FRIDAY, OCT 25, 8:00 p.m.
BELLA CONCERT HALL, MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY 
​RECEPTION TO FOLLOW
featuring...

ALBERTA YOUTH CHOIR
Dr. Sandra Snow, guest conductor
Gavin Caldwell, pianist 

ALBERTA MUSIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD WINNERS
Maya Budzinski, violin
Jacob Kryger, marimba

ALBERTA WIND SYMPHONY
Dr. Mark Hopkins, guest conductor
TICKETS

​Admission is included with delegate registration fees.
​​A limited number of non-delegate tickets are available for purchase.

General Admission (non-delegates): $39.00

Performers

ALBERTA YOUTH CHOIR

The Alberta Youth Choir is the province's honour choir for singers ages 16-22. AYC provides a unique opportunity for outstanding young singers from across the province to join forces in the pursuit of excellence in choral music under the direction of a renowned conductor.​ This year, 77 choristers from 30 different Albertan choirs  will come together under the direction of Dr. Sandra Snow, Professor of Choral Conducting and Music Education at Michigan State University. 

Following their three day residency and performance at Music Conference Alberta, AYC will embark on a tour of southern Alberta.
DR. SANDRA SNOW, Alberta Youth Choir guest conductor
​
​Dr. Sandra Snow is a conductor, pedagogue, and scholar, widely acknowledged as one who brings singers of all ages and abilities to artful performance through an understanding of the music and its context in the world around them. As Professor of Choral Conducting and Music Education at the Michigan State University College of Music, the MSU Women’s Chamber Ensemble has appeared as featured performers at American Choral Directors Association conventions at state, regional, and national levels. As a guest conductor, she travels extensively in North America and abroad. In 2017, Snow created mirabai, a project-based professional women’s chorus. mirabai features alumna associated with the MSU Women’s Chamber Ensemble. mirabai was a featured ensemble at the Texas Choral Director’s Association conference in 2018. The inaugural recording, Ecstatic Songs, was released in 2018. mirabai will open the 2020 conference of the Southwest Division of the American Choral Director’s Association.
ALBERTA WIND SYMPHONY 
​
The Alberta Wind Symphony consists of outstanding band students from across the province of Alberta. One of the cornerstone programs of the Alberta Band Association, the Wind Symphony provides talented high school aged musicians the opportunity to work with some of the finest concert band conductors recognized both nationally and internationally, grow musically, and meet other musically vibrant instrumentalists. Admission to the Alberta Wind Symphony is made by music teacher/conductor recommendation.   ​
DR. MARK HOPKINS, Alberta Wind Symphony guest conductor 

Dr. Mark Hopkins is a Professor in the School of Music at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In addition to leading the Wind Ensemble, Dr. Hopkins teaches undergraduate and graduate Conducting, Instrumental Music Education courses, SoundPainting, and chamber music courses.  He is Artistic Co-Director of the Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble (2008-2011, 2013-present). In November 2016 Dr. Hopkins received an Established Artist Award from Arts Nova Scotia for contributions as a conductor and leader of new music projects, including Shattering the Silence, an innovative new music festival (www.shatteringthesilence.ca) His recent work as a conductor includes the CD recording In Sonorous Falling Tones (2017, nominated for a 2018 East Coast Music Award). In Canada, he has guest-conducted bands and orchestras including the National Youth Band (2019) as well as in the United States, Bermuda, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and Romania.
MAYA BUDZINSKI, violin

​Edmonton native Maya Budzinski, student of Mount Royal University Prof. William van der Sloot had her solo debut with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra at 10 years of age playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto after she won the Northern Alberta Concerto Competition. Maya has received many scholarships such as Winspear, Shean, and Alexandra Munn to name a few. Since 2014 Maya won first place 3 times at the Canadian Music Competition and last year she won the Grand Prize where she was awarded the opportunity to play with the Metropolitain Orchestre de Montreal the Sibelius Violin Concerto, broadcasted live via the MediciTV to 120 countries.
JACOB KRYGER, marimba

​Jacob Kryger has been playing percussion since the age of eight. Now 20, he has been studying with Brian Jones, Principal Percussion of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, for the past nine years. Jacob is entering his final year at the University of Alberta in the Bachelor of Music program with a Major in Percussion Performance where he continues to study with Mr. Jones. He plans on continuing his music education in a master’s program next year.