Norma (Kyle) Blanchet (President)

Norma (Kyle) Blanchet received her music training with the late Dr. Paul Murray in pipe organ, music theory and harmony, following nine years of piano lessons.  She completed several summer sessions at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, completing courses in Choral Conducting, Vocal Technique, and Voice Building for Choirs.  Attendance at the Master Schola in Cape Cod,  Massachusetts brought opportunities for courses in Ornamentation in Early English Music, Gregorian Chant and Psalm Singing.  Norma is currently Music Director at St. Mark's United Church and sings alto with Colla Voce.

Carolyn Keirstead (Secretary)

Carolyn has been singing in choirs all her life in many different forms - church, school, community, classical, jazz, chamber, oratorio, etc.  Her early love of singing led her to music schools in Ontario and New Brunswick, graduating with a Music Diploma from Humber College and a Bachelor of Music degree from Mount Allison University.  This education led into the fields of teaching, singing and conducting, mostly in NB.  In her current position as the organist and choir director at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Riverview, she conducts two choirs and enjoys organizing workshops and special events for those choirs and the community.  A former NBCF board member she has remained active in provincial choral events by participating in the Diocesan Choir School and the workshops of NBCF.  Currently, Carolyn sings soprano with the Greater Moncton Chorale as they prepare Mozart's "Requiem" for a provincial tour in April with the NB Symphony.

Catherine Macdonald (Treasurer)

Laurel Boone grew up in Regina, singing in any school or church choir that would have her. By high school, as revenge against the cruel kindergarten teacher who singled her out as "an alto, like me," she had become a second soprano. She did not enjoy her ten years of piano lessons excessively, but she learned a great deal nevertheless and credits the experience with making her what she is today: an energetic and devoted choir singer. She sang in Gilbert and Sullivan Society productions in the early 1980s and joined the Fredericton Choral Society in 1986. The former Editorial Director of Goose Lane Editions, she has been freed by retirement to spend a satisfying amount of time on music. In the fall of 2007, she joined the UNB Chorale, began taking a class in music theory, and joined the board of the Fredericton Choral Society. Other enthusiasms include doing contract editorial work, sitting on the Certification Committee of the Editors' Association of Canada, serving as program chair of the Fredericton Probus Club, and gardening, a passion that almost equals her passion for music.

Dr. Gordon Chapman was born in England, in a small market town about 25 miles from Cambridge. He attended the University of London and trained as a physician at the London Hospital Medical College, emigrating to Canada and working in Fredericton in the mid-70s. Later he moved to Massachusetts and sang as a tenor with the Worcester Chorus for about 12 years. He was tenor section leader and later president of this 120-voice chorus, the oldest community chorus in the USA. He has a cottage on PEI and has sung with Carl Mathis in the Indian River Festival Chorus. Since moving to Saint John he has sung with Trinity Church choir, the Saint John Chorale, Colla Voce, the NB Symphony Chorus, and in the chorus of Opera New Brunswick's Tosca in 2005 and the ONB Gala of 2006. He has taken voice lessons since the 1980s and currently studies with David Mitchell in Saint John. At present he sings regularly with the Saint John Men's Chorus, directed by David Mitchell, and will take any feasible opportunity to sing in a major choral work. Gordon perceives choral music to be one of the great joys of life and is pleased to listen, perform or help to propagate it. He welcomes the opportunity to help spread this beautiful art form in New Brunswick - to as broad and diverse a collection of performers and listeners as possible.

Nadine Hébert is now filling some mighty big shoes, her great-aunt's in fact! A former member and soloist of Les Jeunes Chanteurs d'Acadie for eight years and assistant director for two years, Nadine has been continuing Sister Lorette's music legacy by assuming the direction of the choir since 2005.

Nadine holds a Bachelor of Music, majoring in vocal performance, from the Université de Moncton, where she was assistant director of the university choir during her studies. She also had the honor of directing the renowned Quatuor Arthur LeBlanc in concert. From 2000 to 2005, she was a member of Les Muses, a female vocal quartet, which acted as Acadian ambassadors while performing in various venues across Canada and Europe.

Sherry Goodine grew up in Vermont and attended the University of Maine, majoring in voice and graduating in1995 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (honours). In 1998 she received a Masters of Education in Special Education, with a Music Therapy focus from the UM.

She taught choral and band from k - high school in the state of Maine for 8 years and was also a Maine All-State Vocal Adjudicator for five years. She managed the middle school choir for district festival for two years and was choral vice president of district 6 (Aroostook County, Maine) for two years. She has been a member of ACDA for 10 years.

Sherry, a resident of New Maryland, is currently a stay at home mom of two busy boys and also teaches voice, piano and flute in her spare time. Recently she has sung with VocalEase, played flute in the pit band for the Valley Young Company production of Les Mis and done vocal coaching for the production of Annie at Cambridge-Narrows School.

Jayne Nicki grew up in Chatham, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BA in English and from the Ontario College of Education with secondary school certification.  She taught high school English for several years before accompanying her husband to New Brunswick when he became a member of the UNB faculty. A stay-at-home mother until the last of her four children was in school, Jayne then did an MEd and began to work for the government department that administered the province's community colleges. Upon retirement, she completed a two-year lay ministry program and is currently active in this capacity in her church.

 An avid choir member for as long as she can remember, Jayne has sung in the alto section of the Fredericton Choral Society since 1985 and has served on its board as both secretary and president. Generally interested in all facets of the arts, she has also been secretary and chair of Council of the Arts Fredericton and is a past member of the Performing Arts New Brunswick board of directors.  Her co-coordination of the silent auction at the 2006 Spring Choral Fest provided her with the impetus to take on the same role in 2008. 

Carolyn Nielsen received her early education in Nova Scotia, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in voice from Acadia University. She later received her Bachelor of education from UNB and spent many years as a public school music educator. During those years she was active in both the New Brunswick Music Educators' Association and the Canadian Music Educators Association. Carolyn was hired by the Department of Education in 1978 to organize and found the New Brunswick Choral Federation and served as the first executive director for that organization for ten years. She was instrumental in helping to establish the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors and also served as their administrator
from 1984 - 1988.

A "choral junky", Carolyn has enjoyed singing as a member of many choirs including the Acadia Chapel Choir, Bel Canto Singers, Gallery Singers, Renaissance Singers, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Fredericton Choral Society, University Chorale, and Le Choeur de Mission Saint Charles at the Baroque Festival in Lameque.

She currently serves on both NBCF and ACCC Boards and is chair of the Podium 2008 committee. In her spare time she enjoys running and driving her Triumph TR6!

Robert Selby began his vocal studies early with Mrs. I.B. Murray in Saint John and got his first performing experience in the New Brunswick Competitive Festival of Music. His love of choral music started in the choir at Saint John High School where he was exposed to the English Madrigalists, Palestrina, Mozart, Fauré and Stauford.

After completing a BA in voice at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Robert went to Germany where he studied opera and Lieder in Stuttgart. While in Stuttgart, he sang in Kammerchor Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius and for two summers with the Festival Chorus in Bayreuth at the Wagner Festival. His last four years in Germany were spent in the Opera Chorus at the Freiburg Municipal Theatre.

Upon returning to Canada, Robert settled in Montreal where he sang at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul and in the Tudor Singers under Wayne Riddell. Robert entered the field of public school education in 1992 and has taught in District 18 and is presently teaching music in District 6. Robert sings in the Saint John Men's Chorus and Nova Cantica, and conducts a school choir at Quispamsis Elementary School. He is a regular summer chorister at the School of Church Music in Rothesay.