Greetings from Dr. Stephen Runge, Head, Department of Music 

Greetings from Sackville, where we have caught our breath after a very busy Winter term and the excitement of the past weekend’s Alumni Reunion and Convocation events. The highlight of this past semester was surely the week-long visit by saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, the 5th annual Bragg Artist-in-Residence, which culminated in a fantastic recital of works for soprano and alto saxes and piano. Several faculty performed on the Brunton stage this term, including violinist Nadia Francavilla, guitarist Adam Cicchillitti, percussionist Joël Cormier, and clarinetist James Kalyn. I performed a two-piano recital with David Rogosin, as well as recitals with soprano Christina Haldane and baritone Alexander Dobson. Elizabeth Wells also gave a Colloquium talk on Bernstein and Stravinsky.  

As always, we looked forward to numerous student performances throughout the Winter term. The Opera Workshop course presented “The Opera Show” at home in Brunton, after an extensive tour throughout the Maritimes. Kiera Galway led the Mount Allison Choral Society, Elliott Chorale, and Children’s Choir in music inspired by birdsong. James Kalyn led the Symphonic Band in music inspired by cultures other than our own, as well as the Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s second symphony. Nadia Francavilla directed the New Music Ensemble in a performance of contemporary music, some involving improvisation and pre-recorded soundscapes. Ten upper-year students also presented shared and full recitals in fulfillment of degree requirements. 

After more than a decade in the role, I am stepping down as Head of Music next month, but know that the Department of Music will be in excellent hands as Dr. Kevin Morse takes over as Head as of July 1. As we welcome a strong group of new incoming students to the Conservatory in September, we will doubtless miss the Class of 2024 who graduated last month. You can read about the accomplishments of some of these students below, and we wish all the best to all of our graduates in their future musical endeavours.  

Congratulations to the following graduates:   

BACHELOR OF MUSIC 

Cormier, Tia, Moncton, NB
Desmond, Kathleen Theresa, with distinction, Saint John, NB 
Gagné, Anna, with distinction, Oromocto, NB
Gauld, Gordon McCabe (Minor Religious Studies), Ottawa, ON
Gillis, Dawson Richard, with distinction, Truro, NS
Godin, Amanda (Minors History and Drama, Certificate in Community Engaged Learning), with distinction, Bathurst, NB 
Higgins, Jackson Jeffrey, Moncton, NB
Steele, Kiran (Minor French, Certificate in Music Education), with distinction, Halifax, NS
Vézina-Goodwin, Jeffrey Thomas – October 2023 graduate, Moncton, NB
White, Rowan Avery (Bachelor of Arts, Major Drama), St. John’s, NL
Yee, Emma Natania Yun Wai (Minor History), with distinction, Markham, ON

BACHELOR OF ARTS, MUSIC MAJOR

Ruest Belliveau, Lydie-Anne Myriam (Major Music, Minor Psychology) – October 2023 graduate, Dieppe, NB

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, MUSIC MAJOR 

Gordon, Anna Marie (Majors Mathematics and Music), with distinction, Oxford, NS

BACHELOR OF ARTS, MUSIC MINOR

Sevcik, Susanne Donna Mae (Major Cognitive Science, Minor Music), with distinction, Strathmore, AB
Webster-Lawrence, Emma-Jane (Major Psychology, Minor Music), Charlottetown, PE

Congratulations to our Graduates, Class of 2024!

The Department of Music appreciates the continued support of its Alumni.  Please stay in touch with us, keeping us posted on your news and accomplishments.  We also have a presence on social media, and hope you will follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

Sincerely,
Dr. Stephen Runge


2024 J.E.A. Crake Performance Award in Music -
awarded to Kiran Steele (BMus ’24) 

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Kiran Steele is the 2024 recipient of the J.E.A. Crake Performance Award. This award is given to the graduating student who, in the opinion of the faculty of the Department of Music, has excelled in performance, and who has maintained high academic standing and contributed to the cultural life of the university community. 

Throughout his four years of study at Mount Allison University, Steele has distinguished himself as an extremely conscientious and high-achieving student, on the Dean’s List for each of his four years. Percussion instructor Dr. Joël Cormier calls Kiran “easily one of the best percussion students that I have taught in my ten years at Mount Allison University. He has always learned repertoire that far exceeded the requirements of his current year, and learned that music very well. He has the ability to memorize music securely and very quickly, and often memorizes music even when this is not required, such as for advanced snare drum or multiple percussion pieces.” 

In addition to his achievements as percussion soloist, Steele is also an excellent ensemble musician. He has played a leading role in the Mount Allison Percussion Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Chamber Orchestra. He is also an impressive drum kit player and performs in many groups including the Mount Allison Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo. He was also guest percussionist in many of the recent choral concerts of the Mount Allison Choral Society and Elliott Chorale. 

Kiran is a natural leader. He leads the entire percussion section, helping new and more advanced students alike. He has played a leadership role on the executive of the Music Students' Society throughout his degree, and has been highly engaged in the life of the students, the department, and the community. He will be continuing his studies at Western University in London, Ontario, in the Master’s of Music program.

Emma Yee (BMus ’24) is awarded the Mount Allison Music Scholar Prize

The Mount Allison Music Scholar Prize is presented to a graduating student who has made an outstanding contribution to the intellectual life of the Department of Music through excellence in music education, music history, music theory, composition, music technology, and/or Canadian music. Emma Yee’s work has been recognized for its outstanding level through both external and internal processes. Most recently, she has been accepted to several high-level Canadian institutions and will begin studies at McGill University for a Master of Music Performance in Opera and Voice in Fall 2024. Yee is the first musician to be awarded a McCall MacBain Scholarship, Canada’s first comprehensive leadership-based scholarship program for master’s and professional studies. In addition to a generous funding package, the scholarship will include mentorship, coaching, and a leadership development program for the duration of her studies at McGill.

As a scholar–performer, Emma brings an exceptional skill set to graduate studies that is supported by operatic and solo performance experiences, tangible academic accomplishments, an unparalleled organizational ability, inspiring leadership skills, and deep passion for social justice. Her personal strengths are matched by her musical talents: Yee is an impressive, hard-working, resilient, and talented singer who was guided in her vocal studies by Dr. Vicki St. Pierre. Her combination of intellectual potential, an unparalleled ability to understand and mobilize critical feedback, her strong moral compass, fearless leadership, and exceptional work-ethic make her an ideal candidate for graduate studies. 

In the Fall 2023 term, Yee participated in the CEWIL Canada work-integrated learning Opera Workshop tour of the Atlantic provinces. Yee’s artistry was featured in the program, where she led various ensembles and solo performances. At the same time, Yee informally mentored junior MtA voice students during the tour, engaged with youth and schools’ audiences, and formed professional relationships with our community partners. In Winter 2024, Yee took part in the Early Music Intensive at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Sackville (you can read more about this project below). Yee joined the St. Paul’s Church Choir as a choral singer and soloist and was featured in their church service and a final public performance.

Supported by faculty mentors Drs. Linda Pearse and Christina Haldane, Yee was funded by Mount Allison’s university-wide competitive Independent Student Research Grant (ISRG) program, which recognizes a select number of students across campus each year. As part of this project, Yee organized a panel of diverse Canadian opera directors that she interviewed regarding their perspectives on existing power structures within opera and how they might envision positive change moving forward. Her resulting paper, “Liberatory Praxis in Operatic Rehearsal Processes” was accepted for publication in Nota Bene: Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Musicology (forthcoming 2024).

While at Mount Allison, Yee received the Bell Achievement Award, one of the University’s most prestigious undergraduate awards. Over the four years of her degree, Yee worked as a teaching assistant, and as a research assistant within Pearse’s SUMR (Sackville Undergraduate Music Research) Lab. Within the lab environment she located, catalogued, summarized, and tagged secondary scholarship that engages musical works and traditions outside of the Western Art Music canon. Yee traveled for research trips to Vienna (Fall 2022) for archival work on music manuscripts in the Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv Wien, and to Quebec City (Spring 2023) where she presented on approaches to diversifying the canon and research processes within the SUMR Lab. Yee also mentored and chaperoned first-year students on an experiential learning trip to Montréal and McGill University in 2023. 

Dr. Linda Pearse as Canada Research Chair

Dr. Linda Pearse has been appointed as Mount Allison University’s latest Canada Research Chair — the country’s highest research honour. The announcement was made as part of a national event on February 5. 

Pearse’s research explores the roles of music and sound in cultural, political, and religious encounters throughout history to forge new pathways toward transformational understanding and hence deeper inclusion. Considering the intricate power dynamics within religious and cultural identities, one of her research projects investigates confrontations between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs during the seventeenth century. 

“I consider music as it unfolds across porous and fluctuating borders and within enduring global interactions, rather than as an isolated phenomenon. I explore the messy parts of cultural encounters where people hold complex identities and where they partake in music and sonic rituals in ways that upend ideas about what it means to be Muslim or Christian,” she says. 

In partnership with local and international researchers, Pearse designs intercultural projects and digital resources that contribute to conversations about the negotiation of religious and cultural identity and the potential for music to facilitate exchanges about these ideas. Pearse also actively involves students in her research through the Sackville Undergraduate Music Research (SUMR) lab. 

“One of my favourite parts of the job is supporting student research in the lab,” she says. “The students pursue their own research in addition to working on my projects; they give presentations, publish, and in turn, mentor their peers.” 

In recent years, Pearse and her students have worked with teams at Queen’s and Laval universities to expand research access beyond the traditional canon of music history, focusing on marginalized or underrepresented voices like women musicians and composers. 

With Drs. Kiera Galway (co-applicant) and Alan Dodson (collaborator), Pearse has recently been awarded a SSHRC Connection Grant which supports ten students in the SUMR Lab in their development of four units of educational materials aligned with the new provincial high-school curriculum: Unit 1) on Music, Colonialism, and Reconciliation; Unit 2) on Shared Sonic Expressions across Muslim and Christian Communities; Unit 3) on Music and the Holocaust; and Unit 4) on Music, Children, Memory, and War. These activities are linked with the Department of Music’s planned three-day symposium (October 25–27, 2024) that explores Western music’s role in war and conflict through a series of capstone events. Multi-directional learning opportunities for students, the university community, and the general public include professional concerts, scholarly lectures, educational workshops, and student co-curricular poster presentations and performances. 

Pearse was also the 2023 recipient of the Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award, the highest teaching honour at the University, and the 2023 Association of Atlantic Universities, Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Dr. Christina Haldane is awarded the Innovation, Inclusion and Outstanding Excellence in Teaching Award 

Dr. Christina Haldane has been awarded an inaugural Innovation, Inclusion and Outstanding Excellence in Teaching Award. With this new award, Mount Allison recognizes faculty who are outstanding teachers, particularly those who make use of innovative and inclusive teaching approaches and assessment methods, who set high standards and motivate students to attain them, who show educational leadership, and who foster safe spaces by implementing culturally responsive pedagogies. Earlier this year, Christina was also awarded the faculty Future NB Award for Experiential Learning to recognize the scope of this year’s CEWIL-funded Opera Workshop tour of the Atlantic provinces. Congratulations, Christina! 

Jess Gillam as Bragg Artist-in-Residence 

The Department of Music was thrilled to welcome saxophonist Jess Gillam to the Conservatory from March 5 to 8 as the 5th annual Bragg Artist-in-Residence. Gillam’s residency included a full schedule of student workshops and class visits, a master class, public talks, and concluded with a recital with pianist Thomas Weaver. 

Gillam is the first ever saxophonist to be signed exclusively to the Decca Classics record label and both of her albums reached No. 1 in the U.K. classical music charts. She has performed in prestigious concert halls and with world-class orchestras around the globe including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Gillam also became one of the youngest presenters ever for BBC Radio and hosts BBC’s This Classical Life. She is celebrated for her strong advocacy for the positive influence of music in public life. While at Mount Allison, she delivered a public talk about the power of music and the reasons musicians feel the need to create. A full schedule of the residency’s activities and a video featuring Jess can be found on the Bragg Women Music Opportunities website.

The Bragg Artist-in-Residence program was created in 2017 thanks to the generosity of Dr. John Bragg, Mount Allison alumnus and past Chancellor, and his wife Judy, also a Mount Allison graduate. 

An Early Music Intensive

In February 2024, voice students participated in an Early Music Intensive made possible by generous funding from Future NB and Experiential Learning. This project was in collaboration with St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Sackville and brought together early music specialists Jimin Shin (violin), Hilary Brown (cello), and Jennie Del Motte (harpsichord) to collaborate with voice students on their early music repertoire. The Intensive culminated in a public performance at St. Paul’s that celebrated student performances alongside that of the church choir. This exciting project enabled voice students to experience music-making with period instruments, learn more about early music style, build valuable relationships with our community partners, and work and perform within the beautiful acoustics of St. Paul’s. The Early Music Intensive was collaboratively led by MtA alumna Helen Tucker (conductor and organist), and Prof. Alexander Dobson, Dr. Linda Pearse, and Dr. Christina Haldane

Music Student Wins Independent Student Research Grant 

Jacob Richard (BA Joint Major in Computer Science and Music ’25) was awarded summer research funding to study the relationship between digital image data and algorithmic composition. He will be working with Dr. Kevin Morse in the New Music Creation Lab to compose some new electronic music using MaxMSP software.
 

Composition Program Updates

It has been another exciting and productive semester for composition students at Mount Allison. Our upgraded New Music Creation Lab, under the direction of Dr. Kevin Morse, has been a hive of creativity and sound and continues to receive improvements to our hardware and software. Composition students this semester had the opportunity to have their works-in-progress for solo saxophone workshopped with our Bragg Artist-in-Residence Jess Gillam in March and had practical feedback on writing piano accompaniment textures with collaborative pianist Dr. James Coghlin. Our semester culminated in a particularly strong New Music @ Mount Allison composition concert on April 8, which included a wide range of works, including some electronic music, a surround-sound audio installation in the lab, two pieces performed by the Mount Allison Flute Choir (led by Prof. Karin Aurell), and three very polished woodwind quintets premiered by professional ensemble Ventus Machina – among others! 
 

New Music Ensemble in Performance 

The Mount Allison New Music Ensemble, directed by Nadia Francavilla, presented their Winter term recital on March 27, 2024. Concert highlights were captured in a series of photos:  

Presence and Absence (2024), a new ensemble work based on the sounds of nature, which originated with the From Harm to Harmony Community Engaged Climate Art Project – a collaborative climate action art mentorship and artist-in-residency funded by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB). Participants included members of the communities of Sackville and Fredericton, as well as the students from the New Music Ensemble. 
I was like WOW (2006 - Jacob ter Veldhuis), for bassoon, video, and soundtrack, with text based on interviews with two US veterans of the Iraq War, performed by Dimitrius Pellerin
Drinking and Hooting Machine (1978 - John White), which sounds like “a large aviary of owls all practising very slow descending scales” as the beverages are gradually consumed!  


Student News

Anna Gordon (’24) is the recipient of a Dean’s Fellowship from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University (New York, NY), where she will be completing a PhD in Music Theory, with waived tuition and a stipend valued at $41,700 US per annum. 

BMus students Jackson Higgins (’24), Kiran Steele (’24), Clare Lowe (’25), and Anna Gagné (’24) performed in Jeunesses Musicale’s spring 2024 NB Talentis Tour of New Brunswick, March 10–23, with concerts in Moncton, Bathurst, Dalhousie, Shippagan, Edmundston, and Fredericton. 

Emma Yee (’24) was accepted to the MMus Performance program in Opera and Voice at McGill University, the MMus in Voice Performance at University of Toronto, and the MMus in Voice Performance at the University of Manitoba, all with scholarships. Named as a recipient of the prestigious McCall MacBain Scholarship at McGill for 2024, she will be attending that institution in the fall. This summer, Emma will be attending the COSA Canada at Mount Allison: Summer Vocal Intensive, June 9–16, 2024.

Matthew Mulvihill (’27), trumpet, participated in the National Youth Band of Canada (NYB) this spring. The ensemble members met for rehearsals in Halifax, April 21–27, 2024, under the baton of director Brent Ghiglione, with featured soloist Karen Donnelly, trumpet. Matthew has also have been accepted into the Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, which will be rehearsing and performing in Toronto for MusicFest Canada from May 12–18, 2024, under the direction of Dr. Mark Hopkins and Dr. Gillian MacKay. Matthew was awarded funding from the Bragg Women Music Opportunities Fund to attend this program. 

Kiran Steele (’24) has been accepted with scholarship to the Master of Music programs at University of Manitoba and Western University (London, ON). He has accepted the offer from Western. Kiran will also be participating in the Scotia Festival of Music Young Artists Program in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from May 25–June 9, 2024. 

Lilian Alexander (’25) was the winner of the class for Upper University/College Third Year After High School – Classical in the CAP NATS (Canadian Atlantic Provinces Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing) Student Auditions for 2024.  

Rikkie Guillemette (’25) has been accepted into the Atlantic Music Festival Institute (AMFI) Composition Program, a summer intensive that provides a unique and immersive experience for composers. The session will take place at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, July 15–August 4, 2024. Rikkie was awarded funding through the Bragg Women Music Opportunities Fund to attend this program. 

Susanne Sevcik (’24) will be entering the MA in Music Technology program at McGill, where she will work in the Music Perception and Cognition Lab under the supervision of Canada Research Chair Dr. Stephen McAdams. She has been awarded a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through the Canada Graduate Scholarship program to support her research on timbre perception. Susanne was also accepted into the Musicology program at Western University and short-listed for their MSc in Neuroscience program.  

Voice major Hannah Stilwell (’27) and her collaborative pianist Gillianne Smith (’27) had excellent results at the recent Kiwanis Festival in Halifax: Gold in classes for Opera Solo, Art Song, Lieder, and Folk Song, as well as being Rose Bowl Finalists. 

Kathleen Desmond (’24) has accepted the position of Organist and Music Director of St. Ann’s and Joachim’s parish in Saint John, NB, and will be working as a kindergarten and music teacher at Divine Mercy Catholic School starting in September. 

Amanda Godin (’24) will be attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, this fall, entering the Master’s in Music (Music Education) program. 



Faculty News 

Elizabeth A. Wells will have two book projects published by Cambridge University Press this summer:  Bernstein in Context, comprising 40 chapters from international scholars, on one of the 20th century’s most famous musicians, and the Cambridge Companion to West Side Story. Next year she will be publishing an edited volume entitled Sondheim in Performance, also with Cambridge, which explores the late musical theatre composer’s works as living artworks. 

Dr. David Rogosin was involved in two concerts in the Winter term. The first, a two-piano concert with Dr. Stephen Runge, was entitled Hallelujah Junction: American and Russian Works for Two Pianos. It featured works by Rachmaninov, Medtner, Adams, and Kapustin. The second was the Rogosin Jazz Quintet with James Kalyn on saxophones, Xavier Savoie on flugelhorn, Johan Kjølbro on bass, and recent graduate Kiran Steele on drums. Two guest artists were featured in this concert: former faculty member James Mark on tenor sax, and special guest Ray Legere on violin. Both concerts were well attended, and the response for Rogosin’s second jazz concert (the first dates back to November 2014) was particularly enthusiastic. 

Aside from teaching piano, Rogosin puts a lot of time into course preparation. He has completely revamped the first-year Musicianship course, and his World Music course undergoes constant revision, the class notes at this point almost constituting a textbook in themselves. Over the summer he will be completely revamping his 20th century music history course, both in terms of content and evaluation. 

This month, Dr. Alan Dodson will present “Pulse Animations: Representing Periodicity in Flexible Solo Recordings” at the Analytical Approaches to World Music international conference in Bologna, Italy. This paper is based on research completed by the Sackville Undergraduate Music Research (SUMR) Time Lab in May–August 2023. The lab’s student members – Anna Gagné (’24), Anna Gordon (’24), and Kiran Steele (’24) – are listed as co-authors and will join via Zoom to answer questions from the conference attendees. This project has been funded by Mount Allison University through a President’s Research and Creative Activity grant, and by the Province of New Brunswick through a Future NB Experiential Learning grant. 

Baritone Alexander Dobson, who joined the Department of Music in Fall 2023, is thrilled to continue his work with our voice students in 2024-25. After a busy April adjudicating at various festivals, Alex recently performed in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Hamilton Philharmonic, as well as in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Peterborough Singers. Having sung the world premiere of more than one hundred works, this month Alex will sing the world premiere of Echoes of Bi-Sotoon to a sold-out audience in Toronto. 

Nadia Francavilla received an $11,440 ArtsNB Creation Grant - A Category, awarded as part of the October 1, 2023 Competitions. These grants are awarded to established artists who have achieved an advanced level of professional practice, who have created an extensive body of work, and who have made a nationally or internationally recognized contribution to their artistic disciplines and the arts in general. 

Dr. Christina Haldane has been selected to attend the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) 2024 Intern Program – a prestigious career development opportunity for early career voice teachers and collaborative pianists. Dr. Haldane will be the only Canadian participant in this program, which takes place May 29 through June 6 on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee. To learn more about Dr. Haldane’s involvement in the 2024 NATS Intern Program, visit their web page



Alumni News

ArtsNS produced an Artist Spotlight on 2023 Creative Nova Scotia Established Artist Recognition Award recipient Garry Williams (BMus ’01). This full-length Artist Spotlight video features an insightful look into Garry and his work, presented by Arts Nova Scotia and the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council and produced by HEIST and KekeBeatz. 

The Nova Scotia Band Association (NSBA) has named Sarah MacDonald (BMus ’09) as their Distinguished Band Director for 2023. Working from Glace Bay High School, Sarah directs their Concert Band and Jazz Band and teaches a variety of music classes. In addition to being the 2021-2022 Resident Conductor with the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble, she has also acted as the guest conductor for the Cape Breton Orchestra, the Second Wind Community Concert Band, and the Nova Scotia Junior Wind Ensemble. Following her studies at Mount Allison, Sarah completed a Bachelor of Education Degree at Acadia University, a Diploma in Education (Counseling) at Cape Breton University, and recently completed her MA in Music Education at the University of Toronto. Sarah conducted at the Halifax Community Band Festival in 2023 along with Dr. Jacquie Dawson, Director of Bands at the University of Manitoba and Dr. Jessica Kun, conductor and Artistic Director of the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra.  

As part of their 50th Anniversary Season, the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto has announced the designation of Lydia Adams (’75, ’76, DMus ’03) as Conductor Emerita. This new role recognizes Lydia’s important contribution to the ensemble as Artistic Director from 1984 until 2019. Read more about Lydia’s well-deserved recognition at the Amadeus Choir website.

Emma Cameron (BMus ’22) has been accepted to the DPhil programme in Music (Musicology) at the University of Oxford (Wolfson College). Her doctoral work will examine medieval Latin music theory and vernacular understandings of musical sound in fourteenth-century England, as reflected in the literary works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. This project will be supervised by Elizabeth Eva Leach (Professor of Medieval Music, St. Hugh’s College) and advised by Nicholas Perkins (Professor of Medieval Literature, St. Hugh’s College).  

 

Stephen Muise (BMus ’94) was the recipient of the Stompin’ Tom Award for the Cape Breton Region at the East Coast Music Awards. The five Stompin’ Tom Awards recognize one individual in each of ECMA’s five geographical regions who has made a long-term contribution to the East Coast music industry and has paved the road for many successful East Coast artists of today. Find out more about Stephen and his ECMA award.

Each December, Mount Allison alumni take part in the Symphony Nova Scotia performance of Handel’s Messiah in Halifax, as part of the SNS Chorus. For the 2023 event, BMus grad Dr. Joel Tranquilla (’06) joined the group in his new role as SNS Chorus Master and Artistic Director of the Halifax Camerata Singers.

From left: Jill (Hemeon) Rafuse (’73); Joel Tranquilla (’06), SNS Chorus Master; Taunya Pynn-Crowe (’93); Joanne Lacey (’84); Jessica Sharp (’14); Jane Camsell (’82); and Kelly Burkom Hart (’97).

Memories of MtA Music Camps

Taken in Convocation Hall in 1984 and 1986, these photos from Mount Allison Music Camps include a few people that you may recognize: Belinda Code, James Code, James Mark, and Rodney McLeod, as well as several Music alumni in their younger days! Thanks to Alison Meadows Peters (BMus ’93, BEd '94) for sharing these images.

2024 Summer Academy of Music 

In July, we will be very happy to welcome talented young musicians to campus for the eleventh annual Summer Academy of Music, to be held July 7 to 13. Participants ages 14 to 19 will enjoy an intensive program of lessons, courses, chamber music, master classes, and performances, culminating in a showcase recital at the end of the week. This year’s Academy faculty include Prof. Karin Aurell (flute), Dr. Olivier Blakney (brass), Dr. Adam Cicchillitti (guitar), Dr. Joël Cormier (percussion), Prof. Jennie Del Motte (aural skills), Prof. Nadia Francavilla (strings), Dr. Christina Haldane (voice), Prof. James Kalyn (clarinet and saxophone), and Dr. Stephen Runge (piano). More information can be found on the MtA Music website.  

Mount Allison Music: An Extraordinary Musical Community 

Check out our new promotional video to discover what’s unique about Music at MtA – Explore our degree options, performance opportunities, research and creative activities, enrichment opportunities, and more!