Sarah Morrison, Music Director of the Oakville Children’s Choir, receives 2010 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting

Sarah Morrison, 2010 Recipient of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting

Toronto, December 2, 2010 – The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) and Choirs Ontario today announced Sarah Morrison, Music Director of the Oakville Children’s Choir as this year’s recipient of the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting. The Leslie Bell Prize will be presented to Ms. Morrison at the Choir’s The Frosty Weather concert on December 4 at 7 p.m. at St. Andrew's Church in Oakville.

QUICK FACTS

• Sarah Morrison joined the award-winning Oakville Children’s Choir as Music Director in 2007.
• The recipient of numerous awards, Ms. Morrison has had a career as a music educator, choral conductor, and performer.
• In 2010, she was a guest conductor with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation’s Junior Choir Camp, and has led the choral program at Appleby College in Oakville since 2002. 
•  She holds an Honours Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Education and Master's degree in Music Education from the University of Toronto, and is an associate in vocal performance at Conservatory Canada.

QUOTES

The jury’s selection for the 2010 Leslie Bell Prize was unanimous. Jurors noted that:

• “Sarah Morrison displays a fabulous mixture of expressive and technical aspects of the music as she worked with her choir. She is a truly outstanding musician and one of Canada’s up-and-coming choral conductors.”
• “Ms. Morrison is supremely artistic, knowledgeable and clear in her role as conductor and leader from the podium. Her spark and enthusiasm struck the jury.”
  

LEARN MORE

• The $10,000 Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting is awarded every two years to an emerging professional conductor who works with a professional, semi-professional or community choir.
• The Leslie Bell Singers and friends of the late Dr. Leslie Bell established the Leslie Bell Scholarship Fund in 1973.
• The Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting is made possible by a financial contribution from the Leslie Bell Scholarship Fund and the Ontario Arts Council. The Leslie Bell Scholarship Fund is administered by the Ontario Arts Council. The jury process is administered by Choirs Ontario

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Geneviève Vallerand, Communications Coordinator, Ontario Arts Council
416-969-7434 / 1-800-387-0058, ext. 7434 | gvallerand@arts.on.ca

Elizabeth Shannon, Executive Director, Choirs Ontario
416-923-1144 | info@choirsontario.org