BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE GUELPH YOUTH SINGERS
Guelph Youth Singers (GYS),
now in its 17th season, has become a high profile representative of the City of
Guelph
in the field of choral music. Founded in 1991
as Guelph Children Singers, this organization was formed to provide
children and youth with an opportunity to experience a professional level
of musicianship. The three treble choirs in the organization are: Choir I,
a training choir of children aged 6 and up; Choir II, a more advanced
training choir of children and youth aged 9 and up; and Choir III, a choir
for singers who have superior singing and music reading skills, aged 11
and up. A Chamber Choir has been incorporated as a part of Choir III, and
is an advanced ensemble for young women aged 16 and up. GYS offers a
seasonal boys' choir, rehearsing in January and February, to prepare for
entrance in the Guelph Kiwanis Festival, and to sing in the
annual spring concert. Weekly instruction includes vocal technique, theory
and sight singing, and is augmented with workshops by guest clinicians in
drama, movement and voice throughout the year. GYS performs up to five
major concerts per season as well as workshop, festival, corporate,
community and guest performances.
GYS has released two solo
CDs: Bird In
The Nest (1998) and Wind in Our
Sails (2002). GYS has also performed on CDs with Guelph Chamber
Choir (On
Christmas Night, 1995); for the Canadian Literacy Association
(Notable Canadian Choirs Sing Christmas Carols, 1996); with the
Guelph
folk ensemble, Tamarack (Blankets of
Snow, 1998); and singing the title song on the CD Song of Our
City: A Musical Celebration of Guelph's 175th Anniversary.
All three choirs of GYS
perform annually in the Guelph Kiwanis festival, and have distinguished
themselves at the Provincial and National levels of the National Festival
Association Competition, winning provincial awards in 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2005, and 2007, and national first prize awards in
1999 and 2001. From 1996-2007, Guelph Youth Singers has received the
annual trophy and award for the best Choral Program for its performance in
the local Kiwanis Music Festival.
GYS Choirs tour regularly
throughout
Ontario
and into the northern
United States.
Past
performance highlights include singing for national conventions of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (Quebec City, 1996 and Toronto,
2002) and the American Choral Directors Association
(Chicago,
1999). They have
performed in
Montreal,
Kingston,
Toronto,
Syracuse,
Coquitlam, Calgary, Pictou, and Vancouver, as guests of various choirs. They have also hosted choirs from
southern
Ontario,
Quebec,
B.C., Alberta, Nova Scotia and
New
York
state as well as choirs from
Japan
and
Slovenia.
GYS
has toured to perform as visiting guest artists to the State University of
New York at Potsdam (2000),
Albion
College
in
Michigan
(2001) and
Fort Wayne Children's Choir
in Indiana
(2003).
Continuing with this
tradition, in 2007-2008, GYS Choir II will host a Junior Treble
Festival in Guelph that will include a workshop with a guest clinician
and an evening concert performance with several other children's choirs. Similarily, Choir III will travel to Mississauga to take part in a Senior Treble Festival. This festival will also include a workshop with a guest clinician and an
evening concert performance with other youth choirs.
Auditions are held at various times throughout the
year. For more information on Guelph Youth Singers, phone 519-821-8574.
CONDUCTOR
& ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Linda Beaupré
 Conductor of GYS since its inception, and founder/director of the Bach Children’s Chorus since 1987, Linda Beaupré is known throughout Canada as a choral clinician, adjudicator and workshop facilitator. She received her B.Mus. degree in music education from the State University of New York at Potsdam, and a M.Mus. degree in vocal performance from the University of Western Ontario. She has taught music in Australia and Nova Scotia, and for several years was a professional singer with the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.
She is co-author of a series of ear-training and theory workbooks for children, entitled A Young Singer’s Journey—An Integrated Approach to Musical Literacy, which is sold throughout North America through the American publisher, Hinshaw Music.
Ms. Beaupré is a co-winner of the 2006 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting, awarded by the Ontario Arts Council and Choirs Ontario. In 2002 she received the Women of Distinction Arts and Culture Award from the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph.
PIANO
ACCOMPANIST
 Ken Gee studied piano with Edna Smith, Reginald Bedford and Boris Berlin, and
performed in many master classes. As a youth, he won scholarships annually
in both piano and violin, and was a national piano finalist in the Canadian Music Competition's International Stepping Stone Division. He is
an experienced recitalist, concerto soloist, accompanist, and chamber
music player.
He has a Music B.A. from
McMaster
University
,
where he
was awarded the McMaster Medal for the Creative and Performing Arts. Ken
was music critic for the Hamilton Spectator, manager for chamber music
series and Ensemble Sir Ernest MacMillan, co-director of the Hamilton
Kiwanis Music Festival, and a teacher at
McMaster
University
,
Sheridan
College
and
Mohawk
College
.
Ken's other life is in
Macintosh-based design work and music production. He developed classical
piano music software for PG Music Inc.,
Victoria,
and makes music
and music text books for The Frederick Harris Music Co., Ltd. in
Toronto.
He also teaches piano privately,
accompanies, and coaches chamber music. He is
the regular accompanist for the GYS, Suzuki String School of Guelph, and
Suzuki summer Institutes in
Kitchener
and
Montreal.
Ken lives in
Guelph
with his violinist wife, Paule
Barsalou.
VOCAL
COACHES
Sue
Doran graduated from
Wilfred
Laurier
University
with a
Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She has also acquired training at
the Eastman School of Music, Aldeburgh
(England),
Geneva
(Switzerland)
and
Chautauqua
(New York)
. A seasoned
performer, she has performed as soloist with Symphony Nova
Scotia
, Orchestra London, the Ottawa Choral Society, St. Lawrence Choir of Montreal, London Fanshawe
Choir and the Amadeus Choir. Sue resides in
Kitchener.
Jennifer Modolo
(bio to come)
Soprano Marion Samuel-Stevens is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Voice Performance Program and is building a reputation as both a performer of new music and an oratorio singer. She has performed works with groups including the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Guelph Chamber Choir, Toronto Classical Singers and Orpheus Choir. In 2004 Marion won Symphony Hamilton’s Young Artist Competition and had the pleasure of performing three of Mahler’s “Rückert lieder” with the orchestra.
Marion is an avid supporter of new music and has performed as the soprano soloist in the National Ballet of Canada’s production of David Del Tredici’s “Alice”. She has performed the title in Ronald Beckett’s opera “Ruth” and collaborated with Elora composer Peter Skoggard on “War and Peace” as well as performances of Skoggard’s songs for solo voice. Marion has also sung with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” This fall Marion will be performing as Belinda in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneaus” as well as singing her first Bach “Christmas Oratorio.”
Marion is the Music Director of Ebenezer United Church and Artistic Advisor for the Sound and Stone concert series. She has been a private vocal coach for 4 years and has a rapidly growing studio as well as coaching the Guelph Youth Singers. Her most recent accomplishment was conducting the children’s choir of “Opera By Request’s” production of Hansel und Gretel.
STRING
ACCOMPANISTS
The Suzuki String School of
Guelph was
founded in 1972. It is a non-profit charitable organization with a Board
of parent volunteers. The school now has around 160 students ranging from
age 3 to 18, and is renowned throughout
North America
for its high
standards in teaching and leadership role in the Suzuki community.
Artistic director Paule Barsalou, heads a highly-qualified faculty which
teaches violin, viola, cello, orchestra, chamber music and rhythmic
reading. The SSSG provides bursaries to families in need of financial
assistance.
ARTISTIC
POLICY & ROLE
GYS has a strong educational
mandate to develop the musical potential of youth from all backgrounds and
of various abilities through:
- Theory and
sight-singing instruction.
- Exposure
to challenging and diverse repertoire from a wide range of
composers.
- Exposure
to other conductors and choirs.
- Cooperative arrangements with other
Ontario
and
Quebec
choirs which allow GYS to host and travel
to workshops and performances each season. These workshops and
performances expose the singers to the varied talents of several
outstanding conductors/clinicians and culminate in a performance which
underscores what they have learned in workshops.
STRUCTURE
GYS is a parent run
organization, with parents making up the majority of board members and
volunteers. Guelph Youth Singers was incorporated
June 3,
1992.
Charitable registration number:
135120376RR0001.
Staff
- The artistic director is
responsible for artistic direction, development, and musical education of
the choirs.
- The administrator, is responsible for the general management
and coordination of daily affairs.
- The volunteer and marketing coordinator is responsible for the recruitment and coordination of our many volunteers as well as overseeing the marketing and corporate fundraising of the organization.
- All staff are accountable to GYS's Board of
Directors, reporting to the Board regularly at meetings. They work in
accordance with the policies and programmes established by the Board of
Directors.
Board of
Directors
- Made up of
eleven members who assume fiscal responsibility for GYS and sit as chairs
of various committees.
- Meets
monthly to discuss current issues and review budgetary
concerns.
- Connects
with artistic director, administrator, volunteer and marketing coordinator, and volunteers weekly through
email, fax, and phone, as well as at various committee
meetings.
- Committee members are:
- Duane Scott (President)
- Penny Burton (Vice President)
- Barbara Reed (Secretary)
- Johanna Wagner (Treasurer)
- Marian Brooks
- Sharon Buisman
- Kim Davids-Mandar
- Tova Davidson
- Paula Eisnor
- Tracey Parfect
- Sue Saman
Volunteer
Base & Support
- GYS builds
its volunteer base from choir members, parents and interested community
members.
- Volunteers
receive support and direction from the volunteer and marketing coordinator, the artistic director
or the administrator. In most cases, all three individuals are involved.
- Our
volunteers are shared with other community arts organizations such as
the Guelph Spring Festival, and the River Run Centre.
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