CONDUCTOR'S CORNER

Bryan Crocker, Artistic Director

As we come to the end of another successful season for Nova Voce, planning for the next season and beyond is well underway.  The many roles of the artistic director include always being on the lookout for new music, program ideas, commissioned piece ideas, perusing the library for hidden gems, and giving thoughts to any special collaborations or concerts that we want to explore.  As well, continuing education for the artistic staff is a very important aspect of musical life.  This can take various forms such as attending as many concerts as possible and observing other choirs and choir directors in action, watching choir videos on You Tube and other social media (which brings the world to your laptop), attending annual or biannual conferences to network with your peers and world class choirs, and attending conducting workshops from time to time to further refine techniques and to be mentored by world-class clinicians.  I am privileged to have received support from Nova Voce over the years for some of these continuing education opportunities.  We are very fortunate in Nova Scotia to have a well-run and organized choral federation.  The Nova Scotia Choral Federation (NSCF) does a wonderful job in providing workshops, training and participation opportunities covering every aspect of a choral musician’s life.  For 40 years the NSCF has been hosting continuing education events hosted by world-class clinicians, providing access to both an extensive in-house library as well as maintaining connections to other national/international libraries of choral repertoire.  I am very proud to have led Nova Voce for the past two seasons, and look forward to many more years of artistic collaboration.