening there were 2,000 singers of all ages from all over the world gathered in an auditorium. We did not know each other, we could not speak each other’s languages, but the moment we all took hands and sang together we became one! The universal language of music bridged whatever differences there might have been. At that moment I knew that one day I would like to give young people that same opportunity – I knew that by being a conductor I could open a whole new world to young singers through the incredible art and joy of choral music!
Q: What is your favourite post-concert meal?
A: Whatever I can lay my hands on! I do not eat much before a concert, so I am usually very hungry after! If we go out, a comfort meal will be Bibimbap (a Korean meal served in a hot stone pot), but at home I would choose a glass of bold red, a chunk of good sheep’s cheese and a bowl of olives!
Q: What is your ‘bucket list’ piece to conduct, and with which ensemble?
A: My favourite piece is the one we sing – every piece is on my bucket list and every one my favourite! As for right now, I would like to conduct the full Songs of Sanctuary by Karl Jenkins with orchestra and interpretive dance. I just started a new women’s ensemble, Inspirito, on the Sunshine Coast and I think they will love it!
Q: If you could sing under any conductor, who would it be?
A: James Jordan. I have not met him in person, but his work has been a big influence in my conducting journey.
Q: What is your musical guilty pleasure outside of the choral genre?
A: Jacques Brel.