Celebrating 45 Years
As Canada's International Choral Festival
ABOUT
Now in its 45th season, the Elora Festival has established a reputation as Canada’s international choral festival, presenting world-class choirs and vocal ensembles over three weeks in July in the artists village of Elora, “Ontario’s most beautiful village”.
The Festival's ensemble-in-residence is The Elora Singers, one of Canada's finest professional chamber choirs.
The choir performs throughout the three weeks of the festival, both with solo concerts and in collaboration with guest artists and ensembles. The Elora Festival and The Elora Singers are both led by Artistic Director Mark Vuorinen.
The Elora Festival has presented such internationally-recognized choirs as the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Chanticleer, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal , the Trinity College Choir, the State Choir LATVIJA and such vocal ensembles as VOCES8, Cantus, The Gesualdo Six, and others.
Additional guest artists include such celebrated luminaries as Maureen Forrester, Gordon Lightfoot, Holly Cole, Sarah McLachlan, Moe Kaufman, Dame Cleo Laine, Jesse Cook, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Andre Laplante, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Randy Bachman, Ben Heppner, Chantal Kreviazuk, Natalie Macmaster and Measha Brueggergosman.
Mark Vuorinen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Mark Vuorinen is Artistic Director and Conductor of The Elora Singers and the Elora Festival and Waterloo Region's Grand Philharmonic Choir. He is also Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo and is the President of Choirs Ontario. A recipient of many awards, Mark was the 2016 Laureate of the Ontario Arts Council's Leslie Bell Prize, and received a 2016 National Choral Award from Choral Canada (Association of Canadian Choral Communities) for his research on Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Mark holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Toronto and Master of Music degree from Yale University's School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music.
Alan Macdonald, Manager, Development & Operations
Alan Macdonald is the Manager, Development & Operations. He has over 12 years of experience as a leader in artistic administration, working with organizations like The Royal Conservatory’s ARC Ensemble, The Vancouver Chamber Choir, The Glenn Gould School’s Rebanks Family Fellowship Program, and, before joining The Elora Festival, as the Executive Director for That Arts Group.
Elora Centre For The Arts
75A Melville Street
Elora, ON • N0B 1S0
STAFF
Mark Vuorinen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Christina Stelmacovich, Manager, The Elora Singers and Festival
Alan MacDonald, Manager, Development & Operations
Evangeline Drost, Box Office Coordinator
Steve Hornett, IT Consultant
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Julie Wilson, Board Chair
Legal Resources & Innovation Lawyer
Gowling WLG
Peter Barr, FCA, FCPA, Past Chair
Retired Deloitte Partner
Justin Gorgi, Treasurer
Accounting Manager
Chartered Professional Accountant
Calibre LLP
Ken Frey
President
Frey Consulting
Brad Halls
Retired Lawyer
Alex Miller
President
ESRI Canada Limited
Ken Seiling
Retired Regional Chair
Regional Municipality of Waterloo
Denise Williams
Artistic Director/Producer
Singer, Teacher, Adjudicator