About Us
The Guelph Chamber Choir
The 2024-2025 Guelph Chamber Choir
Soprano
Sarah Ansell
Havelah Carter
Jiyeon (Rebecca) Han
Jacqueline Kreller-Vanderkooy
Rebecca McKay – Section Lead
Melissa Scaramuzzo
Karla Oxley
Hannah Piercey – Neufeld Emerging Artist
Tammy te Winkel
Tricia Ward
Kate Wilson
Altos
Moira Ainsworth
Bailey Dugas
Laura Fleming – Neufeld Emerging Artist
Enid Gough
Joanne Gonsalves
Megan Hodge
Lexa Michaelides
Paula Sather
Karen Slatkovsky
Susanne Schmidt-McQuillan
Rachael Young
Alison Vicary
Tenors
Douglas Annett
Morgan Ballantyne – Section Lead
Phil Buddle
Brad Halls
Lanny Fleming – Section Lead
Dev Suresh
Rachel Schenk Martin
Mitchell Watt
Basses
Simar Basra
Dave Davidson
Brian Janzen
Eran Rozenszain
Graham Nancekivell
Neil McLaren
Maxim Levytsky
Matthias Schmidt
James A. Walke
Finn Steinke
David Wieler
Our Purpose
The Guelph Chamber Choir’s choral music enhances the quality of life of those who experience concerts and performances. Choral music, as a form of artistic expression, enhances the health and well-being of individuals psychologically, socially, physically, spiritually and cognitively. The fabric of the community is enriched by this sense of well-being, artistic expression and life-long learning.
Vision
Inspired choral music to stir the human spirit.
Mission
As Guelph’s preeminent avocational choral ensemble, we aspire to inspire through diverse and innovative programming, excellence in artistry, and community enrichment.
Our Values
To ensure we can accomplish our vision and mission, our actions and behaviour will always reflect the following core values and beliefs.
- Commitment to the highest quality and standards of artistic performance and choral literature.
- Fiscal responsibility and accountability
- Stability and sustainability
- Collaboration
- Honesty, integrity and transparency
- Accessibility to performances
- Community integration and engagement
- Flexibility and adaptability
- Competency and professionalism
- Mutual support, respect and encouragement within the organization
- Creating an inclusive space for all.
Our Team
Dr. Charlene Pauls
Artistic Director & Conductor
Dr. Charlene Pauls
Dr. Charlene Pauls has enjoyed a varied musical career as a choral conductor, soprano soloist, clinician, adjudicator, academic, and pedagogue.
Over the course of her career, she has directed a wide range of adult, university and youth choirs and has appeared as a Soprano soloist on concert stages across Canada and internationally in Germany, England, France and Spain.
She maintains a private voice studio in Oakville, Ontario, adjudicates for choral and vocal festivals, and presents research at conferences.
Since 2019, Dr. Pauls has been the Artistic Director of the Guelph Chamber Choir. She is also the Associate Artistic Director of the 200-voice strong Oakville Choir for Children and Youth.
Dr. Pauls holds a D.M.A. in Musical Arts (Vocal Performance) from the University of Toronto. She received a Master’s of Arts from McGill University, and undergraduate degrees from the Universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba in theology, piano and voice.
Alison MacNeill, Piano
Alison is a University of Guelph grad, and an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano Performance. After graduate work at the University of Western Ontario, Alison returned to her hometown of Guelph to teach and to fully immerse herself in its thriving music community. She has been a familiar sight on the concert stage ever since.
Over the years Alison has accompanied a great number of choirs including The Elora Singers, the Guelph Youth Singers, and the Rainbow Chorus of Waterloo-Wellington. Her passion for choral music is reflected in her decades as the Director of the Music and Arts Ministry at Harcourt Memorial United Church, and as conductor of other local community choirs. Alison became the Artistic Director of the Rainbow Chorus in 2018.
She has been the accompanist for the Guelph Chamber Choir for about twenty years, frequently performing and touring with the ensemble. She is featured on two previous CDs of the choir: Songs of the New World, and Goode Cheare.
Staff
Tammy te Winkel, General Manager
Preetam Sengupta, Financial Administrator
Singers in the Guelph Chamber Choir represent various walks of life; their common bond is to foster community enjoyment and appreciation of choral music through performances, outreach, artistic collaboration, and community partnerships.
We remain an integral part of the strong musical heritage of Guelph. Our performances include repertoire from Renaissance masters to contemporary composers, from classical styles to Broadway and vocal jazz, and from unaccompanied choral gems to masterworks with full orchestra.
We often collaborate with other choirs from across Canada and within our own community. Our success has been recognized through a number of broadcasts on national radio and prizes in the CBC National Competition for Amateur Choirs. We have participated in festivals throughout Ontario and have toured Great Britain, Ireland, Germany and Sweden.
Our History
The Guelph Chamber Choir began in 1980 when a group of choral music lovers decided that Guelph needed a new choir dedicated to singing the finest works of the repertoire with skill and musical sensitivity.
Our first performance on December 7, 1980, under conductor and artistic director Gerald Neufeld, featured twenty-six singers in front of an audience of nearly two hundred at Harcourt Memorial United Church.
From the choir’s inception to his retirement in 2018, Conductor Gerald Neufeld led the choir for all but two years, when Kathryn Laurin ably took the baton.
After Gerald Neufeld’s retirement in 2018, an extensive search process was conducted during the 2019 season and Charlene Pauls was named Artistic Director and Conductor starting with the 2019/2020 season.
Over the years our ranks have swelled and our talents deepened. Now at forty voices strong we still hold close to the ideals of chamber singing: lightness and clarity of tone, subtle blending of developed voices, and clear communication of the meaning and spirit of both text and music.
Board of Directors
Dave Davidson, Chair
Leila Stevens, Secretary
Members-at-Large:
Larry Gibbs
Jacqueline Hawken
Megan Hodge
Sya VanGeest
Ex-Officio:
Charlene Pauls, Artistic Director and Conductor
Tammy te Winkel, General Manager
Preetam Sangupta, Financial Administrator