Michael Zaugg is the guest conductor for this last concert of the 2017-2018 subscription season. Originally from Switzerland, he is now the conductor and music director of Alberta’s Pro Coro Canada
Date/Time: Apr 20 2018, 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Vancouver, Dunbar Ryerson United ChurchCost: $33.00
Find tickets: here
Michael is a long-time friend and collaborator with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, whom he has hosted many times in Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal. His programme will have many new and intriguing choral works by Rautavaara, Rheinberger, Söderqvist, Whitacre, Archer, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Kuula, Knudson and Joby Talbot.
Michael Zaugg:
Swiss native Michael Zaugg has distinguished himself on the Canadian stage as an innovative and versatile conductor, pedagogue and clinician. Currently in his 6th season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the professional chamber choir Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton, Michael also previously led other notable Canadian choirs including, in Montreal, the St. Lawrence Choir (2008-2013), and voces boreales (2006-2015), and the Cantata Singers of Ottawa (2005-2014).
As Chorus Master of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (2006-2011), Michael successfully prepared groups of up to 1500 singers for OSM Artistic Director Kent Nagano, including the award-winning production Saint François d’Assise by Messiaen. Michael also prepared the Cantata Singers Ottawa for their appearances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under conductors such as Franz-Paul Decker, David Lockington, Trevor Pinnock, Helmuth Rilling and Paul Goodwin.
Active as Guest Conductor, Michael Zaugg has worked with Canadian groups including the National Youth Choir of Canada, Halifax Camerata Singers, Vancouver’s musica intima, the Nova Scotia and Ontario Youth Choirs, Thirteen Strings as well as the Longueuil Symphony Orchestra. Overseas he’s appeared with the Danish National Youth Choir, the Academic Chamber Choir of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and the International Choir of the Zimriya Festival in Israel. In Switzerland, he was Chorus Master of the Symphonic Chorus Regiochor. He appears regularly as guest conductor at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Michael’s US debut was with the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street in New York.
Originally an accomplished tenor, Michael became the first Swiss conductor to be accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden in its prestigious post-graduate Diploma for Professional Choir Conducting. Through this program, Michael worked weekly with singers of the world-renowned Swedish Radio Choir and had the opportunity to guest-conduct Sweden’s gems – the Adolf Fredrik’s Girls Choir and the Mikaeli Chamber Choir. Mr. Zaugg holds degrees in voice and music education from the University in Basel and was recently awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music by King’s College, University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
A passionate pedagogue, Michael Zaugg is strongly committed to his work not only with choirs but also with emerging conductors. He is the Program Director of ‘CHORAL ART: for singers, composers and conductors’ at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. His work with and support of emerging Canadian composers is presented through Pro Coro Canada’s Choral Series, distributed by the Leading Note in Ottawa.
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