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Welcome to the Kaleid 2020 website! We hope that this message finds you well. It is with considerable sadness that Kaleid Festival Project Team shares the news that the 2020 Kaleid Festival will be cancelled. We were hopeful that by November things would have returned to some kind of normal, but it is evident at this point that things will not improve to the extent necessary to be able to run the festival this year. We appreciate your understanding and your on-going support.
We remain committed to the artistic vision for the 2020 festival and look forward to the day when the context we find ourselves in will allows us to bring that vision to reality. If you have questions about this decision please do not hestitate to be in touch using the “Contac” link in the main menu.
Sincerely,
Josh Hill
Project Manager
Kaleid Choral Festival
NEW TO KALEID?
The Kaleid festival enriches, energizes, and inspires community choral artists of all ages and levels of experience. Our Kaleidescope of Voices celebrates community and choral art through workshops and performances in a non-competitive festival environment.
Choristers and educators have the unique opportunity to come together to sing in workshops facilitated by Artistic Director Jennifer Moir, and our guest artists. Each day culminates in an evening performance in which participants perform in a mass choir with acclaimed artists-in-residence for local audiences.
The Finnish word Rajaton translates as “boundless” – a word that so accurately describes the way this six-voice a cappella ensemble approaches music. Regularly performing around a hundred concerts and workshops each year, Rajaton exposes their audiences to the kind of diversity of repertoire, singing style, and stage presentation that has made them a phenomenon on the world stage.
Performing at concert halls, churches, jazz and choral festivals, this distinct group of musicians approaches all styles of music with the same level of commitment and integrity, making it difficult to imagine an audience that they could not inspire, or a type of music they could not make their own. In their native Finland, Rajaton is a bona fide pop phenomenon, successfully bridging the gap that often exists between classical and mainstream convention.
Rajaton has released 16 different albums. In 2017, Rajaton celebrates 20 years of music-making with one double platinum, three platinum and eight gold records in Finland under their belt, as their worldwide record sales are drawing over 400.000 copies altogether.
Ever seeking new artistic challenges, the group has grown immeasurably through collaborations with other a cappella artists, including The King’s Singers and The Real Group, as well as productions with film directors and choreographers. But it is perhaps their deep passion for choral art, their generosity of spirit and their sheer enjoyment of singing that has won the hearts and acclaim of audiences and critics everywhere. Their energy – infectious; their ability to entertain and inspire – Rajaton!
Jennifer Moir is a highly respected conductor, educator and adjudicator with a growing international reputation. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and was honoured with the distinguished Leslie Bell Prize Award for Choral Conducting from the Ontario Art Council in 2004. In May of 2010, she was nominated for the Premiere’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, in the category of Emerging Artists. Under her direction, choirshave won national and international awards through the CBC Choral Competition, The Choral Olympics, Linz, Austra, Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Wales and have been broadcast on CBC Radio.
At Western University in London, ON, Canada, Jennifer conducts Les Choristes (women’s choir) and The Chorale (mixed choir). In addition to her voice studio, Jennifer teaches Vocal Methods and Choral Conducting and leads an experiential learning course, “Community Through Choral Art”.
Away from the university, Ms. Moir is invited regularly to serve as a clinician for festivals, coach for choirs and vocal ensembles and workshops facilitator for music students and educators across North America, Europe and Scandinavia. Highlights include artist residencies at the Sibelius Academy and the Konservatori in Helsinki, Finland, language coach for Finnish recording artists, Rajaton and rock sensation, Santa Cruz,Tampere International Choral Festival, and the Inspiration Choir Camp, Sibelius Academy. Jennifer has adjudicated voice and choirs at both the national and international level and has served on faculty with The Voice Care Network, St. John’s University, Minnesota. She has served as an Artistic Director with the Amabile organization in London ON, The Woodstock FanshaweSingers and Project Sing!
Jennifer is a co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of The Mo(i)r Light Center for Sound Music Education, which now hosts The Kaleid Choral Festival. This non-competitive “kaleidoscope of voices” has played host to internationally renoun vocal group and Honorary Kaleid Festival Patrons, Rajaton (Finland), The Black Umfolosi 5 (Zimbabwe), Cadence (Canada) and FreePlay Duo (Canada) and Essi Wuorela (Finland). Through this festival and regular programming with community and university choirs,Jennifer has commissioned over 60 new choral works to date by Canadian composers.
