Saskatchewan Youth Choir
We are currently working on plans for the 2022-2023 seasons of the Saskatchewan Youth Choir. Stay tuned for details which will announced in the coming weeks.
Saskatchewan Youth Choir (SYC) is an exciting opportunity for talented youth ages 16 - 22 to perform in an SATB balanced choir with the best singers in Saskatchewan The program develops singers ready to participate in premier vocal ensembles across Canada, representing Saskatchewan as part of the National Youth Choir and in other provincially-sponsored choral projects.
As part of their training, singers will prepare a varied program of exciting repertoire designed to enthrall audiences of all ages. If the pandemic permits, the Choir will share their choral proficiency with high school and community ensembles in workshop scenarios and perform at schools, senior residences and community facilities while touring Saskatchewan.
For the 2022-23 season, the SYC will be under the direction of Laura Hawley, a Canadian musician known for her compelling approach to musical leadership and artistic programming, multi-faceted community engagement, distinctive compositional style, and passionate advocacy for Canadian choral art. Her music, often influenced by creative community connections and exchanges, has been described in The WholeNote as conjuring 'the forces of natures and its effect on the human spirit.'
Laura is artistic director of Da Camera Singers (Edmonton), conductor of Chandra Tala (Edmonton), founding artistic director of Hypatia's Voice Women's Choir of Ottawa (2015-2019), and is collaborative pianist and singer with the Canadian Chamber Choir. An active clinician throughout Canada, Laura has worked with a wide variety of community-based choral and orchestral ensembles from sea to sea to sea, including CAMMAC, Music & Beyond (Ottawa), Choirs Ontario, Choir Alberta, Nova Scotia Choral Federation, Saskatchewan Choral Federation and Choral Canada. She is a founding pianist and associate conductor of Cantiamo Choirs of Ottawa, and was their composer-in-residence from 2003-2017. From 2007 to 2018 she was Director of Music at St. John's South March Anglican Church, leading the adult choir and establishing a thriving parish youth choir In 2014, 2016, and 2018 she was nominated for the prestigious "Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting" and is a 2019 recipient of the Association of Canadian Women Composers' Roberta Stephan Award.
Ms. Hawley holds an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music and completed a Bachelor of Music in piano performance and Master's in Music Theory at University of Ottawa. She has studied conducting with Wayne Toews, the late Prof. Morihiro Okabe, Michael Zaugg, and Lone Larsen, composition with Stephen Gellman, Ugis Pralins, and Prof. Allan Bell, and voice with Elizabeth Turnbull. She is based in Edmonton, AB.
SYC 2022 - 2023 season specifics can be found here once available.
Application Procedure can be found here once available.
Saskatchewan Youth Choir 2020-2021 season took on a different look this past year...
In collaboration with Canadian composer Laura Hawley, a group of sixteen SYC Alumni worked together through a series of Zoom sessions from fall 2020 to spring 2021 to create a brand-new choral work titled “Lantern” with text from Kieran Kasha (SYC Alumni). "Lantern" was commissioned by the Saskatchewan Choral Federation to serve as a beacon of hope and light through dark times. We hope to have a live premiere of the piece in early spring 2022 with Laura Hawley directing the Saskatchewan Youth Choir.
Please enjoy Lantern and feel free to share it with anyone who could use a little light today!
Follow the link here -
Lantern - SYC Alumni Virtual Choir - Collaborative Commission Project
Saskatchewan Youth Choir Alumni
Music – Laura Hawley
Text – Kieran Kasha
Audio editing and mixing – Dana Rempel
Visual editing – Khang Nguyen
