Vocal

Anna Boyes is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Musical Arts in Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Toronto this Fall under the tutelage of Lorna MacDonald and has been a recipient of the Richard Bradshaw Graduate Fellowship in Opera for the past three years. Her research entails creating a pedagogical guide to Hindustani elements within selected vocal works of Reena Esmail, Kamala Sankaram, and Naresh Sohal. She has been the winner of the London Music Scholarship Foundation; twice the recipient of the Mariana Paunova and Stefano Algieri Scholarship in Voice and Gaelyne Gabora Memorial Prize from McGill University. She has a passion for oratorio and looks forward to singing as a soloist in the University of Toronto’s performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C and Cantate Iterum’s Handel’s Messiah this Spring. Some of her favourite oratorios that she has performed have been Haydn’s Creation, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, and Lieschen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Anna has also enjoyed performing opera and operetta roles with Toronto Operetta Theatre, UWOpera, Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, and Accademia Europea dell’Opera in Italy. Anna has been part of several training programs, including Stratford Summer Music’s Vocal Academy, Against the Grain’s Summer Modern Opera Intensive, Brott Opera, and was an Emerging Artist with Arcady. Anna holds a Masters of Music from Western University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from McGill University. Anna resides in Port Perry and when not teaching or singing, loves hiking in the trails throughout Scugog with her husband and German Shepherd, Grizzly. They will be welcoming a new addition to their family this June!

Piano

Dr. Mark Ramsay is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Choral Activities at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University. In addition to his teaching duties at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, he is the conductor of Western University Singers. He is also the Artistic Director of Toronto’s award-winning Exultate Chamber Singers and recently co-chaired PODIUM 2022, Canada’s national choral conference and festival. He frequently appears as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician.

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto, where he was a student of Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt. He received an Elmer Iseler National Graduate Fellowship in Choral Conducting, multiple U of T Fellowships, and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. He holds a Master of Music from U of T (conducting) and a Bachelor of Music Education (piano) from the University of Prince Edward Island.

Before moving to Ontario, Dr. Ramsay worked for ten years as a high school music teacher and curriculum specialist in Summerside, PEI, where he operated his own piano studio and worked as a collaborative pianist in the community. He was also the music director at Trinity United Church and conductor of the Summerside Community Choir. (www.markramsay.ca)

Violin

Born in the Northwest Territories, Louella Alatiit is a Canadian violinist with a diverse performing career. Her musical inspiration extends from the expressiveness and improvisatory elements of baroque music, as well as the unique sonority and expression obtainable with period instruments. This has led her to focus on performing baroque, classical, and romantic music in a style specific to the era and on instruments from these periods, which she does with some of the world’s leading period instrument ensembles, as well as other up-and-coming groups. In this capacity, Ms. Alatiit works with many renowned conductors and directors touring throughout Europe, Asia, and North America performing in some of the world’s most famous concert halls (such as, Carnegie Hall). With respect to her qualifications, she is a graduate of three prestigious schools—holding a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from McGill University, a Diploma in Baroque Violin from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, as well as a Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.

Ms. Alatiit has performed with groups such as, The English Concert, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The King’s Consort, Opera Fuoco (France), Le Cercle de l’Harmonie (France), Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht (Netherlands), Concerto d’Amsterdam, New Collegium (Netherlands), B’rock (Belgium), Les Passions de l’Ame (Switzerland), Trondheim Barokk (Norway), and the chamber music group Giardino Musicale in Den Haag. Additionally, she has worked under notable conductors and directors such as, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Iván Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski, Ton Koopman, Harry Bicket, Laurence Cummings, René Jacobs, Rachel Podger, Enrico Onofri and Bernard Labadie. Currently she works on occasion with the Canadian early music ensemble, Tafelmusik in Toronto.

She was selected as a young apprentice for The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in 2007-2008 and for the English Baroque Soloists in 2009-2010. Ms. Alatiit was loaned a ‘Pieter Rombouts’ violin c. 1710 Amsterdam from 2016-2021 by the Dutch National Foundation for Musical Instruments (NMF –Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds). Currently, she plays on an instrument formally owned and played by the well-known Dutch violinist, Jaap Schröder, with an apocryphal label ‘Hendrik Jacobs’, c. 1725.

Brass / Woodwinds

Scripture

Lois came to the Stirling area in 1967 to begin her teaching career. She spent twenty-eight wonderful years teaching primary and junior grades. Encouraging and guiding the students in oral speaking was part of her work with the older children. While still actively teaching, Lois became involved in the Festival of Sacred Praise, encouraging her pupils and Sunday School Classes to take an active part each year. Once retired, Lois joined the Festival Executive as Recording Secretary and later became President of the Festival of Sacred Praise for several years. Lois and her husband Glenn have been very active in the work at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Stirling for over fifty years. Lois has held such roles as choir member, Sunday School teacher, Bible Study leader, Elder, Clerk of Session, lay minister, PCW/WMS programme convenor and is still active in Mission work – both locally and worldwide. Lois and Glenn have one daughter, Rev. Teresa Charlton who ministers in Knox church, Vernon, BC. Now retired Lois and Glenn continue to be as active as possible with their many interests.